And what dream of coming second? With Honda being the only new PU maker and going down a different path, there is a possibility that they will beat Mercedes. Mercedes is not unbeatable, unless you started with a Renault or Ferrari engine/PU. Admittedly Ferrari are slowly getting closer but their concept is very similar to Mercedes so any improvements they find, Mercedes can too! Pete
Alonso will stop at nothing and will continue to criticize Ferrari. I wonder what he will say when suddenly Seb by chance wins the WDC this year. I mean, he's the only person in this world who feels finishing in 10-12th place is better than finishing 2nd or 3rd in a race. It's pure sour grapes. I think first of all he needs to change his attitude. He's always complaining and whining about something. I think he will be known only for a 2 time WDC at Renault. That's all. All other team he went too after that, he quit.
+1 - 5 yrs is enormous in terms of a drivers career. Anyone here think FA did not give it 100% at Ferrari? He did you know it and he left. Let me know how long he should have stayed and continued to drive as no other can in a second rate car yielding first rate results. He made the effort. That is all you can ask.
Remy, That is not what he said. He's talking about potential and the frustration of broken promises. Lets not forget that Ferrari forgot how to win WDC's for 21 YEARS! so we are not talking about a team that is always winning and just a little more patience is required. The only thing he did wrong at Ferrari is publically criticise them. Yes, he should not have done this. Potentially correct. I don't consider 5 years of driving his @rse off for Ferrari quitting. Again try and for a few seconds stop being an Alonso hater (a very common thing on this site. I guess Prost is also hated here because he was honest about Ferrari ...) and consider 5 years of broken promises and constantly coming 2nd. He quit McLaren (the first time) yes, but I would have too with the way he was treated. Pete
Correct. He cannot design the car himself. Neither can LH or Vettel. LH's move to Mercedes was extremely fortuitous! If Webber had made that move, for example, instead of retiring we all would be re-evaluating him as a driver. Pete
Before Alonso and Prost, Surtees, Ickx and Amon also left because of constant frustration and internal politics at Ferrari. They all showed promises (and a WDC for Big John) but were let down at the Scuderia. Public criticism is just not allowed at Maranello, and venting your frustration is tantamount to disloyalty. Sometimes the power to be at the Scuderia are their worst enemy. Lauda just landed at Ferrari at the right time, and that didn't last long either. He also left in acrymony. I think Schekter was also glad to call it a day.
Ferrari wouldn't have to make Me any promises to drive for them, I'd do it for free purely for the love of Ferrari! As Gerhard Berger once said (From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isr_fUuXpzo @ 13:59 ) : "Err...I think the most important is to win............But err....I think sometimes it's even more nice not to win but to drive for Ferrari!" Put it this way, I'd rather lose in a Ferrari than win in any other car on the grid!
I will never understand that mentality; a driver should think about his career first, and not be servile to any team.
I've always admired those stars that, no matter how good they are, always act and remember that the team comes first.
Well, i think Schumacher put the team above the rest. I remember his quote saying that the tifosi deserves everything he and the team puts in together. Some sort like that line.
Then you do not understand what it is to truly love something! My love for Ferrari means that for my entire life, they will be the only team that will matter to Me! They have My complete and total loyalty, just as the love of My life does! It makes no difference to Me how well other teams do, I will only ever support Ferrari and never stray elsewhere. If I were an F1 driver, My attitude would be the same, I would rather come second in a Ferrari than win with anyone else! Gilles Villeneuve drove some of the worse F1 Ferraris of all time, but he didn't walk away from the Scuderia, he battled on with them, often fighting the car to get a decent result - And that made him a Ferrari and F1 legend. Michael Schumacher joined a mediocre at best Ferrari team, worked and battled hard, and made them Champions again. He didn't walk away because thing were just that bit too hard every season! He joined Ferrari at the start of the 1996 season and had to wait until the end of the 2000 season before becoming a Ferrari WDC. He didn't walk away from the Scuderia in that time because he was "fed up coming second every year". He battled on until he achieved his goal of winning the WDC with Ferrari. Unlike Alonso, Schumacher didn't simply walk away to find another team where it would be easier to win the WDC, he battled on to win it with Ferrari, and that makes him a Ferrari and F1 legend! Alonso on the other hand simply gave up because it got hard trying to win a WDC with Ferrari, and went elsewhere in the hope of an easier WDC win. That for Me rules him out as a Ferrari/F1 legend (It doesn't rule him out as being a great driver though!). Let's simplify this though william: If winning is all that matters to you, do you stick with your one favourite team/driver every race, regardless of how well they're doing, or do you chop and change to whoever is winning at the time? If you're loyal to one driver or team regardless of results, then why should it be any different for others, including racing drivers? If a driver would rather finish second in a Ferrari than win with any other team, how is that any different to you sticking by your favourite team/driver regardless of results?
But he didn't help Irvine win the WDC in 1999 which was a possibility ... ensuring they won the WCC only. So yes he supported the team but that was because he knew that a team that functions effectively and is bonded is the best way for him to become a WDC with them. No driver is in love with their team, it is a you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours situation. Even if they grew up as Tifosi a few seasons of frustration will sour that ... winning is what they love. Pete
Agree. I think he liked the challenge. To put this into perspective, Schumacher should have won in 1997 but broke under the pressure. He also would have won in 1999 if he had not missed his braking point by something like 200 metres after a sometimes typical poor start. You have missed the broken promises part that frustrated Alonso. I suspect Todt may not have made promises he could not keep ... maybe? Pete
You are entitled to your opinion, of course, but many drivers have gone through Ferrari and don't share your obsession for Ferrari. It's ONLY a team after all, not a religion! Just tell me why a driver should sacrify everything to a team, without knowing if the team will still keep him after a few years? Hasn't the Scuderia sacked some drivers at the earliest oportunity sometimes? So why should a driver stay loyal to the Scuderia, if he thinks he can expect better elsewhere? Racing drivers have a very short lifespan and should capitalise on the 10 years they have to gather success, if they feel it's within their grasp, not stay loyal to a team which may be at a low ebb and produce ni winning car. Fangio joined Ferrari and left after one year; he had 5 WDCs to his name. I doubt if he could have achieved that at Ferrari. 1961 WDC Phil Hill left Ferrari and raced for other teams. 1964 WDC Surtees left Ferrari too. Both traitors maybe ? There are rumours that Villeneuve was looking for another team after the Imola incident, but we will never know. Schumacher had already 2 WDCs when he was lured by Ferrari's offer. Probably that Benetton couldn't match that, so he signed a multi-year contract and made the most of it. Well done. But hang on, didn't he leave Ferrari to race for Mercedes afterwards?
Remember his first F1 test was with McLaren and they didn't take him on ... what a mistake! If they had history would be completely different. He didn't own any person Ferraris (I believe), just his company cars ... so I don't think he loved Ferrari like you do at all, but he loved racing big time! and maybe grew to love the racing team but there is no proof that he grew up idolising Ferrari the cars. He and Enzo though did have some sort of a bond (again I believe). Pete
A) I don't. I occasionally "follow" some drivers according to their skills, their previous experiences, their nationality, their personalities, etc... I am mostly interested in the racing, not the team/drivers hype. B) I am loyal to no one!!! C) To me, he is wasting his talent by not trying to get the best car! But money may have a role in it.
The cold hard facts are that while Schumacher was at Ferrari he was really racing Benetton's painted red after all the Benetton people followed him ... I love Italian's attitude to motorsport and respect how Ferrari has never given up and are always close-ish to competitive but gee they really aren't that good at it. It is romantic and passionate stuff, which is not the way to go about it, but isn't it great . The Ferrari that Fangio won in in 1956 was hardly the best car but Fangio being Fangio he made it win and then quickly left. Always felt sorry for Maserati that he didn't go there in '56 as then they would have had 2 WDC's to their name as they really should have had '54 as well because he did some of the races in their cars while Mercedes was finishing their car ... Pete
Alonso has been in F1 for a long time and knows Ferrari and it's reputation far too well for these alleged rumours to be the cause of his leaving Ferrari! (If he was naive enough to believe that they were getting Adrian Newey to join the team, then I have some genuine magic beans to sell him!). My reckoning is: He heard a rumour that that Roberg's seat at Mercedes might be available and saw the possibility of an easier chance to win a WDC and so made himself available by walking out on Ferrari. When he realised the Mercedes seat was not going to be available, his options were to go back to Ferrari with his tail between his legs (highly unlikely he could do that!), take a year off and hope to get a competitive seat the following season, or throw the dice on McLaren/Honda, hoping that they would come in with a package that could challenge Mercedes from day one. He threw the dice and threw craps! Face facts: Things got tough at McLaren first time round and he walked away! Things were tough at Ferrari and guess what, he walked away! Things are tough again at McLaren and already he has laid the foundations for a sharp exit if things do not improve by talking about other possibilities outside of F1. If things do remain tough at McLaren, I wonder what he'll do?
I seriously hope you're not married then! Personally, I find loyalty to be a wonderful virtue in a person, and those without loyalty are not to be trusted! If only Alonso showed a bit of loyalty then I might respect him more!
Exactly! If Honda are still not winning races in 5 years time, or at least in the hunt for race wins, then they'll walk away and spend the money on trying to wrestle the MotoGP titles back from Yamaha! (It's kind of funny how since they've gone back into F1 their MotoGP efforts seem to have gone awry!)
