For those who despise Alonso, isn't it time to admit the real reason?

Bet she'd be quicker than Badoer

 

I always thought he was the biggest whiner around. He complained non-stop at Renault, the team doesn't support me etc. Then his signing with McLaren - a year before his departure was a blatant slap in the face.....And I HATED those stupid victory dances he did. I have no ill will towards him for beating Schu.
I must admit though; he seems to have matured now...

 

This may be a dangerous thing to post, but isn't MS guilty of some of the same things that you guys despise FA for? Let's not forget 1994 with Hill, 1997 with JV, Benetton being accused of the illegal TC, tampering with fueling equipment... No matter what you're opinions of these events for both MS and FA, they both have a similar feel. Now I don't believe some of the things that MS did were deliberate (Hill in '94), I don't believe Benetton was guilty of some of the things they were accused of, I also don't believe FA is a virus that will suck the live out of Ferrari, and I don't believe he had any knowledge of "Crashgate."

Alonso is 2 time world champion who is one of the best on the grid. He will win races and championships with Ferrari. This is not a bad thing. Lets be honest for 99% of us, we cheer for the red cars first; the drivers are secondary.

 

gonna be interesting if Massa starts beating him bad, it will McLaren all over again with Alonso whining that Ferrari is not supporting him and not respecting his 2 world championships. I would rather lose every race of the season than see that cry-baby in the Ferrari. But as I stated in another post earlier, I do expect he will win and most likely win another championship, I don't deny he is a great driver. I just hope that Massa is a better driver when he gets back and teaches Alonso a few things about class.

 

Massa beating FA badly? not bloody likely!

 

Racing luck is a strange old dog.

 

I think much of the dislike of Alonso is because he 'beat' MS (I put that in quotes simply because everyone knows MS is light years ahead as a driver, but the Renault was very good, as was alonso, such that even MS talent advantage could not overcome the suckitude of the Ferrari that year).. but not all of the dislike of Alonso is over that.

I personally hate Alonso. And it has nothing to do with MS. My dislike of the guy started when he got on the radio and told Flavio that the team sabotaged him. That really rubbed me the wrong way... you don't toss your team to the wolves. It was an utterly idiotic thing to say. My feelings were confirmed with Spygate. Threatening to go to the FIA if they didn't cave to his demands that Hamilton be artificially slowed up was downright blackmail and the lowest of the low.

I wasn't surprised he was part of crashgate.

I just don't like the guy. I hope Kimi trounces him in whatever car he ends up in. And as much as I dislike Massa, I hope Massa wipes the floor with him too. I just don't like Alonso because I think he is a self centered doosh who will happily throw anyone and everyone under the bus if it's in his best interests.

Aka. Doosh.

 

I usually agree with most of what you say, but you get a +2 for that.

 

I don't hate or dislike Fred for beating MS, in fact, i respect him for that. What i can't stand is when he goes public about the internal stuff about the team. Like how he said he felt alone, and Renault was there for him, and all those cry baby nonsense.

At the end of the day, he's still the best out there. Period.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself. And to those who say he's 'matured' - that change seems to coincide with when the rumors started surfacing about him being on the red team. Of course he's going to simmer down to not blow his chance with Ferrari. Lot of short term memories around here. At Renault and McLaren, he was always whining.

As soon as he stars whining or lands Ferrari in some sort of scandal, the tone around here will change real quick.

 

+1. Schumi got beat before Alonso was kissing his first high school girlfriend, big deal. Believe it or not MS did lose races.

I dont like Alonso or his attitude and his history shows he does NOT deserve the seat. I wont be eating any words anytime soon. I could care less how successful he is. Im not impressed. Im for the team, the other driver but not Alonso. So those who think, since they support Alonso they are, in the right good for you. If you self esteem is tied to Alonso at Ferrari you can now throw out your anti depressants

 

Brave man! I hope you win, but I fear the McLaren would be the car to beat in 2010. Are you going to change your avatar?

 

Love FA or hate him it makes no odds to me.

I actually really liked him when he was at Renault first time round if were talking personalitys, of course we have seen his true colours now.

However if Mclaren continue to improve there car into next year at the rate they have, I can't see Ferrari have any other option other to get Alonso driving because IMO LH will wipe the floor with the lot of them.

 

That's just how I feel about Fernando Alonso. I liked and respected him throughout his battles with Michael Schumacher in 2005 and 2006. Arguably, it was his competitiveness that probably kept Schumacher interested and in the sport for an extra season to drive against the challenger. Men like Schumacher don't do it for the podium ceremonies, they do it for the challenge and at this point the only serious challenge he had to his supremacy was coming from Alonso.

We all know the F60 is a very difficult car to drive, I think if Ferrari had stuck with Kimi Raikkonen for next year (and developed a more stable car over winter testing) then they would have been very competitive against Lewis Hamilton and his McLaren.

It wasn't necessary to hire Alonso specifically - he may arguably be the best driver on the grid but the margin is not large and he comes with a hell of a lot of baggage such as his known difficult personality that can cause conflict within a team. I really hope Ferrari don't end up fighting more with themselves than with the other teams on the grid.

I like watching Fernando Alonso drive, but I don't want to see him causing strife within Ferrari.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

Since the deal with Alonso was done earlier this summer I wonder if the F61 was designed with a nod to his driving style.

 

Yes agree.

If we look at it as pure racing drivers ablility, which I tend to do, I'm not to much into off track antics Alonso is the answer to Ferrari woes, I can only see Lewis getting better and better, as long as he has a decent car, Vettel would be good, but Ferrari tend to go for proven winners, the main cause of angst with FA is having a team mate that will support him, Massa I fear won't thats until he see's FA's tail pipe in every race. FA is for want of a better word a whining spoilt brat, if things don't go his way, if they do he is the one that will stop LH becoming a multi WDC winner IMHO.

Probably the case.

 

"Speak for yourself, John".

In 2005, I didn't hate Alonso. I hated Michelin.

While I'm a huge supporter of open competition in motorsports, by the time FIA went with spec tires, I had to agree that something had to be done about the fast but dangerously thin Michelins.
(I just think that going to a spec tire was probably the wrong answer. Regulating minimum thickness or weight would have addressed safety without stifling innovation.)

But 2005 had some really good on-track driving duels.


In 2006, I hated FIA -- for banning Renault's brilliant mass damper system. (Even after stewards from Brazil to Germany had deemed it legal.)

They say Enzo was only truly in his element when his cars were losing.

2005 and 2006 had some of the best *racing* we've seen, in recent F1 history.

Yes, the last couple of years have been "close" --- after FIA and the stewards intervened. And there has been on-track "drama" -- brought about by inconsistent handling mandated by silly rules. But that's not really good racing, in my book. Not like the Shumi-Alonso-Kimi duels we saw earlier.


But in 2006, Alonso's youth and inexperience started to show. When things didn't go his way, he whined, he complained, he blamed everybody else.

I remember him complaining that Fisi didn't support him --- right after Turkey, when Fisi turned, hit Kimi, and tanked both their races, in order to avoid hitting Alonso who braked suddenly right in front of him (after Shumi and Felipe double teamed Alonso into turn one).

That was a really wanker comment. Along with whinging about Renault not supporting him.


In 2007, his schoolyard bully relations with Hamilton didn't do anything for either driver's reputation.

One of the better on-track duels we've seen, post-Shumi, was when Felipe (with imbalanced tires) managed to hold off Alonso in Germany (in the rain, too). Which resulted in a shouting match, as Alonso apparently thought that nobody was supposed to actually race against him.

But it was Alonso's involvement in Stepneygate that really made him look like a petty, vindictive infant.

Since his return to Renault, Alonso has shown some car development abilities and has demonstrated his ability to excel with a marginal machine.

But I suspect his perceived "improvement" in controlling his mouth has come more from not having microphones in front of it, while Renault wasn't at the front. Perhaps LdM should invest in one of those electronic dog training collars for when Fred is doing interviews.


Personally, I think this is a really bad career choice for Alonso.

Especially with Flavio gone, Alonso had the chance to be the force to bring Renault back to the front of the grid. One reason Shumi was perceived as a "god" to tifosi was that he took a mid-pack Ferrari team back to the front. Alonso had the chance to do the same for Renault.

At Ferrari, Alonso is going to be just another hired gun.

Alonso may be thinking that Renault won't be around much longer.
Bailing out on them now is likely to help make that come true.


My perception of Alonso is that he's a skilled driver who whines like a baby when things go wrong, and has no loyalty to anyone but his own ego.

Going only by on-track performance, Alonso might be the best driver Ferrari could get (e.g. that aren't already locked into their existing teams). But as a person, he's probably not a good choice for the team.

We're likely to get a quick character study on both Alonso and LdM early next year.
Since Massa has been with the team and car already, he'll likely do well early against Alonso. (Starting with Valencia? Felipe hasn't done well in the early fly-away races in the past. Time zone issues, maybe.)
How Alonso will react to that will really tell us how much "maturing" he's done while running with a "teammate" who was so poor you couldn't tell an intentional crash from all his other crashes.

And if Ferrari throws Felipe to the sidelines to cater to Alonso, it'll tell us something about LdM's character.
(And IQ, given that history doesn't seem to indicate that the princess treatment would earn Alonso's loyalty.)


Frankly, I see this as just another act in the F1 dope opera. Alonso goes to McLaren, and Max attacks Dennis. Alonso goes back to Renault, and Max ousts Flavio. Now Max's next target would be LdM, and Alonso goes to Ferrari. Right when Todt would have to "show" that he's not pro-Ferrari.

Call it: "As the Stomach Turns".


If DirecTV doesn't put Versus back on soon, I'm going to have to go with Dish network.
Yes, Indycar doesn't have the best cars or drivers. But they're having fun out there. And most of the drivers are grown-ups.
(Plus Versus has the coverage for the Dakar and the Iditarod.)
(Besides: Ashley Judd is way hotter than Nicole. )

 

Yea, thats what most of us thought when Kimi came around.

 

When or lose, I won't cheer Fernando. Would rather see his teammate, or another team, win.

Freddy is a great driver, no question. But spygate, crashgate, everything else - a mistake for Ferrari.

 

You'll see that the vast majority of people have a very short term memory, especially if Freddy starts winning races for the Scuderia. If that's the case, all will be peaches and cream

 

I'm with you on this! What really worries me is his personality and lack of professionalism might ruin the whole team, in ways beyond what we might imagine!

 

can't agree more!

 

It all depends on what you expect of a driver. If performance on track is all that matters, then you probably will welcome Alonso as a Ferrari driver. In all other cases, you don't.

But seriously, are there still honest straithforward people around in F1 nowadays?

 

With Apologies to ABBA!!

There was something in the air that night
Something didnt smell right, Fernando
You have shown your Metal
and your no Vettel, Fernando
You'll be driving a Ferr-aha-ree
To the dismay of the Tifosi, Fernando
Though I never thought that we could lose
There's some regret's
If we had to do the same again
Theres no way, my friend, Fernando

 

Bjm ... Awesome. You've got talent