ALONSO Admits Discomfort At McLaren

Post Montreal Alonso admitted he has never been comfortable at McLaren. He feels he is doing better than if he stayed at Renault, but that the British press has not been kind. He stated that he knew it would be this way when Hamilton was announced as his teammate, being a British driver on a British team.

"The Spanish press has been more kind than the British one."

 

wohooo...

the whining starts...round 1

 

Yes, yes that’s it, it’s the British press, not flying off at the first corner of a race, or three times again at the same corner, no, it’s the British press who’s at fault, oh wait and possibly McLaren favouring Hamilton like they did in Monaco.

Alonso needs to dry his eyes, put the toys back in the pram and focus on his driving.

 

Glad to hear he feels uncomfy at McLaren. Hopefully he'll be soon ready to switch to Ferrari.

 

Well, I think he´s complaining about the press, not about McLaren.

 

BBC SPORT
McLaren favour Hamilton - Alonso

World champion Fernando Alonso believes his McLaren team are giving preference to his rookie team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
The Spaniard had misgivings as soon as he joined the team at the end of 2006, he told Spain's Cadena Ser radio.

He said: "From the first moment, I wasn't completely comfortable. I am in an English team, with an English team-mate, who is doing brilliantly.

"We knew all the support and help would go his way. It is something I understand and I'm not complaining."

Alonso added that he remained confident of winning a third straight drivers' title.

The 26-year-old, who won the world title with Renault in 2005 and 2006, is eight points behind Hamilton in the championship following the Englishman's maiden victory in Canada on Sunday.

Alonso finished seventh in Montreal after falling foul - through no fault of his own - of a new rule forbidding drivers to pit in the initial stages of the safety car being deployed.

Although Alonso has won two races to Hamilton's one, Hamilton has been more consistent and has finished on the podium in each of the first six races.

But Alonso insists he has a strong chance of winning a third consecutive world title.

"I've won two races out of six and I've finished on the podium four times and I have those 40 points that will allow me to fight for the title in the end," he said.

"I'm calm, I'm fine, though I know there is some impatience to return to the top and dominate.

"But I'm second in the championship, I'm eight points behind. It would be worse if I were at Renault, or Honda or any other team.

"At the moment I am where I expected to be and with a clear chance of winning the title in Brazil [the last race of the season], and not now, in the sixth race."

Asked if he felt some of the mechanics in the team celebrated Hamilton's successes more than his, Alonso said: "I have sensed it a little, but I understand it, it's an English team."

Alonso's remarks come just over two weeks after he won the Monaco Grand Prix, when McLaren ordered Hamilton not to challenge him in the closing stages of the race.

In the wake of that decision, and before his victory in Canada, Hamilton said he would not stay long at a team he felt was favouring his team-mate.

Alonso has made uncharacteristic mistakes at the start of two of the last three races, but Renault driver Heikki Kovalainen, who worked with Alonso last year, does not believe he is feeling the strain of Hamilton's brilliant debut season.

"He's not feeling the pressure," Kovalainen told BBC Sport.

"I don't think Lewis has any impact on him. Fernando is mentally very tough and is still one of the top guys.

"He pushes very hard for the win every race and mistakes can happen when you race like that.

"Yes, he might have made a mistake in Barcelona and one in Canada, and because they have happened in a short period of time it looks very dramatic, but I don't think it affects him.

"He is going to be very strong, fighting for the championship for sure."

 

its the only way there gonna win

 

Here is the link to the BBC report

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/6744297.stm

 

I am amazed at how quickly folks are to jump on Alonso. His comments are completely fair and far from whining.

 

+1

what he's feeling seems completely natural to me.....besides whats more fun than having a friendly rivalry within the team??? so long as they don't take each other out of any race........

 

I am shocked to hear him say that he feels that the team is favoring Hamilton. I would not have expected that from Alonso. He must really be feeling the pressure.

Lewis is only ahead of him by 8 points, and we have more than half of the season left. If Alonso can get his head together, I still believe he will win another title.

What do you guys think?

 

Alonso has a good shot at the title, but I'm hoping Lewis will bag it for a couple of reasons:

a) rewrite F1 history
b) increase the discomfort level for Alonso so he switches to the Scuderia

 

Alonso to Ferrari, Kimi to Renault. This way the French team can claim an all Finnish, all hype and no result team.

 

I agree i think Mclaren have a dream team the two drivers would be just the same in inferior cars Alonso proved it last yr however they just happen to be in the best car right now

 

i wonder if the same would have been said if Massa said something like that.

 

I'm a FA and Kimi fan, but even I groaned when I read that. I think he has a decent command of the English language, but he needs to chose his words more carefully if he wants to avoid looking like a spoiled brat (did I just say that?

I remember when he was b!tching about Renault favoring Fisi, or not being totally behind him because he was leaving at the end of the season.

Doesn't he realize what that does to the team moral/dynamics? I think most will agree McLaren is more fair than most when it comes to it's 2 drivers.

 

I agree.

I'd love to know what was going through Ron Dennis' mind after reading that.

 

Fernando has his moments of insecurity but all I think it will take to get him back on track for the next race is a simple sit down discussion with Ron Dennis. Alonso will get it together. If Hamilton hits a rough patch in his career, then we'll see how he pulls himself together.

 

Alonso is being honest IMVHO.

Unfortuneately, he is a public figure and PR is a very large part of his job. Heroes don't complain. They perform. He may be a champion but not a very well liked one. Maybe he doesn't care. Very short sighted and immature IMVHO.

Contrast to Hamilton who is always diplomatic and always a gentleman. I would rather have him on my team anyday.

 

Hamilton has had no issues to complain about yet. We'll see how he handles himself when something doesn't go his way.

 

We have already seen this at Monaco where team orders prevented him from taking the fight to Alonso.

His subtle hints and body language was enough to get the British press and the FIA all up in arms and look at the result: He got free reign in Montreal. Very clever and Macchiavellian. Alonso got his work cut out for himself.

 

"Alonso finished seventh in Montreal after falling foul - through no fault of his own"



ROTFLMAO, what about mistaking the race for the Baja 500? That race was last weekend Alonso.

 

You are right. We'll see how he handles himself as more issues arise.

 

Quite the contrary, I think he is liked by far more people than you care to admit. Let's face it, that he has beaten the other two top drivers in 05 and 06 fair and square. No dirty driving, no ethical lapses on the track, and 2 WDC's to show for it. He's a decent guy and a great driver, and I think the reason why people here don't like him is that he dethroned your beloved Schumacher and has made Kimi look like the slackard he really is. I'm thrilled to see a driver of Lewis' calibre emerge within F1 but he hasn't seen real pressure yet.

Go Fernando!

 

Well from my expert position on the sofa I’ve been a big fan of Alonso’s conduct and work ethic at McLaren, but these comments along with the Hamilton was “lucky” to win comments are not productive. And remember, we’ve seen this from Alonso before at Renault last year when he claimed they didn’t want him to win the championship as he was leaving for another team.

Whether this is deliberate or not, these comments can, and most likely will be, construed by the media as implying Hamilton is receiving some sort of preferential treatment, which is an insult to all the hardworking people at McLaren and to devalue Hamilton’s achievements. Just because it’s a Brit team doesn’t mean they’ll favour the Brit, or at least I’ve seen no evidence of that in the careers of Mansell, Brundle, Blundell, McNish, Coulthard and Paffett to name a few.

As for his comments about the British press, well we all know they’re gutter life, but try going to Ferrari and dealing with the Italian press after a performance like Canada.