Renault R28

It was all over the web and people like Brundle were saying it last year that he wanted no1 status.

Drivers in a team normally work as a team and that includes sharing data.

I have not read what alonso said to the press yet.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2008 08:52PM by marcl.

He never explicitly said to my knowledge though. I',=m of little doubt he did want it, but as has been said continually since we knew Alonso was leaving McLaren, so much crap has been blown out of all proportion. He never openly criticised his team, and to his credit, he's not done it since either. He's very faintly suggested that things didn't suit him, but it doesn't take a PHD to work that out.

He's like the devil reincarnate because he's not said enough in my opinion. I loved the supposed off-track battles last season, but most of it was media generated, particularly by the infamous British press who actually had someone to write about for once, and boy did they milk it, just like they are with this (not saying it's this is not warranted mind).

Oh i'm sure he would have wanted no1 status in the team but he knew he wasn't going to get it.
The fact is that some people are assuming that he was demanding to be the no1 driver but have not provided a single element of proof of that allegation to my knowledge, until it's just speculation in my book.

gin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> marcl Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > ....
> > blaming all the english for football trouble
> and
> > all Germans for the war...
>
>
> Don't mention the war. I did it once but I think I
> got away with it!

I know, I'll do the funny walk...

---

I think then i just listend to what the press said sorry if i got that wrong its just what pedro said as well and what the team said.

Alonso is not allowed to make bad comments about mclaren as thats meant to be the terms of his leaving mclaren early. Again though that might be just what people printed.

What I know Alonso demanded was to be able to prepare races by his own, not to follow the equal fuel strategy (which probably caused McLaren to lose the championship and sad events like the one at Hungaroring could have been avoided).
This put Alonso in a vulnerable position in the team.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/2008 11:15AM by Ali.

The mclaren drivers were only on the same fuel stratergy after Hungry before that one driver would come in one lap early and this was decided after 2nd quali I think.

Alonso from what I understand he did not like this and wanted to be on the best race stratergy always.

Thats the way I understand it anyway. He felt this cost him big time in Canada due to the saftey car, had Alonso and not Lewis been on that certain fuel strategy Alonso would not have lost all that time as Lewis stopped one lap before the saftey car.

Hungry was only a problem as Lewis did not follow team orders, he should have let alonso past but did not. In hungry it was Alonso who was meant to be the driver who got the extra lap of fuel. So did Alonso get his own back by messing up Lewis we will never really know.

Lewis said alonso was not close enough and was driving to slow so he just went for it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/2008 11:49AM by marcl.

marcl Wrote:
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> Alonso from what I understand he did not like this
> and wanted to be on the best race stratergy
> always.



Which is the best strategy???? It is not always the same! He could do that only in GBR because Hamilton wanted the pole...and we know what happened.

And also, the same fuel strategy started to be applied as soon as after the Monaco GP, when British sectors demanded equality for McLaren drivers. In Canada and USA they already had the same fuel when qualifying.

Oh ok I thought it was only after Hungry.

I know Lewis moaned after Monaco as mclaren bought him in alot earlier than they should have.

Tbh the best strategy in most cases is to get the extra lap of fuel and come in a lap or 2 later as long as u are close to the driver in front. If you can do a quick in lap you normally come out in front as kimi should in France.

GB lewis could not get a good set up all weekend so just went for pole and hoped for the best in the race. He did not test there when everyone else did and that was when more stories started that alonso did not want lewis to test. Again though we dont know the truth just what the press said.

I do think the press invented alot of the problems that happened last year. Just like the story of Lewis pressed the off button which a guy admitted making up.

The strategy thing depends on how fast you are. If you have less fuel (2 or 3 laps) but you have a good pace, you can get some advantage that cannot be cut so easily, besides, the lap after pitting is done with fresh tires which give a good grip that compensates the weight and it is decreasing during the following 3-4 laps and it is compensated finally by the burnt fuel. So 1 lap difference generally does not suppose a big difference. Alonso was much lighter than Lewin at Sepang and before his pit stop he got a lot of difference. So what I suppose he would have liked is to set his own strategy, if it is lighter, then lighter, if not, ok, but not going with the same strategy.

Anyway, I think Ferrari did the thinks that have to be done, work on the race strategy more than the qualifying. In fact, again, I think this strategy cost McLaren the championship.

But then if you read what ferrari said they lost out due to not always getting near the front in quali and then getting held up by bmw and sometimes renault.

I can not think off the top of my head a race mclaren lost due to getting higher up the grid in quali last year.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/2008 03:18PM by marcl.

This is like a tennis game between you and me...but interesting one!

When I said this strategy cost them the champ is because I think Alonso would have won in Canada, USA, Hungaroring (speculation, obviously), tracks were he seemed faster but handicapped by the race strategy...but who knows, we'll never know anyway.

Alonso spoiled Canada race by himself making mistakes often and Lewis was faster all weekend...same goes for USA Lewis beated Fernando in fair fight.as for hungary we don't know..Alonso's race pace wasn't good. and if we start speculating like that... Kimi was also clearly faster than Felipe at Turkey and USA but was stuck behind him and couldn't overtake because of tactics.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/2008 04:33PM by vesuvius.

Spain Alonso was fater but blew it at the start.

Canada he went off 1st corner, and later could not hold off Sato.

USA Lewis was faster and then alonso could not pass.

Japan crashed.

Hungry, had alonso left the pits and not sat there he would have not got the penalty simple as that. Yes it was not right what lewis done but alonso would have been on pole probably.

Anyway thats old new now. But this is where people keep blaming mclaren without even looking at the mistake alonso made. I aint having a go at u btw.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/2008 04:57PM by marcl.

vesuvius Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Alonso spoiled Canada race by himself making
> mistakes often and Lewis was faster all
> weekend...same goes for USA Lewis beated Fernando
> in fair fight.as for hungary we don't
> know..Alonso's race pace wasn't good.

because he was stuck 65 of the 70 laps behind other cars!!!!

> and if we
> start speculating like that... Kimi was also
> clearly faster than Felipe at Turkey and USA but
> was stuck behind him and couldn't overtake because
> of tactics.

Yes, but Kimi and Felipe had their own tactics and it worked that way. I'm not saying that it was unfair!!! But I think that Alonso never had any freedom to prepare races by his own. He shared data with Hamilton, he shared set-ups many times and after all the team denied to give him the opportunity to prepare races instead of qualifying sessions (that at the end also raised that extra lap issue which deteriorated even more the relationship between them...and after China qualifying opening the possibility to speculate about tire pressure and so on...). This is what I've heard Alonso complain about, not that bullsh*t of nº1 driver that most of the british media claim (and also Lewis) but I've never heard (in fact, you generally accuse him of this) him saying that a n1 driver status was never in the agenda.

Alonso didn' directly said he wanted to number 1 status but he said that he waited better treatment from the team because he gave the team 0,6 seconds and Hamilton gave nothing...so he thought he would get more help and better treatment than Hamilton did.

in Canada Alonso went off at the 1st turn and a few other times that did not help him with track position, then he had to stop when the saftey car was out or run out of fuel. How mclaren can be blamed for this I dont know its just one of them things that can happen.

As I said before its common practise to share car setups.

Anyway when alonso stopped sharing Lewis was not affetced and prooved he could set the car up himself. In a few races he was able to get more out the car than alonso could. Bad tyre pressure can happen just like a faulty wheel gun that destroyed Lewis quail run. Renault also had problems in the past i.e sepang the other year when more fuel went into Alonso's car but did people make a big deal out of this no.

Its easy to blame a team or other drivers when your fav driver is not doing as well as he should or people hope.

If alonso wanted the best treatment he should have led the team, and beat lewis but he could not beat lewis offen.

I aint having a go at you so please dont take it personaly.

As I said before its common practise to share car setups.

It is also common practice not to share setups.

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"...Anyway when alonso stopped sharing Lewis was not affetced and prooved he could set the car up himself..."

In the second half of the season (since Silverstone) Hamilton got 45 and Alonso 59..but anyway, but you will probably analyze this to find an explanation to justify this in Hamilton favor...

Ali Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "...Anyway when alonso stopped sharing Lewis was
> not affetced and prooved he could set the car up
> himself..."
>
> In the second half of the season (since
> Silverstone) Hamilton got 45 and Alonso 59..but
> anyway, but you will probably analyze this to find
> an explanation to justify this in Hamilton
> favor...


yeah Alonso got more points but was no where near Hamilton in China and Brazil in terms of speed .But hey this thread is about R28 not Alonso vs Hamilton .



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/07/2008 11:29AM by vesuvius.