2014/15 Silly Season

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CptPeanut
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Re: 2014/15 Silly Season

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Santander sponsor both the Ferrari and McLaren drivers so couldn't imagine it being a big problem if Fred moves over:

http://www.santander.com/csgs/Satellite ... rship.html

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Bob Brown
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Re: 2014/15 Silly Season

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Yeah, Santander was with Alonso when he went to McLaren. But when he jumped ship after 1 year, they were caught in a bind and ended up sponsoring both Ferrari and McLaren drivers. I imagine that to be continue when Fred jumps back again.

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siskue2005
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Re: 2014/15 Silly Season

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zeph wrote:I have been an Alonso fan since he ended the Schumacher-era, but I have to admit I doubt he will ever win another WDC.

It is all down to bad karma, I suppose. He really reacted poorly to Hamilton's challenge in 2007, and he ignored an offer from RBR to come drive for them in 2008. Talking about missed opportunities! I can completely understand why RBR and Mercedes don't want him, they have younger drivers who are all doing incredibly well, so why get an older driver who is reputed to be a bit of a prima donna?
Don't forget he was also offered the Honda seat in 2008 and also in 2009 brawn...he rejected them aswell
Last edited by siskue2005 on 26 Sep 2014, 16:25, edited 1 time in total.

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siskue2005
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Re: 2014/15 Silly Season

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Kiril Varbanov wrote:I don't believe in bad karma, to be honest, but I do believe in dedicated work and constant push. This is what Alonso believes in, too, apparently, but the team is simply unable to provide him with a winning car - for variety of reasons. Some of them are believed to be gone now, but time will tell.
I underline on 'winning' and not 'dominant', as these are different things. While all this is somewhat logical and is a result of what has or hasn't been done, I'm absolutely delighted to have Honda back - this is shuffling game
You can't put the entire blame on the team alone, Alonso also should take some responsibilities

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FW17
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Re: 2014/15 Silly Season

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siskue2005 wrote:
zeph wrote:I have been an Alonso fan since he ended the Schumacher-era, but I have to admit I doubt he will ever win another WDC.

It is all down to bad karma, I suppose. He really reacted poorly to Hamilton's challenge in 2007, and he ignored an offer from RBR to come drive for them in 2008. Talking about missed opportunities! I can completely understand why RBR and Mercedes don't want him, they have younger drivers who are all doing incredibly well, so why get an older driver who is reputed to be a bit of a prima donna?
Don't forget he was also offered the Honda seat in 2008 and also in 2009 brawn...he rejected them aswell

You cant blame him for that. He left Renault for Mclaren because they were not fully committed to F1. Those days only 2 teams consistently challenged for WDC, his Mclaren experience failed and his sole aim was to get to Ferrari. Renault meanwhile was just a stopover, he would have not gone there had it not been for Flavio.

Anyway he has some serious unfinished business at Mclaren, he needs to have Ron eat from his palm and drink water. He can then go back and have his farewell at Ferrari.

zeph
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Re: 2014/15 Silly Season

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WilliamsF1 wrote:
siskue2005 wrote: Don't forget he was also offered the Honda seat in 2008 and also in 2009 brawn...he rejected them aswell

You cant blame him for that. He left Renault for Mclaren because they were not fully committed to F1. Those days only 2 teams consistently challenged for WDC, his Mclaren experience failed and his sole aim was to get to Ferrari. Renault meanwhile was just a stopover, he would have not gone there had it not been for Flavio.

Anyway he has some serious unfinished business at Mclaren, he needs to have Ron eat from his palm and drink water. He can then go back and have his farewell at Ferrari.
Yeah, I do feel that Alonso and McLaren owe one another a championship!

But Alonso's career choices have been conservative and risk-adverse, which clearly has not worked out for him, and he only has himself to blame for that. He could have thrown caution to the wind and take a gamble with RBR! Sheez, he could have been a 6-time champ by now; I bet he still #-o over that every now and then.

ScottB
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Re: 2014/15 Silly Season

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Bob Brown wrote:Yeah, Santander was with Alonso when he went to McLaren. But when he jumped ship after 1 year, they were caught in a bind and ended up sponsoring both Ferrari and McLaren drivers. I imagine that to be continue when Fred jumps back again.
The Mclaren sponsorship would have continued either way, at the time Santander where bringing its various British brands under its own name, Hamilton, then Button after he left have been, and still are very prominent in their ad campaigns. I think it was more a case of their boss liking the idea of following Alonso that lead to the duplication, but as he recently passed away, and the F1 sponsorship was, supposedly, his idea, there's every chance the new boss might decide they've had enough of F1. But that Button certainly is still used in ads in Britain at least suggests they must get a return on it, guess Alonso is used in a similar way in Spain etc.

Presumably they are locked in with Ferrari for a fixed term, unless they have a deal that says they will only sponsor Ferrari if he's there, but that seems unlikely, to me, mainly because him bailing on his contract early might not have been considered. If the company want to continue a big presence in F1, when they can they probably switch the bulk / all of their sponsorship to Mclaren.

f1universe
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Re: 2014/15 Silly Season

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You can't put the entire blame on the team alone, Alonso also should take some responsibilities
Of course but is he responsible for bad strategies, the wind tunnel, weak engine, a team that has zero political power and I can go like this all day. Alonso is not a saint but the responsabilty to have the right tools to make a great car is not his.

lpatterson
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Re: 2014/15 Silly Season

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The potential McLaren/Alonso partnership makes a lot of sense, especially being a works deal with Honda.
Do the other contributors on this thread think if Alonso were too Join McLaren, Honda that Repsol may come on board as Sponsor.

zeph
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Re: 2014/15 Silly Season

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Nigel Roebuck his usual thoughtful self in this piece on Alonso:

http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/f1/ni ... alonso-do/


He thinks Alonso -> McLaren next season is a long shot, but doesn't rule it out.

Best quote of the article (about Ferrari):

“When you first go there,” Gilles Villeneuve said to me once, “and you see the racing department, Fiorano, and everything else, you wonder how they ever manage to lose a race. But the longer you are with them, the more you understand…”
And I did not know that:
Undoubtedly his frustrations run deep. Not only have the cars fallen short for five years, Alonso has wished to have more influence on which engineers Ferrari should employ. Most of all, a couple of years ago, he urged them to hire Pat Symonds, whom he rated very highly after several years of working with him at Renault. Ferrari, however, said no, as they did to several other of his suggestions.
Pat Symonds went to join Williams instead and well, you know...

But the most interesting allegation is that Mattiacci wants Alonso out, to establish his authority. I had not heard that one before.

Manoah2u
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Re: 2014/15 Silly Season

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f1universe wrote:
You can't put the entire blame on the team alone, Alonso also should take some responsibilities
Of course but is he responsible for bad strategies, the wind tunnel, weak engine, a team that has zero political power and I can go like this all day. Alonso is not a saint but the responsabilty to have the right tools to make a great car is not his.
I'm sorry but Ferrari 'zero political power' ?? Can't be serious there.

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2013/11/26/f ... ntezemolo/
Ferrari still wield ultimate political power in Formula One,

...five years without winning a championship but... the team remain uniquely important to F1.

“We have reached an agreement with Ecclestone and the FIA and we are the only team with the right of veto: more political weight than that is impossible,” said Montezemolo.
I agree Alonso isn't 'the man' that decides what does or does not happen. So on one level you could say "He is not to be blamed there", and you'd be entirely right. Still, Alonso has experience enough and is valuable enough to make some demands.
Factually Schumacher 'was just a driver' too at Ferrari, but he did get things done. Alonso doesn't. Yes that could be explained by the fact the management at ferrari isn't the same as in the Schumi days, but I get the impression Alonso
does not have the 'persuading power' that Schumi did have.

There is no doubt whatsoever that Alonso managed to keep Ferrari performing, getting everything out of a not-decent vehicle. It's been like that for years, remember Massa's spring incident, his replacements were nowhere. And despite i don't genuinly like the guy, Raikkonen's skills speak for themselves but it's embarassing to watch him in the Ferrai F-Tractor.

Anyway, i can't see Alonso staying at Ferrari much longer to be honest. It's done. There's a new breeze there but Alonso has been there too long to be without results. It would only hamper him to stay for another term of failure. If he stays and they continue to 'fail', then the embaressment will be even bigger. If he leaves and the failure maintains at ferrari, he's done the good thing and walked away from failure. If he leaves and Ferrari wins, he might have 'went', but he can always keep the image he did what he did and helped Ferrari into a new winning era.
If he stays and Ferrari wins, all you'll hear is how long it took and he's lucky he finally got a great designer.

So in the end, the best thing Alonso can do is just up and leave. He's had great fights for the WDC the past years, in a horrible car, that'll only benefit his capabilities. He most def cashed bigtime. Get a second chance at the renewed Mclaren and get a WDC under the belt with Mclaren-Honda.

I feel Mclaren-Honda will invest far more into Alonso on a technical and feedback level rather then the 'military camp called maranello that lost contact with reality'.

I can see both Alonso and Raikkonen being dumped. No matter what they say about their contracts not being connected to Luca being there or not, fact is Ferrari is doing a complete re-structuring and re-organising and heads will roll, and a lot of them. In essence it'll be a total new Ferrari F1 Team. They said they won't 'lean' on 'nostalgic sentiment', well, Raikkonen in the past gave Ferrari a champion, so there's nostalgia that can be dumped, Massa has been dumped, and Alonso fits the description, too.

I could see Ferrari 2015 with Bianchi and Raikkonen, and Raikkonen retiring in 2016 making room for Vettel to take his place. Bianchi will be a matured number 2 driver with strong capacities, well-trained by Ferrari to act as they want,
and Vettel being the perfect pillar to 'forget the nostalgic Schumacher era' and usher in a new Vettel-Era. The other option
would be a Hamilton-era.

Hamilton has great marketing value for Ferrari, and Hamilton has shown he can get the demands he wants, which, in the
end only helps Ferrari sell more hiphop Ferrari's. Meanwhile, Hamilton has a renewed 'fire' to win, whilst Alonso at ferrari
kinda ventilates 'been there, done that, whatever'. If Hamilton becomes champion this year, he'll definately stay at Merc for another year but I feel after that, he'll be eyeing another challenge. So how perfect would be a 2016 switch to Ferrari?

Alonso has won with Renault/Benetton Championships, i feel Mclaren-Honda is comparable to the 'environment' of the former Renault/Benetton team. He'll definately feel more at ease at Mclaren instead of the 'puppet carnaval' that Ferrari is.
Nah, Alonso is definately exit at Ferrari.
"Explain the ending to F1 in football terms"
"Hamilton was beating Verstappen 7-0, then the ref decided F%$& rules, next goal wins
while also sending off 4 Hamilton players to make it more interesting"

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Kiril Varbanov
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Re: 2014/15 Silly Season

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Manoah2u wrote: Nah, Alonso is definately exit at Ferrari.
Given the high temperature of the topic, there's a poll to decide - cast your vote here - http://www.f1technical.net/poll/index.php?dispid=285

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Bob Brown
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Re: 2014/15 Silly Season

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"We have confirmation from a respectable Italian journalist, who, like us, also knows that Alonso signed with McLaren last week.
The announcement however might be delayed until November when Ferrari can sort their line-up as well."

For those questioning PitLaneTalk and their reputation, they are 2 for 2 on the huge departures from Ferrari this year weeks before it was announced. They are legit.
A part of me wishes Alonso didn't jump ship so fast just so we can all see the real fight between him and Kimi in a car that suited both of them - the fight that we were all promised this year.

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SectorOne
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Re: 2014/15 Silly Season

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Anyone have a list with all these sites claiming this with 100% certainty?
Just for future references.

1, Pitlanetalk
"If the only thing keeping a person decent is the expectation of divine reward, then brother that person is a piece of sh*t"

ScottB
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Re: 2014/15 Silly Season

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So, do Ferrari manage to lure in Vettel, or have to take a Hulk / Bianchi shaped stop gap?

IF they can get Seb, it can be spun into being not so bad, and they'll have a top driver under lock and key. If they have to take a middle tier driver, and then produce another poor car again next year... Things could get difficult for them!