Don’t go Alonso!
MIKE POTENCIANO
When I heard about my F1 idol Fernando Alonso’s decision to “retire” from F1 at the end of the season, I felt a deep sense of sadness and frustration. I hope this was just a dream but it wasn’t so.
Alonso is arguably one of the best drivers of the sport and with his announcement to the world press a few weeks before the final half of the season, led to a lot of speculation on why is quitting. Before we throw in our 2 cents worth on this, let us see what happened before and after this black day.
McLaren team statement
Here is part of the official statement from Alonso’s McLaren F1 team:
“I want to thank everyone at McLaren. My heart is with the team forever. I know they will come back stronger and better in the future and it could be the right moment for me to be back in the series; that would make me really happy. I have built so many great relationships with many fantastic people at McLaren, and they have given me the opportunity to broaden my horizons and race in other categories. I feel I am a more complete driver now than ever.
“I made this decision some months ago and it was a firm one. Nevertheless, I would like to sincerely thank Chase Carey and Liberty Media for the efforts made to change my mind and everyone who has contacted me during this time.
“Finally, I would also like to thank my former teams, team-mates, competitors, colleagues, partners, journalists and everyone I have worked with in my F1 career. And, especially, my fans all over the world. I am quite sure our paths will cross again in the future.”
Sorry performance
It is well known amongst F1 aficionados that McLaren has not been performing at its best for the longest time. With their 12 F1 Drivers’ Championship and 8 Manufacturers’ Championship, they have always been one of the top teams in this very competitive sport.
However, their last race win was back in 2012 and they lost the services of the great racecar designer Adrian Newey in 2006. Alonso was just hired by McLaren after his 2006 F1 Drivers’ Championship from the Mild Seven F1 Team and was set to do the same in 2007. However, no one saw that the team’s new recruit Lewis Hamilton would not gel with Alonso and the great turmoil that year.
McLaren lost the championship by only 1 point to Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen because of the infighting. Hamilton and Alonso were tied in points for 2nd and 3rd, respectively and t was the closest battle for the title ever in F1 History for the top 3 positions. Eventually, Alonso and McLaren mutually agreed to split after only 1 year and Alonso went to the new Renault team.
Bad timing
Alonso was always plagued by bad timing in terms of good F1 Teams having an available seat for him. His stint with Renault didn’t produce any win for 2 years, and Alonso got a chance to move to Ferrari replacing Kimi Raikonnen in 2010.
He had a great time with Ferrari and was leading the final race in Abu Dhabi ahead of Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull by 8 points. He qualified 3rd with Vettel in pole and was just at the right place to challenge for the championship. Unfortunately, bad calls and team strategy made Alonso run at the back of slower drivers and lost the championship to Vettel after finishing in 7th place.
This happened almost every year at Ferrari with 2012 going to Jenson Button in the Brawn F1 Team, and 2013 to Red Bull’s Vettel again. In 2014, Vettel would replace Alonso in Ferrari and Alonso moved back to his old McLaren Team.
Turbo era
When the turbo era came in 2015, Honda partnered up with McLaren but didn’t produce a good unit that could compete against Mercedes. They were way down in power and Alonso could only finish 9th overall in the Drivers’ Championship.
This continued up to the present, even with the new Renault engine in the car. You can hear the frustration of Alonso in some races when he retired during those races and I could really feel his frustration and anger.
It was good that McLaren allowed Alonso to compete in the Indy 500 last year. Alonso almost won that race until a late engine retirement that ended a fairytale rookie win. This year though, Toyota took him aboard for the WEC 24 Hours Le Mans race and won it against a depleted field. This was a great time to see Alonso smiling again and happy to be in a competitive racecar again.
My take
Alonso had been my idol when Michael Schumacher left F1 and got into Ferrari. I understand how he felt to move on to another team after not being appreciated by his current one. It is so hard to give your best when most of the team members are not behind you. I hope he will reconsider coming back to F1 as he still has what it takes and I hope he will have a seat in the best teams when he decides to come back.
Thank you for all the memories Fernando and until your next championship, “A piu tardi!”
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