I have raced karts since I was three years old. In the last 24 years I have been fine with all of my teams, except for one. It was the same team that had problems with Senna, Prost, Raikkonen and Montoya. Perhaps the problem is with the team rather than with the driver.
Alonso in reference to his disastrous spell at McLaren last season.
∞∞I admit that one day I would very much like to be with Ferrari. It’s the best team in the history of Formula One, and it is clear that those who go with them, are part of history.
The 2006 F1 season is over and Alonso defended his World Champion title at Sao Paulo, Brazil by finishing the Brazilian GrandPrix in second. Felipe Massa drove a faultless drive from pole position to take the chequered flag at his home GrandPrix. Ayrton Senna was the last countryman to have won at Interlagos, where Massa grew up. But the day belongs to the F1 legend, Michael Schumacher who demonstrated why he is still the best out there in his final Formula one race. Schumacher, the only man who can deprive Alonso started 10th on the grid after technical problems prevented him from setting a time in important final qualifying. To win an eighth World title, he must win the race, with Alonso failing to score. Even though its tough ask from 10th on the grid, no one dared to rule out the possibility as Ferrari dominated all weekend. Read More
Brilliant Michael Schumacher won the classic Chineese Grand Prix, which can be one of his most important victories in his career. Started 6th on the grid and after 9 laps he was 22 seconds behind the race leader and yet he won the Race that eluded him in the last 2 years. It was Renault’s race to loose and they lost it.
The track was wet with water all over the track at the start but it was not raining. Most of the drivers started with intermediate’s and it was evident from the Saturday’s qualifying that Ferrari and Bridgestone runners struggled in wet conditions. Both the Renaults got to a good start as race begins but both the Hondas lost out to Raikkonen who started at 5th. Schumacher held on to his 6th position as Alonso just vanishes at the front. By lap 4 Schumacher was almost 14 sec’s behind race leader which shows how fast the Michelin runners are. Read More
Raikkonen snatched his second straight Pole position for tommorow’s Hungary Grand Prix with a stunning last minute lap. It was heartbreak for Massa as he was the fastest driver all day behind Michael Schumacher. Meanwhile Schumacher was given an identical penalty as Alonso for overtaking two cars after the red flags had been deployed to halt the final practice session. Jenson Button’s Honda engine had expired, putting oil down on the circuit. That means that both Alonso and Schumacher came into qualifying with two sec time penalties to be added to their best lap times. As a result Michael and Alonso were out of the final shootout lying in 12th and 15th place respectively. But as Button drops 10 places down from 4th to 14th, Schumacher starts from 11th while Alonso will be pushed back to 16th and his team mate Fisichella will start from 7th place.
Michael Schumacher will have to do everything he can to get the maximum points from 11th on the grid, but it is worth noting that Nigel Mansell started one place lower in 1989 in his Ferrari and won the race. Well Schumi, I cant think of anyone else who can do that as the Ferrari dominated all the weekend so far. As usual I will be posting the complete review of tommorow’s race, which should be an interesting one.
Fernando Alonso was penalised by the F1 Stewards at the hungaroring on Friday for dangerous driving in front of Robert Doornbos during free practice. Apart from the Spaniards incident with Doornbos, Alonso also overtook him under yellow flags. Both incidents will cost him one second each during qualifying. The angry hand gestures at Doornbos were similar to those directed against championship rival Michael Schumacher in the Hockenheim pit lane a week ago. A statement said the reigning World Champion’s antics were ‘unnecessary, unacceptable and dangerous’, while Alonso (also) also overtook under a yellow flag.
The Spaniard will have two seconds added to his lap times in each of the three sections of knockout qualifying on Saturday, which could leave his Renault car stranded down the grid on a circuit that is notoriously difficult to pass on. For Alonso it will be almost impossible now to make it to the final knock-out round in qualifying with a total of two seconds being added on his qualifying time. Read More
Everyone might have known already that Michael Schumacher and Ferrari interrupted Renault’s long run of success by dominating qualifying at Indianapolis. Alonso admitted that, tyres aside, one of Ferrari’s advantages this weekend is mammoth straight line speed. He said it felt like he was ‘driving a GP2 car’ when, at one stage at Indy, a Ferrari passed him (He was refering to Massa who overtook Alonso during qualifying.).
Ferrari are untouchable here and if they are reliable and do not crash then their race will be more or less the same as last year – out on their own. We are not going to just give up and not try but to think that we are going to beat them would be idiotic.”
Michael Schumacher and Ferrari secured the pole position and front row in United States Grand Prix Qualifying with a scintillating performance. Schumacher and Massa dominated all saturday finishing 1-2 in the third and final practice and finally securing the front row in qualifying. Its one of the dominating performances by Ferrari after a long time with Alonso managing only 5th place. Schumi trails Fernando Alonso by 25 points in the championship but enjoys a formidable record at Indianapolis and hinted at another successful weekend today.
World champion Alonso, who has NEVER finished a race at Indianapolis was down in 5th and anything can happen in the race but IMO Schumi will take away minimum of 4 points from Alonso’s lead in this race. Ferrari really looks to have got their strategy right here at Indianapolis, so lets wait and see what happens tommorow. Read More
German newspaper Bild, ridiculed 24-year-old Alonso for his unique brand of post-victory celebrations. While Schumacher does his famous ‘leap’ after a win, Alonso likes to imitate animals as he stands on his blue Renault. In Barcelona he acted like King Kong and yesterday in Canada, he climbed on his car and mimicked an eagle.#.
“If Alonso continues like this, he will get his second title – and he will be F1’s joke World Champion.”#.
World Champion’s Renault team was last night named ‘World Team of the Year’ at the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards in Barcelona, Spain.
Often dubbed ‘the sporting Oscars’, the Laureus Awards are a recognition of achievement from the world of sport. The winners are voted by a jury of 40 of the world’s great sports people. Fernando Alonso missed out to tennis player Roger Federer while Valentino Rossi, the MotoGP rider and part-time Ferrari test driver got the ‘Spirit of Sport’ award.