Alonso aims to repeat Schumacher’s fifth-year win

2014 F1 season

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Fernando Alonso says he wants to repeat Michael Schumacher’s feat of winning the world championship in his fifth season for Ferrari.

“I think Schumacher win in the fifth year with Ferrari. I’m in the fifth year now so hopefully I can repeat some of the success that he had,” said Alonso. Schumacher Schumacher joined Ferrari in 1996 and took until 2000 to win the title.

“Obviously in the last four years we had some opportunities, especially in 2010, 2012, we were very, very close to winning the championship,” Alonso added. “So this year we’ll try again and hopefully this time will be a good one.”

Alonso admitted the arrival of 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen makes for a strong line-up at the team this year.

“I think Kimi and me as a team we should be quite strong in the paper because we’ve had some success in the past in the Formula One career.

“But this you need to discover, every year we start from zero. If we do well we will have a very strong team, we can deliver some good results for Ferrari. If we don’t do good enough some other team will have another best pairing drivers. So it’s up to us to deliver and do a good job.”

“I think in 2014 the Formula One will change a lot with the new regulations,” he added. “That will take also some implications from the driving styles so definitely I’m looking forward to discover this new Formula One.”

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Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo

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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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37 comments on “Alonso aims to repeat Schumacher’s fifth-year win”

  1. If the Ferrari is a title challenger all the way, I hope Kimi does it.

  2. Kimi Raikkonen also wants to re-emulate his championship title in ‘first year’ with Ferrari

    1. Roger Williams
      25th January 2014, 15:30

      Already done in 2007

    2. Now, that makes sense!

    3. Bouya! :D

  3. I hope that, unlike the past 2 seasons, he and the car don’t take a nosedive (no punintended) at the end of the season..

    1. That nose can’t really get any lower, now can it?

  4. seems they ran out of carbon fibre in Maranello, and did a scrappy nose job.

  5. His statements get sillier every day. As somebody who’s not particularly a fan of Alonso, these last years have been a delight in terms of what comes out of his mouth.

    You can almost taste the frustration coming out from his pores!

  6. They could have given Alonso a cap that fits his head.

    Anyone remember the good old days when Ferrari did a car presentation and then Schumacher would get on stage and say “this is the prettiest Ferrari I’ve ever seen”. Yeah, not this time (regulations haven’t brought us many beautiful ones in the last years). Yet, seeing it in this video, I think it looks much more acceptable than in the pictures.

  7. Great story! Alternatively, Fernando wants to win the championship this year. Very surprising!

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      25th January 2014, 16:09

      @georgeod Fernando, and Sebastian, and Kimi, and Daniel and Kevin….(put all the others’ names here) and Kamui.

    2. My bets are that it will be between Rosberg, Hamilton and Vettel for the title. And now that won’t even be close.

      1. Is that in order of preference @vettel1 ?

        1. @vonhoff in a way, yes – I would love to see Vettel win a fifth but as an impartial fan and assuming Mercedes will be competitive as tipped, I’d rather Rosberg won.

          1. @vettel1
            Why Vettel but not Alonso or anyone else? Assuming that Mercedes is a beast.

          2. I agree, that would be far more interesting a season. It would mean Rosberg steps up and improves, making it a better and more competitive field altogether. And it would be great to then see Hamilton have to fight from a disadvantage next year, see Vettel want to take the title back and see what happens with Alonso @vettel1!

  8. He did look sad in the video. There again, that has been his constant face for the past couple of years.

    Since I can’t say I like him, I find it kinda funny.

  9. Who cares what year it is? Just win!

  10. I really hope Fernando has a car capable of matching Red Bull and Mercedes this year. Can’t see Vettel or Hamilton beating Fernando this year unless they have significantly better machinery

    1. Why would they need significantly better machinery @todfod? Both are class drivers and few would question you if you were to say Vettel is the best driver in F1 at the moment on the basis of last season.

      1. @vettel1

        I knew that this statement would get a reply from you ;)

        I’ve seen Vettel beat Alonso by the skin of his teeth in superior machinery, so in relatively equal machinery, I’m convinced Alonso would beat him.

        Then again I’m sure you will say the opposite. So lets just hope we get some equal machinery this year to see how things pan out

        1. Please. In 2012, in the races when neither of them had external influences (mechanical failures, strategy errors, etc etc) Vettel beat Alonso confortably once the Red Bull was actually superior (in Asia). If it wasn’t by Abu Dhabi’s qualy issue, Senna hitting Vettel, the team putting him wrong tyres and Hulkenerg taking out Hamilton, the difference would have been much bigger than “the skin of his teeth”.

          Alonso drove superbly in 2012, but to believe that the championship ended that close JUST because his skills magically made up for the performance difference is being irrational.

          1. @silence
            You’re saying that the Red Bull was only superior in Asia? Nonsense.

            Red Bull was superior in Australia, China, Bahrain, Monaco, Hungary, and every race Singapore-onward. That is 12 races.

            Ferrari was better in Malaysia, Spain, and Monza. That’s only 3 races.

            In 4 races – Canada, Silverstone, Germany, and Belgium – RBR and Ferrari were equal.

            Despite that, Vettel beat Alonso by the skin of his teeth. Alonso was heads and shoulders above Vettel in 2012.

          2. @silence

            Get your facts straight. The Red Bull was quicker than the Ferrari at every circuit that year. Except for Monza maybe

          3. @kingshark

            Alonso was heads and shoulders above Vettel in 2012.

            Just like Massa has performed exactly as good as Webber, right? Kinda funny how you all your unpopular opinions are always hardwired to make Alonso look better :)

        2. @todfod If you want to see what happens when the Red Bull is actually superior, see 2013. Even the first half, when they were much more evenly matched than ever, and still Vettel left to the summer pause 40 points ahead.

          1. Well I could pull more instances to prove my point as well.. like most of 2010 and 2012

  11. Is this Alonso’s excuse for not winning the championship in the last 7 years?

    1. He’s just trying to be positive about it.

    2. @cjpdk

      Who said anything about excuses??

      He’s just trying to see the silver lining in an underperforming team

      1. @todford

        I’ll be honest, it was intended as a joke, albeit a mean-spirited one

  12. Fernando, Michael was also champion in the other 4 seasons…

    1. You talking about 96, 97, 98 and 99?

    2. You mean the ones that followed ? 2001 , 02 , 03 , 04

      Well having a dominant car makes it a whole lot easier.. what do you think?

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