Alonso's efforts in Renault's uprise?

[Tomba]

Hi folks,
been a while since i have been on. really while I am spanish, I have always been a huge fan of JPM. Since he left F1 much of my interest left with him. But alas, I started to watch again as once F1 is in your blood, it is there always...

No driver has impressed me more than Fernando Alonso. What he did in that brick (renault) is nothing short of amazing. More than simply driving it, but the development work that he did....When he was at McLAREN it was noted that his development skills where worth 1/2 second..He is the one who turned McLAREN around only to McLAREN turn their backs on him..When he left Renault, they fell like a stone...Poor fisi (who should retire) was left to be spanked. Alanso comes back and wins to Races and second place to finish of the year....I wonder who will do Mclarens development work next year?

[ISLAMATRON]

HAmilton & McLaren were worth 2.4 secs over the course year so I guess Alonso was holding them back last year.

[mx_tifoso]

[CMSMJ1]

LOL @ MX tifosi

Brilliant.

[shotzski]

Hahaha nice way of putting it. Short and sweet

[WhiteBlue]

as the old Indian chief said: "when you are riding a dead horse, you better get off"

[tarzoon]

Somehow this reminds me of Guns N' Roses Dead Horse...

Sometimes I feel like I'm beatin' a dead horse
An I don't know why you'd be bringin' me down
I'd like to think that our love's
worth a tad more
It may sound funny but you'd think by now
I'd be smilin'
I guess some things never change
Never change

[Tomba]

....I wonder who will do Mclarens development work next year?

The same guys that did it this year?

Also, take care how you name and phrase your topic/question, because now it certainly looks like it's just about stirring things up from last year.

[Ciro Pabón]

I don't know if the horse is dead or nobody recognizes the mules doing the work. You know, I have some indian blood, too...

Pedro de la Rosa and Luca Badoer are two guys that always pique my curiosity. Sure Alonso is Obama's grandmama, Massa is the doctor that cured Dr. House and Hamilton is the anti-Antichrist, but de la Rosa and Badoer are a different kind of drivers. They are the engineer-drivers, if that's a title. Pedro started racing radio controlled cars, for example. He was european champion at that, long before becoming a driver. "A subtler shade of black"...

I think they have more fun than any in the grid. They have proved, year after year after year, that nobody is interested in them or in their work, while they have become tranquil world champions of car development. Every time someone puts them to drive, they show they're pretty good at it, but maybe that's not where their genius reside. They have something special: nobody wins 11 (my god, eleven!) years developing Ferraris or become the chairman of the driver's association by unanimous vote that easy. I bet Badoer has run more kilometers in an F1 car than any italian in history, while de la Rosa has ran more formula one cars than all spaniards put together since the world was invented: he has been racing for 20 (twenty!) years next year and he has been in F1 for ten years. Where do you get that kind of experience in the real world? (not to mention the current grid, for heaven's sake).

I don't know if they're are nerdies or what, but to spend a life devoted to development, while others take the laurels reminds me of my work in third world roads.

Yes, yes, sorry for the comparison, but when you're really happy doing something nobody does as well as you, nobody cares about and nobody recognizes, modesty is not your strongest virtue: you don't have anybody to brag about it, so you lose track of news and headlines. You don't have to be modest, that's perhaps the only true modesty. It's like the guy that invented the paper clip. I bet he's happier than Google's directors.

For the love of Pete, nobody, but nobody knows that de la Rosa is called Pedro Martínez, for example... In F1 that kind of privacy is a luxury nobody has.

Their story shows to me that Alonso might not be the great spaniard developer newspapers claim. I'll say Alonso is a great tuner. He could work in a garage. De la Rosa is the best spaniard car developer in history, period. He could work in a factory. It's a small distinction, but I felt an urgence to put that in front of all of you, for your comments, and jgredline gave me the perfect excuse. The way to happiness is not always the WDC, let me tell you.

Gosh, I shouldn't have drank that whiskey before posting... Sorry, Tomba, you know how I love to put a twist of sugar in the sourest threads.

[WhiteBlue]

... Sure Alonso is Obama's grandmama, Massa is the doctor that cured Dr. House and Hamilton is the anti-Antichrist, but de la Rosa and Badoer are a different kind of drivers. ....
Gosh, I shouldn't have drank that whiskey before posting...

When I read your comparisons I always think that you must have had a smoke with that wiskey.
Btw, what kind of Whiskey do you care for?

[Ciro Pabón]

A cheap one (McGregor!), you know I save for good old straight rum (Flor de Caña, Zacapa, Caldas), like any british pirate. Sorry, WB, I don't do drugs, and I drink once in a blue moon: I'm colombian. It would be like a japanese developing an atomic bomb. Simple: I was born like that...

[guy_smiley]

HAmilton & McLaren were worth 2.4 secs over the course year so I guess Alonso was holding them back last year.

the 2 seconds you mention are the work of the mclaren aero guys, not lewis, so please calm down. development during the season is down to the aero departments--just about every team improved by 2 seconds, and none of them have lewis, yeah? so it's all in the factory, you see?

on the other hand, development during the winter is much more sensitive to driver input.

so what are those numbers? what if the car lewis developed (mp4-23) only improved .5 seconds over winter, while the car alonso developed (mp4-22) improved by a full second? what would you say then?????

[ISLAMATRON]

HAmilton & McLaren were worth 2.4 secs over the course year so I guess Alonso was holding them back last year.

the 2 seconds you mention are the work of the mclaren aero guys, not lewis, so please calm down. development during the season is down to the aero departments--just about every team improved by 2 seconds, and none of them have lewis, yeah? so it's all in the factory, you see?

on the other hand, development during the winter is much more sensitive to driver input.

so what are those numbers? what if the car lewis developed (mp4-23) only improved .5 seconds over winter, while the car alonso developed (mp4-22) improved by a full second? what would you say then?????

NO, it was a joke, a silly responce to an even sillier post. But if you want to talk about it, Alonso had even less effect on the Mp-22 than Lewis did... because if you remember Alonso didnt even set foot into a McLaren until the last week of December as per his Renault contract. Hamilton was topping the testing time sheets way b4 Alonso put on a set of McLaren overalls that winter.

[majicmeow]

The thing that everyone here forgets to realize from time to time, is that NOTHING matters with "what if" questions. Its done, it happened, forget about it.

For example: what if Trulli had been in that McLaren instead of Hekki? I bet then McLaren would have won the constructors too! Nobody could match his qualifying pace if he had a REAL car to drive.

See? Its sooooo stupid and ridiculous it's not even worth bringing those questions up.

There is no point asking those questions as fire starters nor replying to them as retaliation... geeez!!

Ok, end rant

[Belatti]

For the love of Pete, nobody, but nobody knows that de la Rosa is called Pedro Martínez, for example... In F1 that kind of privacy is a luxury nobody has.

You know I do!
I know Pedro Martinez de la Rosa since he was Formula Nippon champion when one of my compatriots was racing there

He scored with an Arrows (An Arrows!!) in his 1st GP.

One of the underrated men who deserved more, to my eyes he is not only a good tester/developer like Badoer, but also he is fast.