Let's be clear, he his not retiring from F1; he will not be in F1 in 2019. Prost chose not to race in 1992 because there were no competitive rides; he came back in 1993, won his fourth F1 title and retired.
More like with assistance/insistence from FLAVIO, as ALL his decisions. It does not matter that Fernando is an adult, when it comes to F1 he has always done what Flavio says.
The 2008 Singapore GP controversy, that had FLAVIO and Alonso written all over it. Piquet Jr. went into obscurity because of it.
Ah..... yes. Well Schumacher had his little "events" as well in his career. If you look at Alonso's 17 year career, its really dominated by Schumacher, Vettel, and Hamilton. He's going to be a minor footnote and I think that's what urks him. I'm sure Alonso believes he was better than all three but doesn't have the records to show it.
I believe FA just misunderstood that uniting the team is a critical facet of being a champion. Beyond his years with Flavio Briatore, Alonso has really struggled to keep things together in the paddock. His stint with Ferrari really brought this to light ("GP2 engine..."). A gifted pilot, no doubt, but not the complete package. I wish he could have pulled it together with age and maturity.
What I don't get with anyone mentioning Spygate is that if Alonso hadn't said anything, they imply that everything would have been fine and brushed under the carpet. Alonso's role was no less dishonourable than that of Mclaren itself. They were cheating, and that's a fact. If Alonso threatened to call it out, good. McLaren should have thought of that when stealing our data, and personally think that they got off lightly. Best, Sammy
HAHAHAHAHAHH!!! Revisionist history! Alonso knew about it, actually had no problem in USING the data to his benefit, and then used its existence to try to blackmail McLaren. He's no hero for bringing it to attention.
What's wrong about blackmailing a cheating Ron Dennis who stole our data ? Are you saying he should have let it go to make Ron happy ? Best, Sammy
What's wrong with blackmailing a cheater while using the cheat to better your career? Are you really serious here or do I have to explain how the legal system works to you?
No need for the legal system explanation - Ron Dennis' team took the data from Ferrari and not Alonso - how they shared the info rests squarely on him . McLaren were the cheats.Not Alonso by himself. If you need an explanation of how this works do let me know. Best, Sammy
What I would like to have explained is what legal system was involved? British? French? Italian? I recall FIA sanctions, but don't remember if actual courts were involved.
My point was about right from wrong— blackmail under any circumstance is wrong. Trying to justify it is like trying to justify you robbed a bank because you needed the money.
Black mail is wrong, I think Ron Dennis created a toxic environment at Mclaren, which forced Alonso to do so. The team and British media made Alonso out to be the villain and Hamilton the hero. It doesn't justify what Alonso did was right, I think he was backed into a corner and had no choice.
But i do. Ferrari put a lawsuit againts Mclaren in civil courts, later, mclaren and above all merc entered in negotiations with Ferrari to stop the case going any further....things didn't go well in the first meeting but after that, merc basicly payed a fortune ( i heard it was about the same as they had to pay the fia, 100 million) so Luca would let them off the hook.
In the context of Alonso’s involvement, yes, McLaren purchased stolen plans from Stepney, and McLaren began integrating the data into their car, improving it and making their car faster in doing so. Of course, alonso was aware of this throughout the season. However, how often are we told ‘if it ain’t cheating, it ain’t F1’ and ‘everyone cheats, just don’t get caught’ to justify illegal diffusers, electronic control systems, teammates crashing into each other or backing other drivers into a chasing pack to try to win a title (elton you little tinker), it’s all cheating regardless, so Alonso went along with the cheating because it suited him as well as McLaren to win races. McLaren brought about the situation where Alonso threatened to grass on them by reneging on his contract as team leader, number one driver, putting novice elton ahead of Alonso for new development parts, strategy calls and in general support. Alonso reacted to this team decision to try to make him number two in several ways, some personal, some professional. Towards the end of the season where he expected support for the title run in he found McLaren basically leaving him and his direct group of engineers out in the cold, so he used the one thing he felt could work....... ‘Ronnie, support my racing or I’ll grass you up for the Stepney scam’. I’m afraid I am entirely comfortable with what Alonso did that season on the basis that McLaren were not exactly playing fair (and for those looking at criminal issues, they were not staying within the law in regard to his contract, breaching it repeatedly and seriously), and Alonso forced the hand of Dennis to admit what McLaren had done, and rather than an issue over a dodgy barge board, or wing mirror with an extra 3mm con rod, their entire car was found to be a copy of the ferrari, down to even the slightly and smallest parts. If anyone needed to go to jail, it was McLaren management en Masse, for blatant technical data misappropriation and fraud (obtaining monies, ie win bonuses and prize monies by foul means, hence the FIA withdrawing their prize monies for the year as well as a fine on top). If a whistleblower came out and proved that Apple had stolen a Microsoft software chain that then allowed them to develop the iPad into the only tablet anyone in the world could use for a certain process, yet had worked at Apple in the development of that particular software for a year previously, would you be celebrating his coming forward, or expecting him to never work in IT again? The villain is the team that accepted the data, integrated it into their car, and encouraged Alonso to utilise it to his driving advantage, Alonso did what all drivers would do - he sat in his car and won races with every tool in his armoury. Elton’s fans should be extremely happy with it, elton gets cranked out of gravel traps which is totally prohibited in the rules, brake checks people, bashes his teammates out the way as often as he likes, his team use every possible advantage legal or illegal regardless to win, and of course, every race he is busy (as are the rest too) looking into the race cars that were quickest to try to find any advantage by copying a wing, paddle, button or seat position on that other car. Alonso using the car that was produced by the stolen data - what do you expect, he designs and builds his own car and refuses to drive the official one as a matter of principle?
Yes, actual courts were involved at first, in Italy and the U.K, at Ferrari's initiative, and against the engineers (= Stepney and Coughlan) with whom the Spygate started, if you recall the exact sequence of events. Then the FIA became involved; the three McLaren drivers (Hamilton, Alonso and Pedro De La Rosa) were only involved in the FIA proceedings. See the links here enclosed. As for courts, Ferrari filed a legal action in Italy against Nigel Stepney, and one in England against the Coughlans (husband and wife) (Stepney was an engineer from Ferrari who handled technical information to Mike Coughlan, an engineer at McLaren) All other proceeding, including those involving the drivers, were handled by the FIA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Formula_One_espionage_controversy The allegations were the subject of legal action in Italy, another in the U.K and an FIA investigation. In the week beginning 17 June 2007, at the 2007 United States Grand Prix Ferrari filed a formal complaint against Nigel Stepney, leading to the commencement of a criminal investigation by the Modena district attorney in Italy. Ferrari official press communiqué: “Ferrari announces it has recently presented a case against Nigel Stepney and an engineer from the Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes team [named by Autosport.com as Coughlan] with the Modena Tribunal, concerning the theft of technical information. Furthermore, legal action has been instigated in England and a search warrant has been issued concerning the engineer” The High Court case in England was dropped after Ferrari reached an agreement with the Coughlans late on 10 July 2007: Ferrari dropped its High Court case in return for their full disclosure of all they know about the case and a promise of future cooperation. See also: https://www.wired.com/2008/05/ff-formulaone/ Rgds
I would add that there Alonso went a bit further. I believe he was aproached by Ferrari (or he aproached them, not sure) and he told everything he knew, with the promise that he would not be implicated and that he would get a drive in a Ferrari, because by then, he knew his time with Mclaren was over. This information helped Ferrari to put Mclaren against the wall, and they had to pay (thanks mercedes) a lot to get off the hook. Alonso thought he would get a Ferrari drive for 2009 but Luca told him to **** off, that's why he was o angry when Ferrari anounced it's lineup for 2009, and said he would not believe promises anymore! However, luck in the hands of Botin from Santander steped in, and basicly they bought Alonso a seat in return for an obscene amount of money!! Still it was bad deal if you ask me!
Crashgate, Singapore 2008..after that stunt from Flavio and Nando I really lost respect for Nando..who still denies he had any knowledge of the whole thing!
