Motorsport Off Topic Thread

Arguably, Alonso could have won a couple of titles in his Ferrari years if he had a team mate who was better at stealing points off his rivals.

What Alonso needs is a team mate who is just slower than him. Ideally he wants his team mate to finish 1 place behind him every race, and ahead of his rivals when Alonso DNFs.

Maybe with Kimi they think they have that?

Of course the risk is you do a McLaren and have 2 equal drivers, neither of which constantly out perform the rivals.
 
Skeeter said:
Best tell Alonso, Kimi and Button to pack their bags too, then. And Webber should have been out years ago.

Alonso is only 3 months younger than Massa.
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big difference - they won championships. however I am not so sure they will win anymore, and their career has already reached their climax. to clarify, I think the teams should keep them on board because they can still produce as well as knowing the team; however I would not hire them if they weren't in team already ie McLaren recruits Alsonso or Ferrari recruits Kimi or JB, since their expiry date is inevitable.

as for Webber, even he admits he has lost his motivation after 2010 season and is retirement from f1 was probably overdue http://www.espn.co.uk/redbull/motorsport/story/125251.html

PS it will be funny next year when Alonso gets irritated because he is stuck in the simulator doing all the work since Kimi doesn't do simulators ROFL. not sure how much more real life testing will be allowed next year though, which ofc could change mid way through the season as Red Bull outfund everyone, and backmarkers struggle to make engine payments ;)
 
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http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/109944

"I'm not in a position to be specific about what's happening, but I can say that both Kevin Magnussen and Stoffel Vandoorne - who are currently dominating the World Series championship - are really exciting prospects for the future," Neale said during a Vodafone teleconference.

"I think it behoves us as a sport to make sure that both those two fantastic individuals find their way into Formula 1.

"Certainly on current performance you'd expect them both to get there."
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If they actually get there next year is another story. At best they'll probably place one at Marussia (or a third driver role) and the other in GP2.
 
Button is now at McLaren for next year...

http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/2...rms-his-2014-mclaren-contract-is-now-in-place

While there has never been any serious doubt over Button's position at the team for next season, it emerged at the Belgian GP last month that that the option McLaren had on the Briton's services for next season under the terms of his existing contract had yet to be officially activated.

Button told Sky Sports News in Singapore on Wednesday that there was "no issue" between either party over the state of his contract, and on Thursday went one step further by telling Rachel Brookes : "It's done, I'll be here next year."
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Alonso to McLaren?
I still believe that McLaren lack ambition and will not sign a top-line driver.

From Alonso's point of view though, a move to McLaren has got to be tempting.
Button is past his best, so he won't get much competition from Button.
And if he plays his cards right during negotiation, he can force McLaren to give him preferential treatment.

And considering that he has given 4 of his best years to Ferrari, with no title - at some point he has to move to a new team to attempt to revive his career, which appears to be on pause.

Based on the last 4 years, I just cant see Alonso beating Vettel/RBR, in a Ferrari.

Realistically, I think Alonso will stay at Ferrari and we should be in for some fireworks next year. I read some articles stating that the driver pairing of Alonso and Kimi next year is amongst the strongest driver pairings of all time, so I'm certainly looking forward to inter-team battle in 2014.
 
sunama said:
And if he plays his cards right during negotiation, he can force McLaren to give him preferential treatment.
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They didn't give him preferential treatment back then. And they certainly wont now especially with a British driver. That would just alienate all the Macca fans (who Im guessing the majority are British).

Also:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/109990
 
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I doubt Alonso will go anywhere, except Red Bull; but that will not happen in 2014.

I don't think Kimi is as good as Alonso, plus Alonso speaks Italian which counts for a lot at Ferrari
 
Cavallino said:
They didn't give him preferential treatment back then. And they certainly wont now especially with a British driver. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/109990
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Back then, McLaren were playing happy families. R.Dennis in particular was treating Hamilton like his own son.

In 2014, if they bring in a top line driver (who was previously fired), it would mean that they want to win at any cost. However, as I previously stated, I do not believe that McLaren have the ambition to win, under the current management. The win at all costs attitude simply isn't there right now - something which Hamilton perhaps, realised, which sparked his move out of the team.

Ferrari, Merc and RBR do have the win at all costs attitude, which is why they take risks in their designs (risk of getting banned). McLaren take less risks. The most recent example of risk taking and ambition is when Merc risked a huge fine, by carrying out a tyre test, after a disastrous Malaysian GP (I think it was the Malaysian GP). It was a calculated gamble, which paid off. McLaren would never have done something like that.

I think that partly the reason for this risk-averse attitude which McLaren currently have, is due to the huge fine they received in 2007. After that fine, I'm sure procedures were brought in to reduce the risk of getting caught out doing something, which they shouldn't. I partly understand this attitude. US$100M can bring most teams to their knees. Earlier this year, after Merc's illegal tyre test, Merc stated that if they get a huge fine, they may quit F1.

Anyway, I am hoping that Alonso stays at Ferrari for at least 2014, if only to see the inter-team battle between him and Kimi. We may see Alonso pushed to even greater heights.
 
Skeeter said:
Depends what he's saying in Italian really...
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Hehehe. Yep.
Back in 1991 Winter, Prost, who was rated as the best driver in F1 (perhaps just behind Senna), was ousted from Ferrrari, due to Prost's criticism of the team.
So, Ferrari do have past form of getting rid of drivers who are not behaving themselves.

Skeeter said:
Kimi is the only one of the pair to have taken a title back to Maranello.
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Yep. Though to be fair, Ferrari in 2007 were not up against an all-conquering RBR team or a driver like Vettel. Kimi had to battle with the McLaren drivers who were bickering between each other and a team who were not on speaking terms with Alonso (which was quite bizarre in itself).

That doesnt take away from the fact that Kimi is a top-line driver whose consistency over the last year or so, is unmatched.
 
Fernando Alonso believes the change in tyre construction midway through this season was the point at which Ferrari's title hopes fell apart.

Pirelli got clearance from all the teams to revert to its 2012 tyre construction after the 2013 design suffered multiple blowouts during the British Grand Prix. When racing on the performance-orientated but quick-degrading 2013 construction Alonso won in China and Spain, but the more stable 2012 specification has seen Red Bull eke out an even bigger advantage in recent rounds.

"I think we started in a good way, we were competitive in Australia, maybe not in qualifying but in the race we were taking care of the tyres very very well, together with Lotus," Alonso explained. "We won in China, we won in Spain and then we seemed to lose a little bit of performance, especially when the 2012 Pirelli tyres came back so that was probably our point in the championship; when they changed the tyres, we said bye bye."
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I remember when Ferrari complained about Michelin in 2003 making them change tyres before Monza, the sheer hatred Ferrari got for doing this in the media and by fans was amazing......
 
^agree with alonso

that tyre switch effectively ended the championship hopes of ferrari and lotus. it swung to merc and RBR. RBR were not as harsh as merc on thier tyres and the modest change just sat perfectly with them

shame
 
Mr Men said:
I remember when Ferrari complained about Michelin in 2003 making them change tyres before Monza, the sheer hatred Ferrari got for doing this in the media and by fans was amazing......
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Yes but there was a valid reason for it if I recall. Something about the pressure in the tyres being less than the Bridgestones which in turn created more surface area for the rubber to make contact and grip to the tarmac, hence better cornering (and the surface area making contact was larger than was allowed in the rules).

Read an article in F1 magazine about it, but that was, 10 years go?

Man cant believe its been that long.
 
GT Academy Team Wins Two World Championships

imagine this

aoSuvmc.jpg
 
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