Links: Alonso backs Massa

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Alonso says he will help Massa if possible – Alonso “Yes, no doubt, if I can help, I will help Massa.” Does he still bear a grudge against McLaren, or is he just trying really hard to get a Ferrari seat? This reminds me of the BTCC last year, when Matt Neal got in Jason Plato’s way in the title decider at Thruxton. Plato was battling Vauxhall’s Fabrizio Giovanardi for the title, and shortly after the race it was announced Neal would be joining Vauxhall for the following season…

BMW admits it had doubts over Heidfeld – “BMW Sauber boss Mario Theissen has admitted that Nick Heidfeld’s poor qualifying performances in the middle of this season jeopardised his future with the team for a while.” Good job his days of not making it further than Q1 are over. Wait a minute…

Honda says it can make pit lights work – Nick Fry says: “Our system is designed in such a way that if the fuel hose is not disconnected the car physically won’t be able to move.” However Honda will not be using the lights during races until 2009.

Pressure tells on Hamilton – “After making so many errors, it is astonishing that Hamilton is still in contention for the championship, and he is fortunate to be facing a rival who has his own flaws.”

Could Williams be victims of the financial squeeze?

Ferrari say KERS still behind schedule – Aldo Costa: “There have been reliability troubles. I can’t deny we are running a bit late. Let’s say that I would like to have tried our system already. We have a lot to do but time is short. Even though we have two weeks more compared to the past, we must follow the collective tests calendar. There’s a test in mid January and we can’t miss it.”

Two things about this strike me as strange. First, it’s surprising that one of F1’s richest and best-equipped teams are running behind on development.

But even more strange is the fact they’re telling everyone about it. Why advertise a weakness to your rivals?

How To Watch Football Online – Will F1 fans ever have such an enormous breadth of options for watching Formula 1 online? Please take note, Mr Ecclestone.

The FIA gets heavy handed – “As it stands at the moment, every guy on the grid must feel that they will need to apply to the race director – before the race begins – for written permission in triplicate to attempt any overtaking manoeuvre. ”

James Allen’s Japanese GP verdict – “Against all expectations, the Japanese Grand Prix took place in bone-dry conditions” James Allen should start reading the F1 Fanatic pre-race weather forecasts.

Sebastian Bourdais robbed by disgusting Ferrari Stewards idiocy – “Spaniard Alonso won. In a French team. What should have been a great news story, is now just an also ran to yet another Ferrari fiddle. Poor Alonso. Poor Bourdais. Poor Formula One.”

Welcome to Formula None, where racing is illegal – “From what I have been reading on respected website Grandprix.com, the job of FIA steward has become a jolly for Max’s mates under Mosley’s leadership. It seems to be brimful of Mosley’s allies from the WMSC and those who voted for him in the General Assembly. The steward’s job is seen as a ‘perk’. There have even been instances where there have been stewards who have never even watched a grand prix motor race! And boy, can you tell.”

Sinking feeling – “Talking it through with the FIA in recent weeks a number of ideas have come up in the wake of Spa

1. An extra technician has been installed in the stewards box with an extra screen or screens on which replays can be played during the race. I think this was first done at Singapore.
2. There is a proposal on the table for the stewards to publish a short explanation of their decisions at the same time as the decisions are handed out. This would help all of us understand how the stewards reach their conclusions and which rules are in play and so on.
3. There is another proposal that all the various TV angles the stewards have of an incident will also be published to help everyone see what they see.”

Another look at Lewis Hamilton – “On the evidence so far, Lewis is a racer through and through.

[…]

The real tragedy is that Kimi Raikkonen used to be one of these all-or-nothing guys but Ferrari seem to have knocked it out of him.”

These are articles I’ve found and bookmarked using StumbleUpon. View my StumbleUpon profile to see what else I’m reading and recommend other links to me.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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29 comments on “Links: Alonso backs Massa”

  1. David Watkins
    13th October 2008, 23:27

    It’s difficult to see how Alonso could help Massa. If he keeps up his current form he’ll be at the front of the race and he’ll surely be giving no favours to anyone.

  2. Regarding Alonso backing Massa: It’s nothing more than a continuation of his ‘chucking his toys out of the pram’ from last season. Besides, Massa doesnt need his help, not when the FIA are backing Ferrari….

  3. I’m all in favour of the stewards’rationale being published, but I’d want to see it after the race rather than risk further Rosberg style penalty delays…

    I’d *love* to be able to see the onboard (or other) cameras for incidents… We’d be that bit better informed, and perhaps the odd mysterious stewards’ decision would become clear

  4. I don’t think Alonso needs to help Massa – Hamilton’s doing that

  5. Get Alonso at Ferrari already.

  6. Well it doesn’t surprise me. The question then is, who is he against, is it the team or the driver? He recently said, he had no problems with Hamilton as a person, and that it was the team that didn’t handle affairs properly.

    Could the motivation be, retaining the youngest world champion status? And why Massa? A driver he once accused of trying to damage his car when he over took him.

  7. @Kris

    Well it would be nice to have all that information. But Mosley will just come up with something like this

    …o—– “Its a very complicated decision making process, that the average man on the street can not fully understand. These are individuals working under the most extreme pressure to come up with fair decisions after having to go through complicated technical information and materials. As such I cannot trust the layman of the street to appreciate the intricacies.”————-0–

    Waste of money and time. You might aswell have drunks as stewards, if you only need someone to rubber stamp.

  8. This is a major turnaround for Alonso. Back in March, following two disastrous races for Massa in Australia and Malaysia, he was one of many questioning Massa’s skill and driving ability.
    For most of the season, up until the last two weeks, Fernando Alonso’s season has floundered. For the first time in four years, he is not in a serious position for the championship. His comments back at the Hungarian grands prix were typical, suggesting that he would ‘still not be able to win the race if he was still at McLaren, anymore than last year’. As if on que, Kovalainen, his replacement, won the race.
    It would seem that Alonso enjoys twisting the knife anytime he can in the guts of his former employers, McLaren Mercedes, and Ron Dennis especially. I can understand this aspect of a human being, as I also bear grudges too when afronted, but these kind of comments, in the long term, may prove damaging.
    Everytime Alonso speaks like this, we are reminded of what happened last year. The spy scandal, the accusations of blackmail, the weekend at Budapest, inwhich Fernando truly made his feelings public.
    All this comes flooding back, flooding back into the minds of some very important, influential people. With Ferrari and BMW Sauber committed to their drivers for the forseeable future, Alonso’s future looks increasingly likely to remain on Renaults good graces.
    Lets not forget, that even if Ferrari were to reconsider their driver lineup in the next couple of years, Alonso may not be their first choice. Vettel is an extremely talented, and connected, driver, who is manageable. This guy is one of the very best drivers we have had in this sport for probably fifteen or so years.
    He has won twenty one grands prixs, has as many points almost as some of F1s legendary drivers, and two back to back titles, yet often speaks from the heart instead of the brain.
    Felipe Massa has managed quite well this year without anybodys help. Yes, he makes mistakes, and yes, he is vunerable to pressure, but so is 95% of the population. The important thing, and the only thing that matters, is that he is just five points shy of winning the championship. Alonso is not even in it, and has to rectify this situation, rather than discussing who he is secretly rooting for.

  9. Disappointing from Alonso, who having driven a couple of excellent and mature races shows how petty he can be sometimes.

    Also, a couple of interesting quotes from the James Allen article:
    “He might argue that he had his front wheels in front, but the team managers I spoke to after the race all said that FIA race director Charlie Whiting had briefed them in Singapore and again in Fuji that the car exiting the pits has right of way.”

    The FIA really need to openly explain this penalty decision.

    and

    “Lewis is due a new engine there (China) and he hasn’t taken his free change yet, so can also have a new one in Brazil”

    As has been stated before, you’re not allowed to play the joker in the last 2 races. So either Allen is right which vindicates McLaren not having used the joker yet, or he’s wrong which means both he and McLaren have ballsed up. I know where my money is!

  10. Alonso has always been outspoken about whom he thinks should/deserves to win the championship. Earlier in the season he backed Kubica and now he says he is backing Massa. We have to consider that this is AS reporting again and how much can we trust them. According to them Alonso is driving for Ferrari next year.

    With regard to help, Massa does need it. Even if he wins the remaining two races and Lewis finishes behind him, it wont be enough. He needs someone to finish ahead of Lewis and probably hold him back. Kimi has been off color lately and is not that reliable. Alonso has been the most successful driver in the past 6 races and seems like a strong contender in the remaining races.

    In the end I guess Lewis will be the one helping Massa out.

  11. What I can’t understand is how a driver from ANOTHER team would go about helping someone else in the championship. Senna/Schumacher-style kamikaze attacks? I guess so. But they were used to secure championships for themselves, but for someone else…? It’s just…strange is all I can say. Unless he’s predicting that he’ll do for Massa what Moss did for Hawthorne. Chances of that are slim and none, and slim just left town.

    Although I’d really love to see Massa win the championship instead of Hamilton and Alonso back on the front row on a more regular basis, his remarks are completely unnecessary. Well it could have been worse, he could have said, “Yes, no doubt, if I can hurt, I will hurt Hamilton.”

    Actually, now that i think about it…given Alonso’s answer, I’d be interested to know what the exact question he was asked.

  12. No, this is Alonso still hankering over a Ferrari seat. Perhaps he already knows whether Santander have successfully waved their mega-bucks wand under Luca’s nose and have ousted Kimi. Wait and see.
    On the KERS question, why are such a big dynamic company like Ferrari having so many problems? Its the Paris Motor Show at the moment and on little Citroen’s stand is a Hybrid/Kinetic WRC prototype, which works!
    Isn’t it strange that both FIA and FOM are telling FOTA to come up with new ‘workable’ rules or have them forced on them? If the FIA and FOM are fighting themselves for power and control, what right have they to dictate terms to the teams? It wouldn’t surprise me to see some teams give ultimatums of their own if the question isn’t sorted by the start of next season – but then I was forgetting, who is nominal head of FOTA – Luca! So it will be ‘tow the line or you aren’t in FOTA, and if you aren’t in FOTA you aren’t racing’.
    Now theres something to look forward to next year!

  13. Why does a two times World Champion have to act like such a baby?

  14. I thought part of Alonsos job was to score maximum points for Renault. By doing so he could be helping Massa if he take those points from Hamilton, but then he is just doing what he should do. So what does he mean? I can only think of two other things: 1) He will let Massa by and in the process himself take fewer points, or 2) will he try to take Hamilton out of the races?

    Very weird comment. It just shows even more that although he might be the best driver in F1 measured by skill, his real problem lies in his attitude and personality.

  15. As a spaniard I can tell you that Spanish sports press and proper F1 coverage are simply incompatible. There are journalists who know a lot about the sport, but they don’t write the headlines (“as bombastic as possible, guys”) and they don’t ask the dozens of stupid questions Alonso is asked every other day. I feel lucky to understand English…

    Alonso might be a bit of a loudmouth, but expect no kamikaze actions or stupid risks from him to help Massa. On track, he knows better than that, and with a competitive car for the next two races, he’s simply gonna try to score as many points as possible, period. That answer is possibly all about his (understandable) intention to keep his youngest world champion record, he has stated it a few times.

  16. Any driver who can finish ahead of Lewis in the next two races , is indirectly helping Massa , provided Massa himself of course is ahead of Lewis. But with Alonso , I agree there is probably more of a feeling because of how he got shafted by the silver arrow , and his wish to mount the prancing horse some day.

  17. @ the limit 14 October 2008 at 4:06 am
    “Felipe Massa has managed quite well this year without anybodys help”

    Err, could you then please tell the FIA that? They seem to think he needs all the help he can get ;)

    As for the Alonso comment, I am willing to bet that it was quoted out of context, or not translated properly or a desperate grab for headlines or something. Its each man for himself out on the track, and to think that a driver – any driver – would help anyone (other than their teammate of course) is just living in la la land. And I would think that there would be no love lost between Flippy and Fernando.

    Just doesn’t make sense.

  18. I think it is normal that Fernando doesn’t like McLaren anymore, after what happened last year. I’m not surprised. We are human and we have heart and Fernando suffered at McLaren last year. I’m surprised that it surprises some people…

  19. I don’t think Alonso would help anyone to win the championship. Kubica and him is friend so why not let Kubica win in Japan ?
    I think we have to understand that it would be very very difficult for Hamilton to overtake Alonso. If Hamilton wants to force as he did in Japan with Raikkonen then for sure both will be off the track.
    Remember also that Alonso and Massa are not the best friends on track as we can see on some races in 2007

  20. I wonder what odds I’d get a the bookies on an Alonso-Hamilton collision in one of the next 2 races…?? ;-)

  21. @ roser. I agree completely. Had I been in his situation, I couldn’t help but feel bitter and aggrieved . Might not speak out in the way that he’s doing but I can understand where he’s coming from.

  22. Is it true that is not allowed to change the engine free in the last 2 races?

    Cause if it is what McLaren were thinking…

  23. @ Pink Peril.

    I kind of walked into that one blindly. I meant help from other drivers, but you are right in what you say. I let my keyboard finger get carried away.

  24. About Fernando´s International Assistance, he has answered a question that came from a Brazilian journalist:

    “…Bueno, sin duda, se puedo ayudar, ayudaré a Massa…”

    TRANSLATE TO ENGLISH:

    “…Well, no doubt, if I can help, I will help Massa…”

    The LINK (with AUDIO):
    http://f1around.wordpress.com/2008/10/14/alonso-sim-se-posso-ajudar-ajudarei-a-massa/

  25. Can somebody post what actually the question was? I think we are more concentrating on the answer of Fernando rather than the context!

  26. Roser etc – in what way should Alonso feel that he suffered at McLaren last year? Out of the whole team, it was only he and De La Rosa that weren’t penalised in some way, even though the only direct evidence that was brought to the court was about their emails and texts.
    He walked away straight into Renault, straight into another chance to win the Championship again. Ron and the team lost points and creditibility. Has Alonso?
    If he suffered it was because he found himself paired with a Rookie who could drive at least as well as he can. Why didn’t he just prove how good he was on the track instead of running to Todt’s boys with gossip?

  27. DG –

    He walked away straight into Renault, straight into another chance to win the Championship again

    If he had the car he has now at the start of this year, maybe, but I don’t think on balance the R28 has been a championship-winning proposition all year long.

  28. DG- After what happened in last race, I don’t think you are right saying that Hamilton “could drive at least as well as he (Alo) can”

  29. Roser, I think they’ve both been prone to errors. Remember Alonso at the Montreal start last year under pressure – he cracked too.

    Hamilton had a nightmare in fuji, and the same this time last year, but he’s also been pretty decent in keeping his head in other situations (most of his rookie season in 2007 for example) and people seem to forget this.

    That aside, It would be tastey to see a Hamilton Alonso battle in the next two races for sure.

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