Name another driver that has stayed with any team for 5 years please? I like loyalty too, but 5 years is a long time in any career nowadays. My longest is 8 years Pete
Mika Häkkinen: McLaren 1993~2001 David Coulthard: McLaren 1996~2004 That's 8 years each! Ayrton Senna: McLaren 1988~1993 (5 years) I've got 26 years under My belt with the same company. Like I say, I rate loyalty very highly!
Agreed. But most of the success comes with foreign influence (engineers, managers, drivers) and is rarely an "all-Italian" stuff. Same with Ducati now...
I think loyalty to an employer totally misplaced. Why tie your self to a company when they could ditch you at the first opportunity if it fits with their interest? One's loyalty must always be to oneself!
Probably because you are reasonably pleased with the outcome and cannot or care not find a better position somehwre else. But what if your employer was making your life hell, demoting you, humiliating you, reducing your wages or worsening your working conditions, would you still be so loyal?
Actually, a rival company made Me an offer that was much better than the deal I had with the company I am with but I turned it down out of loyalty to our company. (I'm one of the rare breed where job satisfaction is more important than chasing the big bucks! ) I built a department up from just Myself on My own making @ £150K per year to one that now employs fifty people and makes @ £3Million+ per year so that's highly unlikely to happen! It's an interesting point you raise though. Just how have Ferrari made Alonso's life Hell? How did they demote him? How have they humiliated him? Did they reduce his wages? How did they worsen his working conditions?
During 2014, Alosno must have estimated that Ferrari was unlikely to give him a car capable to win another WDC in the foreseable future. He is not daft and must have had enough information to make a qualified judgement on the matter. Also, Ferrari was/went through some restructuring that may have destabilised him or touched his comfort zone within the team. Alonso's time as a potential F1 champ. is running out, and that must have made the decision for him:time to quit and look for another challenge, another team, another atmosphere before becoming stale at Ferrari and be unceremoniously dumped one day. I don't know if he tought he had a chance at Mercedes, he may have, but the new partnership between McLaren and Honda must have looked attractive (albeit uncertain), on paper at least. So there he went. I will never blame anyone for looking for a new challenge, even if it fails. Alonso gave his best shot at Ferrari, I think, and there is no harm in looking for new pasture.
You can't tell Me that Alonso doesn't look at how well Vettel's doing in the Ferrari this season, wonder what might have been had he stayed and then regret the choice he made! He went looking for an easier WDC and has so far got it badly wrong! As I've said before: He was fed up coming second? - well he's made sure that won't happen any more!
Your judgement is based on the fact that Alonso should have kept loyal to Ferrari, come what may, and that you consider his departure as treason. Well, I don't buy that. Loyalty has nothing to do with it. Alonso may have jumped ship before being pushed, and his exit may have be a diplomatic way of leaving without fracas. Who knows if he was still wanted at the Scuderia? They sacked many people last year, no less than 2 team managers, for example! I don't specialy like the guy (too dour for me), but I think Alonso had a good go at Ferrari, but never got a car to match his talent. Watching Red Bull winning so many titles, when he didn't have the mount to fight back must have been demoralising, to say the least. I don't blame him for trying something else. Good luck to him. I think the McLaren-Honda association will pay off in the end, so I am cautiously optimistic.
I think your right about Alonso deep down wishing he was in this years Ferrari. Alonso feels he's a better driver than Vettel and I'd be inclined to agree with him on that. But that's where the positives run out for Nando V Seb. Nando always has placed himself first in all his thoughts. His work within the team is to bend the team to what he needs. It is clear Seb is all about being part of the team and he sees that he has to be part of a successful team to be the successful driver in that team. That's very different to Fernando. Ferrari is reaping the benefits of becoming a star team rather than a team of stars.
Why is Ferrari reaping any benefits? Vettel will not even come 2nd this year in the WDC, and Ferrari will come 2nd (WCC) ... no different than when Alonso was with them. With the way the rules are Ferrari cannot make huge changes while Honda could. Unfortunately Honda appears to have built a BRM v16 type engine ... oops, but on paper it would have looked like a good option. Pete
Honda's handicap is that they supply only one team, so between the limited testing and the lack of mileage, they don't get enough feedback to iron out the gremlins. Last year, Renault had Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Caterham; that's 3 teams to gather data. Ferrari had the Scuderia, Sauber and Manor; also 3 teams. The more miles you do, the quicker you solve the problems, I think. I don't know if the Honda engine had something really different than the others, but clearly they have problems making all the systems around the power unit work in harmony. These power units are complex bits of kit now; plenty of electronics with interaction, etc... I am hopeful they will solve most of the problems, but it's a painstaking process, and humiliating too ...
I rate Alonso as the best driver in F1 currently. None of us know what was promised, or predicted, by the McLaren Honda package. I'm guessing he went rather than be pushed, and McLaren was his only option unles he took a sabbatical, but hey, so what, he took a brave chance, gets paid big bucks regardless, and maybe they will come good. If they don't, the sport will be sorrier for losing Alonso than a chap retiring on multi-millions with the reputation of being the best of his time. I'm just sad that Ferrari were shackled by the ridiculous rules that lead firstly to a red bull that was unassailable for years, and then to a merc similarly unassailable for a couple more, and maybe one or two yet. F1 itself needs to sort itself out, is it a sport where all competitors should be able to use their resources in whatever manner they see fit to produce the best competition, or should it be a watered down, controlled environment, with rules that artificially produce boring results and lock potential champions in uncompetitive positions for years at a time? Forza Ferrari, and Forza Alonso! I hope we still get to see some of his talent before he decides enough is enough
A lot of people have already forgotten the turmoil the team was in when Alonso bailed. They got rid of two team bosses, LUCA HIMSELF, and about 900000 other people. Leaving was a wise move then, and it's a wise move now. For all we know, Ferrari fired most of the people responsible for this year's car.
Absolutely, marchionne didn't bring with him an air of security for anyone, and I seem to remember there being tension over Alonso and his purported position of power within the team itself. Like I said, it would appear Alonso chose to leave rather than be pushed out the door in the 'refresh' that was in progress. Ferraris progress this year compared to last will chafe for him, but Ferrari must regret the errors they made along the way and rue the chances they had to take full advantage of his skill. Just imagine what could have been had they been able to get a half-capable car under the guy - even red bull would have been scared!
Sorry Pete, that's just not true. I forget the exact #'s heading into this season, but they all had something like 7-10 tokens. Honda were given the average of the # of tokens the others had remaining. 8 IIRC. As noted, they're as free to develop as the others. But I too can't help thinking they'd be better off supplying at least one more team. Dynos are one thing, but nothing compares to actual mileage. Cheers, Ian
I didn't explain myself properly. I meant Honda started with a clean sheet while Ferrari are restricted to improving their current design. This should have given Honda the advantage. Pete
They're the only ones who produced one with a twin clutch auto that I know of, and they nailed it! I wish they'd expand that to more of their range. but yeah...look at the Goldwing.....it's been the same, pretty much, for years and years.
Per an article in Autosport, they expect to match ferrari's power with their next upgrade. On planet f1 Fred's manager says they will be challenging for the title next year.....
