Is Alonso overrated?

Nobody said anyone needed to present evidence to support an opinion. But if people are going to present opinions, speculation, and innuendo as fact, that needs to be supported. Otherwise, what's the point of discussing anything at all? If we can't discuss things rationally and with some degree of intellectual integrity, then why bother?

Re: molding teams around you and creating extreme loyalty within the team, there are numerous accounts out there of team members and other drivers praising Alonso for doing just that.

 

He's gone. Old news. Why waste time on him until/unless he decides to come back in 2020?

 

Really? never heard a single one...o yes, my bad, Briatore!

 

Fernando who?

 

Paddy Lowe, for one, very recently.

Among others praising Alonso, just off the top of my head. Many of them on numerous occasions...

Niki Lauda, Mario Andretti, Toto Wolff, Dieter Zetsche, Luca de Montezemolo, Stefano Domenicali, Helmut Marko, Giancarlo Minardi, Sir Frank Williams, Bob Bell, Pat Symonds, Bernie Ecclestone, Ross Brawn, Martin Whitmarsh, Ron Dennis, Zak Brown, Eric Boullier, Jackie Stewart, Alain Prost, Felipe Massa, Robert Kubica, Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Andrea Stella, Rob Smedley, Willi Weber, Damon Hill, Emilio De Villota, Nigel Roebuck, Pat Fry, Gerard Neveu, Sergio Perez, Esteban Ocon, Mika Salo, Pedro de la Rosa, Jorge Lorenzo, Emmerson Fitipaldi, Nico Hülkenberg, David Coulthard, Martin Brundle, Ant Davidson, Alexander Rossi, Juan Pablo Montoya, Mark Webber, Giancarlo Fisichella, Carlos Sainz, Carlos Sainz, Jr., Rubens Barrichello, Jarno Trulli, Gerhard Berger, Joan Villadelprat, Gabriele Tredozi, Cesare Fiorio..........

 

My thinking is Fred saw that disaster of a race this last weekend and realized doing a complete Indy car season is not for him. He may race in the 500 and that's it.

I cannot see Fred getting excited to race ovals for a crowd of 10,000 spectators for no money or glory on a track as dangerous as these. He will race the 500 but never try to be an Indycar champion.

 

Is Indycar public attendance that bad? You mention crowd of 10,000 ...

 

Stands very empty for that race. NASCAR blows indycar away in attendance.

 

i think you are a bit confused, becqause i can't recall anyone saying he was good creating a team around him..except Briataore....they might have said he was a very talented driver...other than that is just fantasy...

 

Links, please !!!
Evidences !!!

 

I'm not confused.

Paddy Lowe, just the other day...
https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/45189980
"He has more spare capacity while driving than anyone I have ever worked with. He's a leader. He's the only driver I've ever met who came into the team and said he was going to call a meeting with the engineers. And he did it. He called a meeting with 15 engineers and chaired it. I've never seen that before. He has people batting for him because he organises it."

The rest of those people I listed above spoke favorably of Alonso in a variety of ways, but here are a couple more...

Stefano Domenicali...
http://www.as.com/motor/articulo/vettel-hamilton-alonso-mejor/20110806dasdaimot_1/Tes
"For me Fernando is the best because he always offers more, he is a born motivator, and his work is very focused on improving. It is clear that Vettel or Hamilton are great drivers, very good, but Alonso is the best. The three of them are undoubtedly the best three on the grid."

Eric Boullier...
https://www.motor.es/formula-1/por-que-fernando-alonso-parece-mejor-piloto-eric-boullier-responde-201742105.html
"He is able to extract 100% of his car. From the first round. It is the complete pilot. His technical contribution, the way he motivates and pushes others to do better, the fact that you can trust him, without mistakes, for us is invaluable."

Rob Smedley...
https://www.crash.net/f1/news/209845/1/smedley-alonso-not-a-disruptive-character
"No, no, he's not disruptive at all," Smedley said. "I think he's pretty coherent in his views and he knows what he wants, but most people who are very good at their job do and I think that's a strength as well. He doesn't waver from what he wants, he's mentally very strong, able to adapt to whatever the regulations are; he'll get on top of it and he'll ring 100% out of the car, if not more. I think he tends to amalgamate people just because of how good he is.

And Smedley admits he is surprised by the movement at Ferrari which is set to see Sebastian Vettel replace Alonso next season.
"I have often gone on record as saying I think Fernando is the very best driver of his generation. I'm a massive fan of his, I would go as far to say if not ever, he's that good. He brings so much performance to the team. I am very much surprised that they've parted ways. It was obviously a mutual agreement, or disagreement, whatever you want to call it.

"So I am a little bit surprised but that's their business. I hope - for the sport really - that he finds a top seat. I would echo his ambitions as well that I hope he does get another couple of championships under his belt before he retires because he deserves it, he's that good."

Smedley also believes that many of the Ferrari team were motivated to perform to their best by having someone of Alonso's ability driving for them.

"I think by pure proxy of his talent he tends to motivate people. When you're at the absolute top of your game, when there's not many people who can come near you that's just motivation in itself. If you're very excellent at what you do, in whatever walk of life or guise within Formula One - be it driver, engineer, technician, anything - I think if you work with people with very, very high talent, what it does is forces everyone around you to raise their game as well. I think that's where the motivation of working with Fernando comes from."

 

Not a problem. I don't talk outta my ass.

 

We forget its Ron Dennis who wanted Alonso back at Mclaren. Aside from Hamilton, every teammate of Alonso had nothing but good things to say.

 

Yep. And both Lewis and Fernando have a lot of good things to say about one another these days as well.

 

Yep, take a look at this link, I say Hamilton has respect for Alonso.

https://www.grandprix247.com/2017/11/17/hamilton-the-only-teammate-i-learned-from-was-alonso/

 

It's Honda who wanted Alonso on board.
Until then, McLaren had Button as team leader and he didn't look very convincing to the Japanese.
If only they knew they had invited a viper in their nest ...

 

Huh. I remember Jenson criticizing the Honda PU as well, and other McLaren folks. Also, it seems Honda has no problem with the 'viper' continuing to drive cars with its engines onboard.

 

Oh yeah, I guess this one slipped my mind...

Andrea Stella...
https://www.autosport.com/f1/feature/8408/who-is-fernando-alonso-really?_ga=2.158327674.1168806139.1534879765-2029649746.1534879765
"...He was technically very prepared, but it was not like he wanted to know everything or wanted to check everything. He gave straight away quite a lot of trust to his engineers and trust in people around him. I was surprised. I was expecting him to be very fussy, but he was very relaxed and open-minded. ....

You see the pleasure in the guys who work with him. They love him. It's the combination of his skills - technical skills, because as an engineer there is a strong interest to learn the details of going quickly, and with Fernando he is particularly interesting because he has an awareness of his contribution and the car's contribution.

"He knows when he's driving around problems, and if you then capitalise on this quality as an engineer you can become stronger. This is one of the reasons why we performed strongly in most of the races we have done.

"I worked with Michael Schumacher and he was so naturally talented, sometimes it was difficult for the team to understand that he was driving around the problem and what the car limitation was, so sometimes you could be in completely the wrong position following what Michael was suggesting. With Fernando, normally it was not like this.

"I've always thought that he is much cleverer than me. If he had studied instead of spending most of his youth going around with go-karts, his achievements from an educational point of view would have been better than a lot of people who are now engineers."

 

Using Bouillier to prove your point is not a good idea!
Try Aldo Costa or Felipe Massa, Lauda or Wolf, Horner or Marko, Piquet, etc, etc...

 

First you say Briatore was the only one who would say such a thing. Then I quote 5 people supporting my case, and you ignore 4 of them and impugn the other without reasoning. Then you throw out another list of guys, half of whom I already mentioned as being on record complimenting Alonso. Marko & Horner tried to sign him. Massa praises him repeatedly, as does Lauda. LOL. So it goes ...

 

Liberty wants Alonso to be F1 ambassador

AUGUST 22, 2018


F1 commercial boss Sean Bratches wants Fernando Alonso to remain in the sport as an ambassador.

The two-time champion is quitting at the end of the year, declaring that "When the talking is more about politics and bad radio messages, I think there are other things that give me more action and happiness".

Alonso is tipped to switch full-time to Indycar.

Bratches, Liberty Media's F1 commercial chief, said he is disappointed.

"I hope that we can keep him as an ambassador so that he can help to bring this great sport forward," he is quoted by the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.

"I had hoped he would be here for ten years more. He's a hero and a legend and he's meant so much to the sport."

Bratches said Alonso has a point about how predictable F1 has become.

"Alonso is right," he said. "But there is certainly a chance now to make the sport less predictable and we are going to work on that."

 

The long list of folks saying how amazing Teflonso is/was is impressive..

Only problem is where are the teams queuing up to employ him?That list is somewhat vertically challenged.

 

The top teams don't want to upset their star drivers by pairing them with anything other than a "sensational wingman". Otherwise I think you'd have seen Ricciardo and/or Alonso in new F1 seats.

 

better read what they said again..you seem a bit confused......

Massa quoted:

"...I had a close relationship with Michael. I was young and eager to absorb all the knowledge of a seven-time champion, and Schumacher treated me very well.” – the former Ferrari driver added.

“But I had to wrestle with Fernando in a different way. Outside of the race car, I had zero problems with Alonso, we have always maintained a healthy working relationship. With Fernando, that’s one thing. If he pulls down his visor, he becomes another person. He can split a team. We saw that in many racing teams he drove for. I see that as his problem. Maybe he could have made more of his talent without this trait” – concluded Felipe Massa, echoing the general consensus in the Formula 1 paddock."

Lauda quoted:

"...
Lauda, a non-executive chairman at the Mercedes team, says Vettel is exactly what Ferrari needed, labeling Alonso as "dark".

"Alonso is egocentric, dark and grumpy," Lauda told the Repubblica newspaper.

"He's also quite negative. Last year right after the races finished he started criticising: this doesn't work, there's a problem there, this is why we are not winning.

"How can you keep the morale of a team up if the driver just says bad things? Everybody knows it: if you are racing for Italy that's an attitude you can't afford.

"Maybe somewhere else they can ignore the criticism, but not at Maranello and its surroundings. Vettel is sunny, Alonso is dark.

"He made the wrong decision. He pushed himself into the abyss."

Helmut marko:

"So far, Marko is pleased with the information he has received about Honda via Red Bull’s sister team, though he admits that the Japanese brand’s image and goodwill were heavily damaged during its partnership with McLaren—thanks, he believes, in no small part to Fernando Alonso"

Aldo costa:

"
Speaking of Fernando Alonso, with whom he worked at Ferrari in the Spaniard’s first two seasons there, Costa says,

“I consider Fernando a true great when he is in the car, driving. Out of the car, I was never able to understand him; to me he is an indecipherable character, an enigma."