Alonso is the true 2010 and 2012 WDC.
Alonso is the true 2010 and 2012 WDC.
Alonso is now IMO going for 1st former F1 driver, Billionaire $$$ . 17 yrs. and still driving and ready to hook up just about wherever he want's to. Briatore did a good job guiding the boy along. As far as complaining too much; just try to bring a top driver alongside Schumy Jr. and see who wins top honors in the swearing , cursing Ferrari Dept! I wish Alonso the best of luck even if he already has it.
Sad to see arguably the best talent on the grid leave, but who can blame him. He's not getting any younger, and he knows McLaren wont challenge for wins, let alone championships anytime soon. He doesn't have a contract option with a top team, so why stay? I imagine if he can get a contract with Ferrari, RBR, or Mercedes in 2020 he would return, but without that he'll try to fight in other racing venues. It will be exciting to see what he chooses to drive next year.
Great talented driver in terms driving skills. He was brilliant at Ferrari. I rate him on the level of MS.
Definitely deserved 2010 & 2012 WDC title.
But on personality terms, he did damage himself by showing too much of his character in front rather than team first. That made downfall of his selection to top teams again.
Anyways, all the best for his future commitments.
hockenheim 2018 / China 2018 : Never forget how quick Ferrari can lose it all, be humble.
Positivity doesn't win you championships, whining about people being negative makes you blind!
lol ignore the bitter old cows ;-)
When he started driving for Ferrari, that really helped reinvigorate my passion for F1, so thank you for that & all of the entertaining radio messages & that priceless meme. I was never really bothered by any of his so called 'political' personality & wish him success in his next venture, might even try to watch some indycar races if that's where he lands!
Going to miss you on the grid Nando!
Forza Ferrari !
"You need great passion, because everything you do with great pleasure, you do well." - Juan Manuel Fangio
Sainz to replace Alonso
Shame that the best driver in F1 never drove a competitive F1 car in recent years. I will never forget his brilliant 2012 season with Ferrari.Former Ferrari race engineer Rob Smedley says Fernando Alonso is "not disruptive at all" after being left surprised by his departure from Ferrari.
Alonso's exit has yet to be made official from the team but former Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo confirmed the news on Wednesday. Smedley - now head of vehicle performance at Williams - was race engineer to Felipe Massa while he was Alonso's Ferrari team-mate from 2010-2013 and says the Spaniard is not a difficult driver to work with.
"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."
"If someone said to me that you can have three wishes, my first would have been to get into racing, my second to be in Formula 1, my third to drive for Ferrari" - Gilles Villeneuve
If only Alonso had Ferrari’s current year car.....people easily forget. Yeah I hated him when he was driving for Renault as i did with vettel but when he came to Ferrari he managed almost 2 years with an inferior car to take the championship. I will never forget All the tears and passion. People forget but Alonso is no vettel....he was almost error free on starts like Hamilton and give out everything he got in every race while staying out of trouble. He was driving with passion but without being hotheaded. He squeezed every point he could collect without doing silly mistakes. Mostly it was cars unreliability or pit crews poor strategic choices that cost him points. ALONSO never had a car like these years Ferrari that can even fight and be dominant on qualify. He was struggling most of his years with an inferior car or on some races close to the Red Bull’s. All he managed to do was mostly because of his talent. And I ll say it again: if only Nando had this years car.....
Ps-to all these people talking on other topics about Alonso’s toxicity you forget the tears and sadness of Alonso when Ferrari didn’t renew his contract. Alonso’s problem is not Ferrari. He simply doesn’t like vettel and he hasn’t hide it...that’s all. Alonso was just unlucky to be on Ferrari under montezemelo years....
I will never forget. Thank you nando. You will be missed.
https://youtu.be/pOjd9JhIuZ8
Direct quote from a man who had actually worked with Alonso. And he was Feilpe's race engineer, he has no intentions in making Alonso a good guy.
No saying Fernando is a saint, far from it infact, but the rubbish about "toxicity" is nothing but a lie that generally comes from the Bieber-like fanbase of F1.
I think the main reason is that all the top teams are now following the same (imo stupid) plan, and that is to have a hired #2 driver to backup your goldenboy and move over when needed. (I believe RBR will not follow this path with a #2 for Max too)
Which is great for the teams as no friction, however it means until a top team grows some balls, we'll never see another Prost-Senna type battle within a team, which sucks for us fans.
Quite frankly I will miss Fernando and would have loved to see him drive with Seb, Hamilton or Verstappen.
Wasted talent arguably the best driver in F1 today should never have left us. Very sad
"Okay,...Jean is smarter than you....... can you confirm you understood that message" Bernie on the phone to Max circa 2009
Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines - Enzo Ferrari circa 1960
Alonso is a highly rated racer on the track and mentally too.....better than Hamiton. Give him a washing machine with a honda lawn mower engine and he'll drive the "dickens" out of it.
Professionally, he's terrible to work with.
The midjet did Alonso a favor letting him "Pass" on the hand shake. The midjet was , is, a "Legendary Bum!" He's working wonders for F-1 with the FIA.
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