Has Alonso learned to be a team player?

[Richard]

the funny/stupid thing about it is that Alonso says that their long run pace is good but their qual pace is not at the top... but he seems too dense to understand that unless you qual at the front your pace will be mainly dictated by whoever is in front of you.

Why is it funny/stupid/dense to report that your car performs well on long runs simulating race conditions, and not so well in quali trim? If that's how the car is behaving, then why say the messenger is stupid? He's only reporting the facts.

[ISLAMATRON]

the funny/stupid thing about it is that Alonso says that their long run pace is good but their qual pace is not at the top... but he seems too dense to understand that unless you qual at the front your pace will be mainly dictated by whoever is in front of you.

Why is it funny/stupid/dense to report that your car performs well on long runs simulating race conditions, and not so well in quali trim? If that's how the car is behaving, then why say the messenger is stupid? He's only reporting the facts.

Because he does not understand that it matters not how good your car is in long run performance if you are stuck behind the other cars that qualled better than you and are dictating the pace. So what if you can run 1:21's all day long if someone runs a 1:19 in qually and leads you around the race running 1:24's.

"There are no reasons to be pessimistic," the double champion told Spanish media. "As of today, this is the best car I've ever had."

"Maybe where Ferrari needs to improve is in the short runs with little fuel onboard. That's where the Red Bull and the McLaren have been quicker,

seems to me he hasnt learned anything about yapping to the spanish media

[segedunum]

Because he does not understand that it matters not how good your car is in long run performance if you are stuck behind the other cars that qualled better than you and are dictating the pace.

I'm pretty sure he does understand. To be a fair to Alonso, that's Ferrari's problem. They want to perpetuate the impression at the moment that because their long runs looks so good (and we don't know how good they look as they can mask with a large fuel window) then 'fuel-corrected' they will be doing the times that McLaren and Red Bull, or even Renault, can achieve at the moment. They've got James Allen tying himself in knots over Ferrari's long runs and fuel-corrected performance, but it's all rather silly because there is such a large fuel window they could be in.

"Maybe where Ferrari needs to improve is in the short runs with little fuel onboard. That's where the Red Bull and the McLaren have been quicker,

You can't expect a driver like Alonso to go masking deficiencies all the time. He obviously knows there might well be a problem, but since we haven't actually seen Ferrari do any comparable shorter runs like McLaren and Red Bull (or even Renault) have done then you have to ask why and what they're masking.

I will watch with interest what they do at Barcelona. Obviously Alonso hasn't yet been schooled in the art of concealment at Ferrari.

[Mr Alcatraz]

the funny/stupid thing about it is that Alonso says that their long run pace is good but their qual pace is not at the top... but he seems too dense to understand that unless you qual at the front your pace will be mainly dictated by whoever is in front of you.

Why is it funny/stupid/dense to report that your car performs well on long runs simulating race conditions, and not so well in quali trim? If that's how the car is behaving, then why say the messenger is stupid? He's only reporting the facts.

Because he does not understand that it matters not how good your car is in long run performance if you are stuck behind the other cars that qualled better than you and are dictating the pace. So what if you can run 1:21's all day long if someone runs a 1:19 in qually and leads you around the race running 1:24's.

"There are no reasons to be pessimistic," the double champion told Spanish media. "As of today, this is the best car I've ever had."

"Maybe where Ferrari needs to improve is in the short runs with little fuel onboard. That's where the Red Bull and the McLaren have been quicker,

seems to me he hasnt learned anything about yapping to the spanish media

I posted a link on this forum (which I can't find) that said Ferrari believe they have the balance to run the softs on a one stopper. It went onto say that the softs give them four laps fast enough for the front row , and then drop off significantly. However not enough to allow any passing. I think it may have been Joe Sawards blog, but I could be mistaken!

[Richard]

Why is it funny/stupid/dense to report that your car performs well on long runs simulating race conditions, and not so well in quali trim? If that's how the car is behaving, then why say the messenger is stupid? He's only reporting the facts.

Because he does not understand that it matters not how good your car is in long run performance if you are stuck behind the other cars that qualled better than you and are dictating the pace. So what if you can run 1:21's all day long if someone runs a 1:19 in qually and leads you around the race running 1:24's.

No, you assume he does not understand because he has not been quoted in the press discussing your scenario. I'm sure he and the team are well aware of the importance of good quali performance.

[Giblet]

Sounds pretty smart to me, speaking of Jenson's time:

I think that someone showed his muscles on Saturday, while we didn't," the Champion of 2005 and 2006 said in Jerez. "We'll see in Barcelona - when we'll show up with the latest updates - where we are compared to the others. We can say that we're on the right way.

"Over these two days in the dry I could drive many miles and I'm satisfied by the car's performance and reliability. The F10 is growing very well and there's nothing that should worry us. We worked on the long run today and the signs we got are really positive.

"Naturally, we have to improve because we're not at max pace, but we're getting there. Where do we have to improve? There's always something to do but telling you would mean I'd be like a goalie telling you about his weak point, so all the strikers would hit there!"

Sounds like a pretty darn good answer. We are not fast enough, and have not shown our fastest low fuel pace.

[Mr Alcatraz]

Sounds pretty smart to me, speaking of Jenson's time:

I think that someone showed his muscles on Saturday, while we didn't," the Champion of 2005 and 2006 said in Jerez. "We'll see in Barcelona - when we'll show up with the latest updates - where we are compared to the others. We can say that we're on the right way.

"Over these two days in the dry I could drive many miles and I'm satisfied by the car's performance and reliability. The F10 is growing very well and there's nothing that should worry us. We worked on the long run today and the signs we got are really positive.

"Naturally, we have to improve because we're not at max pace, but we're getting there. Where do we have to improve? There's always something to do but telling you would mean I'd be like a goalie telling you about his weak point, so all the strikers would hit there!"

Sounds like a pretty darn good answer. We are not fast enough, and have not shown our fastest low fuel pace.

Possibly from the same interview:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/24022010/ ... lonso.html

For such a notorious taskmaster to appear so content with one pre-season test still to run, in Barcelona this week, is a worrying sign for Button, who told Spain's Marca that a 'happy Alonso' was likely to be a 'fast Alonso'.

The Briton will go head-to-head with his Spanish rival on the opening day of this week's group test at the Circuit de Catalunya, but knows that the results will be of little use in indicating their relative performance ahead of next month's season-opening grand prix in Bahrain. However, he remains confident that, in McLaren's MP4-25 - with which he topped the final day of testing in Jerez last week - he has a car that should allow him to remain a frontrunner

Considering who he gave the interview to, to some degree Button may have been telling them what their readers want to hear!

[ringo]

Talking about how Massa is family at Ferrari and so on.

As far as I am aware Massa has been at Ferrari for a while now, hence the comment about being family based on length of service. It's also a ref to a certain Italian way of resolving conflict ....

I think Alonso can do fine with being to himself, as long as he does not cross anybody.
His biggest problem is paranoia, and hr can't be blamed for that for being a team mate to someone like Hamilton. He feels he is psychologically above Bulk baby, so he wont sweat it, and will take control of the situation. Plus Ferrari may prefer winning to conserving any relationships with Bulk. Once Alonso starts winning they will put Massa on the back burner, like they did kimi in 2008; not personal just business.

Alonso and Hamilton was more like a Prost-Senna thing, i think any 2 dominant drivers who have to share the same space will behave similarly. Massa is a top driver but is underrated, Alonso has no true ideas of Massa's speed as yet or first hand account of Bulks dominance at tracks like Turkey and Brazil. He will only flip his wig if he is slower and Ferrari do nothing to put him back in control.

[Rob W]

Why is it funny/stupid/dense to report that your car performs well on long runs simulating race conditions....

Because he does not understand that it matters not how good your car is in long run performance.....

No, you assume he does not understand because he has not been quoted in the press discussing your scenario. I'm sure he and the team are well aware of the importance of good quali performance.

I agree Richard. His comments seem pretty frank at face value. Nothing he said makes me think they miss how important quali pace is, rather that they've had more luck with their long runs thus far.

Think some of these comments get read into way too much.

[Moanlower]

the funny/stupid thing about it is that Alonso says that their long run pace is good but their qual pace is not at the top... but he seems too dense to understand that unless you qual at the front your pace will be mainly dictated by whoever is in front of you.

Do you genuinly doubt he's too stupid to know that? =D> Don't bother .. I know you are.

Obviously Alonso hasn't yet been schooled in the art of concealment at Ferrari.

It's not a secret that Ferrari's pace over long runs were fast and consistant. What exactly did he say that every sensible person didn't already know?

[segedunum]

It's not a secret that Ferrari's pace over long runs were fast and consistant. What exactly did he say that every sensible person didn't already know?

They might well be fast and consistent, but that's not the point. The Ferrari PR machine is currently trying to paint the picture that because those long runs looked good then, fuel corrected, they will be doing the times that McLaren and Red Bull have posted - having not actually done any shorter runs or comparable times. The problem is that no one has any clue what fuel levels Ferrari started any of those long runs on, so making assumptions about shorter runs is all rather pointless.

Alonso has already poured cold water on that whole tac from Ferrari by suggesting that their long runs are OK (not even he will know that really because they've done little else) and that their shorter run pace is not OK - even though they haven't really done any comparable short runs to confirm that. The difference between Alonso and Ferrari's positions on where they are seem to suggest that they're trying to mask that.

[Moanlower]

It's not a secret that Ferrari's pace over long runs were fast and consistant. What exactly did he say that every sensible person didn't already know?

They might well be fast and consistent, but that's not the point. The Ferrari PR machine is currently trying to paint the picture that because those long runs looked good then, fuel corrected, they will be doing the times that McLaren and Red Bull have posted - having not actually done any shorter runs or comparable times. The problem is that no one has any clue what fuel levels Ferrari started any of those long runs on, so making assumptions about shorter runs is all rather pointless.

Alonso has already poured cold water on that whole tac from Ferrari by suggesting that their long runs are OK (not even he will know that really because they've done little else) and that their shorter run pace is not OK - even though they haven't really done any comparable short runs to confirm that. The difference between Alonso and Ferrari's positions on where they are seem to suggest that they're trying to mask that.

I think with all the info gathered during a lot of testmiles in different conditions they have quite a good idea of what times they could achieve if they planned to run in quali trim. There's also no reason or anything to gain in trying to disguise their lack of speed on low fuel if this is the case. I also think mindgames plays a big part in all this. I don't think he lied when he said the F10 is the best car he's ever driven but why he said it was probably first of all because he always says how it is, whether it's good or bad and you like it or not but also to piss off and discourage MS and the rest of the gang. I'm sure you can imagine how it would feel if you drove the racecar everyboby wants to be in. How would Schumi feel? Pissed as hell as you could witness recently.

[Mr Alcatraz]

I think with all the info gathered during a lot of testmiles in different conditions they have quite a good idea of what times they could achieve if they planned to run in quali trim. There's also no reason or anything to gain in trying to disguise their lack of speed on low fuel if this is the case. I also think mindgames plays a big part in all this. I don't think he lied when he said the F10 is the best car he's ever driven but why he said it was probably first of all because he always says how it is, whether it's good or bad and you like it or not but also to piss off and discourage MS and the rest of the gang. I'm sure you can imagine how it would feel if you drove the racecar everyboby wants to be in. How would Schumi feel? Pissed as hell as you could witness recently.

An entertaining comment, none of which I will try to, or care to refute!
I have a more simplistic idea of what makes Fred a champ!
He is a rather clever fellow!

[segedunum]

I think with all the info gathered during a lot of testmiles in different conditions they have quite a good idea of what times they could achieve if they planned to run in quali trim.

You miss the point. They might know how fast they can go, but the point is no one else can verify what the Ferrari PR people have been telling people about fuel corrected times and the fact is they simply haven't done any comparable low fuel times. It's hearsay. It is something they will want to test, as the balance of the car can vary greatly. It doesn't follow that if you take fuel out you'll be that much faster.

There's also no reason or anything to gain in trying to disguise their lack of speed on low fuel if this is the case.

If that's the case........ But the fact is they're not doing any comparable low fuel runs, or what they're telling us they're doing now are high fuel runs........ Alonso has also confirmed that the low fuel runs are where they need to improve.

I also think mindgames plays a big part in all this. I don't think he lied when he said the F10 is the best car he's ever driven...

I didn't say he had lied.

I'm sure you can imagine how it would feel if you drove the racecar everyboby wants to be in.

The problem is we don't know that, but Ferrari want to give that impression.

[gibells]

Has Alonso learned to be a team player?