Alonso: Difficult to predict championship success with Ferrari
- Published on 04 Feb 2019 09:05
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- By: Fergal Walsh
Fernando Alonso says that it is not easy to say if he would have won the Formula 1 world championship over the last two years with Ferrari. Alonso left the Scuderia outfit at the end of the 2014 season, and was replaced by four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel.
Vettel contested for the world title in 2017 and 2018 but a dip in form in the second half of the season saw Lewis Hamilton claim back-to-back championships. But Alonso says it is impossible to guess whether or not he would have done a better job than Vettel.
"These are difficult predictions," he told Corriere della Sera. “Who is ahead, fighting to win and always has everything to lose. And everyone is wrong. Perhaps he lost important points but Hamilton also lost them and Vettel did much better than Raikkonen, he fought until the end. He is a champion.
“When he won four World titles everyone spoke of him as a phenomenon and now the same happens with Hamilton. The truth is that it’s never easy when you’ve got such massive attention and pressure on you.”
Alonso opted to walk away from F1 at the end of the 2019 season but hasn't ruled out the possibility of returning in the future. The double-world champion will still be watching the sport closely, and when asked what he is looking forward to the most from F1 in 2019, he replied: “Robert Kubica.
“His story is unbelievable. Up until a few months ago Robert seemed to have lost all possibility. He will drive like he has nothing to lose because that is the case.”
"Then there is Leclerc at Ferrari. He’s young, intelligent and talented. Learn to score points, to help the team, to know that the title is only decided between July and September. Do not be in a hurry and control his excitement and emotion.”
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Replies (10)
Login to replymcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
Here is the conundrum. Alonso would have won the cup with 2018 Ferrari. But, with him being in the team, Ferrari might not have produced a good car like SF71H.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Its a really funny riddle, innit? You can win if you have Alonso in the car, yet Alonso will curse the team and make the car shitty.
mcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
Its always tricky with Alonso..
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
If there is a god, and he has a plan, I'd love to see him when he created Alonso. He'd be just like "this fella in particular, shall get two titles, no more or less. Shall he ever get more chances than two, he shalt fail", and then he'd just have this stamp, and every time Alonso would switch team, God would put the stamp on it, and make them produce mediocre cars. And I don't know why that cracks me up so much.
mcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
Haha. He must be an experiment with 2 ounces of talent, 2 ounces of irony.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
I think you overestimate a drivers ability to influence the direction of development. I don't think that Alonso or any other driver for that matter could have prevented Ferrari from developing a great car.
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
And you underestimate it.
Danimal5981
Posts: 579
8 points between two and five world titles. He missed it by 1 point in 2007, 4 points in 2010 and 3 points in 2012. Together with Nigel Mansell, he's one of those drivers who's number of world titles does not reflect his actual skills and greatness as a driver. But he's one who's in the know and I'm glad to hear him say he's looking forward to see Kubica race, as am I.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
+1
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
True, but given Alonso's track record in being able to make good decisions when it comes to the future results of a team, basically you can't really take much of what he says into account besides, "These are difficult predictions."