Le Mans 2018

Well said. You could say that Alonso ruined his career by his attitude and left a bad smell everywhere he went. The guy is just not a team player, and remains for me Ron Dennis' biggest mistake. Twice he recruited him, FFS !!!
It looks like Zak Brown has now succumbed to his whims, at the expense of Team McLaren.

 

It's very simple:

Whilst Toyota's victory has an asterisk behind it, Alonso/Buemi/Nakayima certainly does not. They raced against an identical car, neither had a mechanical issue or had a ''hold station'' order of any kind. It was a deserved victory.

Alonso's night stint stood out to me. To have an average stint that quick is astonishing, especially for a car he has little time (comparatively) in, same goes for the series and style of racing. Mighty impressive.

 

I was never a fan of him when he was at Renault, Mclaren or Ferrari...but seems to me his last stint at Mclaren has brought him some much needed humility. I quite enjoy seeing him race now.

 

At McLaren he is simply destroying the team, IMO.

 

Has been going since August 25, 2008

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/the-alonso-sucks-thread.210523/

 

Shhh don't tell the haters

 

I don't see how he's responsible for it. Mclaren stuck with a concept that the Honda engine simply couldn't adapt to. Mclaren very loudly proclaimed that they had the best chassis and great aero, so with a better engine they'd be up there fighting with the Ferraris, Mercedes and Red Bulls....now they've got a shiny new engine and guess what? They're the slowest Renault team. And the Honda equipped Toro Rosso, with young, inexperienced drivers is suddenly doing a whole lot better.

When Mclaren had the Mercedes hybrid engine they where nowhere near the top 4 teams, well behind Mercedes and Williams.

There are some issues within Mclaren, but I highly doubt Alonso is the core of it. In fact I think Alonso even helped mask some of the issues.

 

Since he realised his renewed association with McLaren wasn't a success, Alonso hasn't stopped criticising the team, its engine partner, by going to the media to complain,, making ostentatious displays to ridicule Honda (the deckchair incident was very negatively interpreted in Japan), and humiliating the people who were paying his retainer. Alonso has undermined Ron Dennis' position, and probably caused his departure; fair enough, but that was only the start. He also probably engineered the break-up with Honda, and the loss of $100m in the team yearly budget. Alonso also created a negative atmosphere at McLaren by insisting in satisfying his own ambition, and not dedicating his energy solely on F1. The 2017 Indy experience (at the expense of the Monaco GP) for example, and this year Le Mans. Now, he insists in pursuing F1 and WEC programme in future, showing that he isn't focused in serving McLaren to the best of his ability. Faced with constant criticism, several essential staffs have left the technical team, mentioning the lack of focus in the company. It's obvious to outsiders, that Alonso leads Zak Brown by the nose , and influences too much the company aims. It's not Team McLaren anymore, but Team Alonso. Zak Brown is a sponsor chaser, not a company manager, but he is scared of losing "the best driver". LOL . The divorce with Honda was to appease Alonso. Now the Honda engine sometimes beat a McLaren, at the back of a Toro Rosso! Things were supposed to be better, but McLaren is still struggling . Beside, the Spaniard deliberately keeps the management in the dark about his future and refuses to say if he wants to leave, or will stay. The same tactic he used at Ferrari towards the end. All this demoralises the workforce at McLaren, where a shop-floor revolt is slowly brewing. The staff wants Brown out and Whindmarsh back, would you believe? But most deplore Alonso's role in the decline of the team. There are even talks of Vandoorne wanting to leave, in spite of getting well paid.

 

I seriously doubt Alonso engineers the cars. The design team of Mclaren have stuck with their ridiculous, non working concept. The theory behind it never worked but they still tried to enforce it. I don't think Alonso is the one that said ''if you abandon this concept I will leave the team''. He wants them to do well. F1 staff move around all the time. If valued staff get a similar (or better) job offer at other teams I understand them taking it, especially if Mclaren is still trying to prove their concept works (it doesn't).

Is he the one that made Honda leave and cost 100m sponsorship? I've got my doubts, sorry.

Indy 2017....imagine if they did win it? A Mclaren liveried car. Attendance, people watching it etc was up massively. They had a great shot at winning, until the engine went pop. Still it was great publicity.

I don't see pursuing WEC this year as an issue....none of the weekends interfere with F1.

We don't know if he keeps Mclaren Management in the dark whether he stays or goes next year. Maybe they already know, but choose their own time when to announce Alonso leaving. It was the same in 2014 with Vettel and Alonso, Red Bull already knew months before that Vettel was leaving for Ferrari, they all knew he was taking Alonso's seat. It wasn't like Ferrari was scrambling for a driver when Alonso said he was leaving...everything was set in motion, signed and delivered months beforehand.

 

Well, I am not surprised that you don't agree with me that Alonso is undermining McLaren, demoralising the staff and conducting corridor politics as he did at Ferrari before. You like Alonso, and I have seen through him for a long time. His attitude in 2007 and his part in the Singapore GP enquiry told me all I needed to know.
Certainly not a driver I will miss when he retires.

Fernando Alonso is the new Achile Varzi.

 

You have no idea if this is true. Baseless speculation.

You have no idea if this is true. Quite the reach. Baseless speculation.

Are you on the team? You have no idea what the team atmosphere is at McLaren. Baseless speculation. In fact, the Indy run and LeMans run have been sources of very good press for McLaren. They were quite eager to slap their name all over his Indy car and quickly posted to their team social media page about his LeMans win.

You have no idea if this is true. You are not on the team and have no idea what went on in their shareholders meetings. I doubt McLaren's investors were pleased with the Honda years.

What he says in the media and says to management are two different things. You have no idea what he's said to management. Baseless speculation.

Sources?


This entire post has no basis in fact, it's just you rambling and speculating. No offense, but I really hope you're not a lawyer LOL

 

Again, you are condemning another person's OPINION because it does not match yours. How do YOU know that Alonso says one thing publicly and another to the team? Unless you're sitting in on team meetings, it is simply "baseless speculation."

...or, perhaps it's your opinion.

 

Your budding bromance with william is cute, I must say. I never declare he says one thing publicly and another to the team, I simply implied that is a possibility whereas william simply states he is keeping them in the dark without having insider knowledge, which is baseless speculation. Surely you are aware of the difference? Is English your first language? Not trying to be rude, but curious.

 

I used to loathe him. I like him now.

Would I support him over Vettel, Kimi, Max, Ric etc? Absolutely not.

 

That is fine with me. We all have our like and dislike. It's a matter of personality (theirs and ours), I think, and not of logic.

In a sense it is sad that Alonso got so little out of his talents, because of the way he managed his career. He was badly advised, I think.

 

He should've had more. Piss poor timing in picking teams and playing political games is what did him in in the end. Though he played his cars like he had to with Mclaren in 2007, everyone has been careful with him since.

 

You could say that Alonso's problems started when he met Hamilton at McLaren back in 2007.
Their careers went in opposing directions since.

 

Yes. Though not all is as it seems with what the British media have said on the whole situation....

 

All I know is that Hamilton picked the right team and got 3 WDC since, whilst Alonso's fortune have been fluctuating before heading downhill when he rejoined McLaren. I really don't know what Ron Dennis was thinking. For Goodness' sake, Alonso was the man who cost a fortune to McLaren, and created disharmony in the team. I try to imagine why Dennis thought he had no alternative; surely he could have recruited someone else. Much has been said that Honda had insisted in Alonso coming into the equation, and Ron Dennis had no choice but bowing to his partner. That must have been the case then.

Ferrari doesn't look like they miss him one bit. He had created chaos there too, and a few people left or were sacked because of him.
All this perfidy and back-stabbing put together doesn't make him a very sympathetic individual to me.
You can be a very talented driver, but if you show no loyalty to your entourage and are not a team player, you are not of great value.
This is my opinion.

 

Once again, miracles never cease! You sound like me. Maybe that's scary, eh?

 

Yep.

 

It’s because of comments like this:
Fernando Alonso: My Le Mans win was the greatest of all time

http://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/23861393/fernando-alonso-my-le-mans-win-was-greatest-all

The greatest win of all time racing against nobody. His desperation to stay relevant is just sad. That “all about me” attitude is what makes him so endearing to everyone.