Crown

The plot thickens. Surely he would love to move to a more competitive team. Ferrari have been having some real difficulty putting a top notch car together for some time.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/formulaone/article-2517110/McLaren-fly-meet-Fernando-Alonso.html

There is no chance in hell that is going to happen, especially McLaren.

Ferrari may not be competive but he is not guaranteed a competitive car in any other team other than RBR, so there is no reason to move to another team in that respect, and it is still posible for Ferrari to finally come out with a truly competitive car eventually. Money is not an issue either (he ears a lot more than Vettel for example). 

Fernando is likely to retire in Ferrari (unless something goes very wrong), he has never been happier in a team than with Ferrari, inspite the lack of a competitive car. Even when he doesn't win, you can see that he is still very happy (unlike before in other teams), and proud to be a part of the Scuderia. And the feeling is mutual from the Ferrai team towards Alonso.

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But if you looked at it from Alonso's point of view, it does make some sense.

He must of felt like with the addition of Kimi, his place as the #1 at Ferrari will not last, so instead of being stuck at #2, he can be top dog at McLaren, especially when the one who was faster, Hamilton, is long gone and he feels like Button is not a top tier opponent and with equal cars, he can handle Button with ease.

Kimi is pretty much considered the most talented, the most skillful driver in the current crop, and despite what Ferrari publicly says, they had always run with a #1-#2 system. Alonso will never feel comfortable with Kimi at Ferrari.

McLaren on the other hand always run the 2 drivers as 2 separate teams, this is more attractive to Alonso. 

I don't know... Never say never. He and the Ferrari bosses have had some public squabbles. I also agree with Whoopsy in that ego could play a big part in this.

Feel soooo bad for ZO.  Magnificent driver.   Ferrari is trying to sell the notion that their less than adequate wind tunnel set-up of the recent past has been determinative.  That's allegedly fixed now.  Truth, from my perspective is that Ferrari just can't match $$$$$ spent  by Mercedes, or $$ spent by Red Blue + their three pronged power base : Infinity, Renault  and Red Bull (  Newey!!!!  {and Vettel} ).  Don't think McL is much of an improvement.  Maybe the new specs for F1 will change ZO's fortunes but I seriously doubt it.  Gonna be out in the cold for of a long while unless Bernie fixes a Ferrari driver's championship.  Go Bernie 

There is no way Kimi is going to be nr 1 driver at Ferrari . He is talented, maybe more naturally talented then Alonso, but Fernando is a harder working driver + communicates much better with the engineers . Also, he will not accepts to be nr 2, his ego is way too big . I am sure he secured that on his contract .

I think Kimi will be nr 2 . Either he is ok with that and just wants to finish his career in a notorious and ' special' team, or he thinks that even like that he can be better then Alonso .  It will be very interesting to see what is going to happen .

Personally I am on in favor of nr 2 

 997.2 C2S, PDK, -20mm

You will be quickly No 1 if you have more points... - I truly hope for Kimi to have a competitive car - but my bet goes to Mercedes for 2014 - and of course RB with Adrian. btw : I was at London for the Autosport Award 2013 and Vettel made a hilarious speech making fun of Jean Todt (president of the world he said ) for charging him on the donut - "speaking french-english" with his tongue between the teeth - the guy is hilarious ! Was never a fan of him but must admit now that he's a supercool guy ! I think McLaren will be interesting with Honda in 2015 again.

Gnil:

There is no way Kimi is going to be nr 1 driver at Ferrari . He is talented, maybe more naturally talented then Alonso, but Fernando is a harder working driver + communicates much better with the engineers . Also, he will not accepts to be nr 2, his ego is way too big . I am sure he secured that on his contract .

I think Kimi will be nr 2 . Either he is ok with that and just wants to finish his career in a notorious and ' special' team, or he thinks that even like that he can be better then Alonso .  It will be very interesting to see what is going to happen .

Personally I am on in favor of nr 2 

Excatly. For Kimi have gone back to Ferrari, he must have had the "green light" of Alonso. Ferrari is now built around Alonso and Kimi is not the young new comer driver for which Ferrari want to prepare for a future Nº1 driver. Kimi comes help Ferrari score points. Massa was a complete disaster, a mediocre driver to say the least and would only serve to get in the way sometimes. Caused Ferrai to loose the second spot of the constructors championship.

Alonso is more than happy to have someone like Kimi as his teammate, Kimi is easy to get along with, and will be able to bring more points to the team and also take points away from his rivals. And is very happy to get rid of "moving chicane Massa".

And Kimi is happy to have a more reliable team than Lotus and like all driver, thinks he can do better than his teammate.

But Nº1 will be Alonso, he works harder than Kimi, has a family relationship with the Team at Maranello, and has saved Ferrari a lot of shame and image damage by making the Ferrari look better than what it is, a car that was this season 7-8th fastest overall on the grid at most, and with his race smarts and consistency he managed the second place in the drivers championship inspite of the less comnpetitive car. That is why the team loves Alonso. Kimi is fast on Sunday (maybe even faster than Alo ion Saturdays) but he is not as consistent at it, and not as implicated with the team.

BTW, loved the words of Webber to Alonso after the last race of the season when they got out of the cars and met in the room before the podum ceremony, "I loved racing with you on my last race. If only you had a more competitive car..."

Alonso and Kimi together!

IMO this means that Ferrari have resigned on Driver's Title and they will try at least to win the Constructors' by having 2 drivers able to gather points.

Had SF been confident that they would have the superior car, they wouldn't risk having 2 star drivers (for the first time?) fighting each other knowing that Kimi is not the type to succumb and serve Alonso. I think SF recognize their inability to catch up in 2014 but Luca is desperate to deliver something after many seasons.

I expect a lot of animosity by the egoistic Spaniard and I look forward to watching free-spirit Kimi doing his own thing next season

"Form follows function"

After the 2013 season we need something to spice up the 2014 season! The Ferrari duo could well make this happen!

2013 BMW 750 xDrive MSport & 2012 x5 - TurboS Cab on Order Mar14. Range Rover V8 on order June14

EnglishManInNY:

After the 2013 season we need something to spice up the 2014 season! The Ferrari duo could well make this happen!

Indeed, that and hopefully next season they (and McLaren & Mercedes) will deliver a car that will be able to compete in similar conditions to the RBR, I'm not saying to match equally the RBR performance, but at least close the gap enough so that the other drivers have even a chance to compete with their cars. Otherwise it will still be boring, I want to see drivers race and compete on the track, not engineers on the wind tunnel.

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Everybody starts wtih a white paper - the new year is going to be a very good chance to beat RB.

At least we know that Kimi will not follow any "team orders". 

The major change we could hope to have for next year would be for drivers to race each other again - instead of being more concerned with tyre conservation...

"Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out."

That`s a lame rumor, one that I cannot see happening. I am really looking forward to some serious competition at Ferrari for once. It will also show that Kimi is more talented than Alonso... maybe this is why he is looking to move... you scared son! As for Ferrari, maybe Brawn will be back and make the car decent. I dunno, its getting quite sad that Red Bull is beating Ferrari... I guess they are more focused on selling perfume and hand bags these days anyways

1991 BMW 535i Granitsilber/White Leather

Ex: '91 BMW 318i, '89 BMW 525i, '74 Mercedes-Benz 280E, '87 BMW 325is, '86 BMW 325e, '05 Ford Focus ZX4 S, '85.5 Porsche 944

Vetting ur responses, it seems those from Northern or cold weather countries are Kimi fans. But calling ZO an "egotistical Spaniard" seems ludicrous.  They're all egotistical or they wouldn't be successful F1 racers; besides how can you postulate that ANYONE is, per se, more egoistical than Kimi.  I'm a warm weather guy, LA; so I prefer ZO.

Love the post about the Vettel imitation of Todt.  Gonna try to google / Utube it.

Webber is a class act.  Hope he destroys the competition w/ Porsche.  What r the chances they would win Le Mans first time back??   30% ??!

CGT LA:

Vetting ur responses, it seems those from Northern or cold weather countries are Kimi fans. But calling ZO an "egotistical Spaniard" seems ludicrous.  They're all egotistical or they wouldn't be successful F1 racers; besides how can you postulate that ANYONE is, per se, more egoistical than Kimi.  I'm a warm weather guy, LA; so I prefer ZO.

Love the post about the Vettel imitation of Todt.  Gonna try to google / Utube it.

Webber is a class act.  Hope he destroys the competition w/ Porsche.  What r the chances they would win Le Mans first time back??   30% ??!

Me too!!!!

1991 BMW 535i Granitsilber/White Leather

Ex: '91 BMW 318i, '89 BMW 525i, '74 Mercedes-Benz 280E, '87 BMW 325is, '86 BMW 325e, '05 Ford Focus ZX4 S, '85.5 Porsche 944

CGT LA:

Love the post about the Vettel imitation of Todt.  Gonna try to google / Utube it.

Webber is a class act.  Hope he destroys the competition w/ Porsche.  What r the chances they would win Le Mans first time back??   30% ??!

 

 

 

 

20% IMO

Spyderidol:

CGT LA:

Love the post about the Vettel imitation of Todt.  Gonna try to google / Utube it.

Webber is a class act.  Hope he destroys the competition w/ Porsche.  What r the chances they would win Le Mans first time back??   30% ??!

 

 

 

 

20% IMO

My heart wants 80% but it will be more like 10%. Watch out for the TS040 next year. 

reginos:

.......by the egoistic Spaniard .......

Every top F1 driver, as any top performer in a sport, has a massively large ego 

964C2:

reginos:

.......by the egoistic Spaniard .......

Every top F1 driver, as any top performer in a sport, has a massively large ego 

The impression I formed over the years is that Alonso is expecting the whole field to open up and let him pass when challenging victory. If he was held up by a driver in lesser car he used to get mad, gesture and complain afterwards. He behaved as if he had the divine right to be let through, ignoring that everyone could fight for position.

"Form follows function"

reginos:

964C2:

reginos:

.......by the egoistic Spaniard .......

Every top F1 driver, as any top performer in a sport, has a massively large ego 

The impression I formed over the years is that Alonso is expecting the whole field to open up and let him pass when challenging victory. If he was held up by a driver in lesser car he used to get mad, gesture and complain afterwards. He behaved as if he had the divine right to be let through, ignoring that everyone could fight for position.

You seem to love Vettel's personality that you gather from TV interviews when they put on an act  but you don't seen to remember when Vettel said to his team via radio is a very contemptuous and belitteling tone that was embarrasing to hear even as a TV spectator, "he is to slow, get him out of my way" refering to Webber, if that doesn't illustrate what you were saying about Alonso to the extreme, I don't know what does.

Fact is, is you (or I or anyone here) don't know anything about any of the F1 drivers to make the assumtion that that is any different than any of the other F1 drivers, like has been said, you don't get to that level of racing without a huge ego. Any differences you seen in that respect between top drivers are the consecuence of personal bias we all have towards the F1 drivers.

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Vettel is no saint when it comes to winning races but IMO he applies himself better than Alonso and doesn't let his ego overwhelm him or come to the open as much.

I assume that in Spain, where Alonso gets much more media coverage, people get to understand him better and appreciate aspects of his personality, which are unknown to us.

"Form follows function"

BBC F1 reports that McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh flew to Madrid to have discussions re attracting Alonso to McLaren in 2015

997.1 C2S GT Silver/Cocoa, -20mm/LSD, PSE, short shifter, SportDesign rims, Zuffenhausen pickup, BMW Z4 2.5i Roadster Sterling Grey/Red

reginos:

Vettel is no saint when it comes to winning races but IMO he applies himself better than Alonso and doesn't let his ego overwhelm him or come to the open as much.

I assume that in Spain, where Alonso gets much more media coverage, people get to understand him better and appreciate aspects of his personality, which are unknown to us.

RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Porsche 991 Turbo S, Cayenne GTS (958), BMW X3 35d (2013)

Re Hamilton's speeding conviction in France : In the US, any driving infraction in one sate is used against you in all states.  EU apparently on the verge of opting for same.

+ Hami's dad trashed a CGT !?  How many CGTs r left ?  I've seen a slight spike in CGT prices since the terrible death of Paul Walker.  They've blamed: steering resevior puncture, other cars involved, slight dampness on the road, cold tires and now….rubber nipple  lane divider markers cased unusual car tracking.  What's next ?  Walker too well liked for the media to admit  he and his bud were acting terribly irresponsibly   RIP

CGT LA:

Re Hamilton's speeding conviction in France : In the US, any driving infraction in one sate is used against you in all states.  EU apparently on the verge of opting for same.

+ Hami's dad trashed a CGT !?  How many CGTs r left ?  I've seen a slight spike in CGT prices since the terrible death of Paul Walker.  They've blamed: steering resevior puncture, other cars involved, slight dampness on the road, cold tires and now….rubber nipple  lane divider markers cased unusual car tracking.  What's next ?  Walker too well liked for the media to admit  he and his bud were acting terribly irresponsibly   RIP

 

Still not sure why Walker, as a passenger, would be to blame for that accident but... 

Regarding the EU and traffic laws: Actually, since Oct. 2010, tickets with a value of over 70 EUR can be claimed in EVERY EU country. Exception: Parking tickets (no claim possible here). It is possible to refuse payment and get away with it (in your own country) but whenever you plan to travel to the country you've been ticketed in again, be prepared for the worst because you are in their "system". So if they catch you again, on the spot, you may even face jail time or your car could be confiscated. Not really worth it.

RC (Germany) - Rennteam Editor Porsche 991 Turbo S, Cayenne GTS (958), BMW X3 35d (2013)

Is Paul responsible ????

Paul's daughter will probably sue driver's estate as her legal guardian may be compelled in her best interests to initiate such a lawsuit .  Driver's estate/heirs will defend in part, claiming Paul and driver were involved in a "Joint Enterprise"; that is, for instance, they both owned the company that in effect, owned the car and they were monkeying w/ the car getting it ready to make some money off it e.g. race it, sell it, etc.  Additionally, some passengers (MAYBE not their heirs) have been precluded from recovery b/c the driver and passenger were drinking together before they got into the car. The Enterprise was to get loaded and have a good time in the car.  This theory may not effectively be used if the passenger dies, as is our case, as his negligent contribution may not be imputed to his heirs b/c they did nothing wrong.  Forgot off the top of my head whether this defense can bar or impact heirs recovery; certainly would have been a factor if Paul had survived and sued the driver in his own behalf

I think Paul's daughter has a decent lawsuit but I wonder if she would accept any insurance proceeds available, if they were offered as payment in full and waive her right to go after driver's personal assets. This could leave  driver's surviving heirs w/ no money left as Paul's (heirs) damages are HUGE e.g. all lost future movie revenue..

As da Brits like to say : "Sticky wicket, indeed"

Let's keep the Paul Walker posts on the thread dedicated to that subject please. This thread is for discussing the possibility of Alonso re-joining McLaren. Thanks.

997.1 C2S GT Silver/Cocoa, -20mm/LSD, PSE, short shifter, SportDesign rims, Zuffenhausen pickup, BMW Z4 2.5i Roadster Sterling Grey/Red