No room for Alonso at Red Bull – Horner

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In the round-up: Christian Horner says there is no chance Fernando Alonso will drive for Red Bull next year.

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49 comments on “No room for Alonso at Red Bull – Horner”

  1. The headline seems about right. Who’d want Alonso anyway? Having him in a team means guaranteed problems for team motivation. Red Bull has many better options, and continuing with their current line-up is just one of them.

    1. Guaranteed problems for team motivation? Guaranteed?!?

      You’ve worked for Minardi, Renault, McLaren or Ferrari Im guessing?

    2. I wonder when people are going to get Red Bulls “junior team” concept with Toro Rosso and stop including them in silly season rumours and headlines. Red Bull just does not hire outside drivers (and did so only when RBR was newly founded and Toro Rosso didn’t exist), they are taking their drivers from their junior program exclusively. Neither Alonso nor Hamilton nor anyone already in F1 but outside of the Red Bull family will drive a Red Bull.

      1. If RedBull is the Inn does that mean TorroRosso is the manger ?

        1. No car for a bed,
          the little Lord Alonso lays down with HANS round his head.
          Driving Gods in the night sky look on in dismay.
          Another years racing was whittled away.

    3. Stop trolling this is a good forum. Alonso had one big argument with Martin Whitmarsh and they made up after half an hour, that was it, it’s documented by the court hearing. Stop being bitter and spoiling this website.

    4. Takeitlightly
      24th June 2017, 9:39

      As if Alonso would like to work with the brokeback managers Horner and Marko…

      If Alonso would move, it will be on a Renault since its the most realistic opening for him.

    5. @huhhii
      “Who’d want Alonso anyway? ”
      A team with lots of money that wants to win races.

  2. No place at Red Bull, but could there be one at Mercedes? I wonder if Hamilton saying yesterday that Bottas earned his place for next year was a sign that he feels some movements coming that he doesn’t like, especially with Toto pointing out that Bottas is in an uncomfortable situation.

    1. I think Alonso will replace a second driver at Ferrari or Mercedes. Most likely Ferrari, as Kimi just isn’t delivering and he’s already past his prime. Bottas is ten years younger, has greater potential and still has a lot to achieve. But a lot is depending on which team will end up second in the Constructors Championship. If Merc loses because of their 2nd driver not delivering, they might be tempted by Alonso. These are the only logical options in my opinion. No other team can give Fernando a championship winning car. And gambling on McLaren making a huge leap forward next year is too much risk for Alonso at his age. Another year without a competitive car is something he can’t afford.

      1. This, or IndyCar.

        1. @maroonjack It won’t hapen i’m sure. Mercedes is a no go for Alonso considered how he black mailed McLaren-Mercedes, i also heard that Mercedes’s top managers don’t want him. Ferrari is a no go zone either for Alonso.

          1. No he didnt blackmail anyone the court hearing document is online for you to read. He shouted something at Martin Whitmarsh then appologised half an hour later. Stop being bitter and ruining this forum.

          2. I think that with a driver like Alonso there are no strict “no go” zones.

      2. @maroonjack

        I think Alonso will replace a second driver at Ferrari or Mercedes. Most likely Ferrari, as Kimi just isn’t delivering and he’s already past his prime.

        I just don’t see it happening at Ferrari… strictly because of their 1 rooster philosophy. I do see Ferrari losing the WCC (and possibly WDC) this year only because of Kimi’s poor performance. They’ll definitely do some soul searching to hire a strong #2 driver, but there’s no way they’ll swallow their pride and get Alonso back. I’m pretty sure Vettel’s contract has a ‘No Alonso’ clause in it as well.

        1. @todfod I think Vettel’s contract ends this year, so 2018 at Ferrari is a blank slate and they might just swallow their pride to end the Great Championship Draught.

          But there is another possibility, albeit bit silly. There are unconfirmed rumours coming from German and Italian media about Vettel having some kind of pre-agreement with Mercedes. So imagine Vettel switching to Mercedes, and Bottas paired with Alonso at Ferrari.

          1. @maroonjack Vettel definitely won’t stay with a weakened contract, especially against Alonso, I’m pretty sure he’d rather move to Mercedes if Alonso would return (which I think is very unlikely).

          2. @hunocsi The contract doesn’t have to be weaker. They might convince him to race alongside Alonso and offer something else in return. That is: if ther is “no Alonso” clause, because Vettel himself said: “I’m signing my contract. I’m not signing other people’s contract, so it’s not my decision,” said Vettel. “But I’m ready to race whoever comes along.”

      3. Agree 100%

  3. I’m interested in how Codemasters, per their F1 agreement, can run the FW18, the MP4/4, and FW14B in cigarette livery without the sponsor on it, yet can’t run the Williams FW40 in the red Martini livery without the sponsor?

    1. Most countries that have a ban or obstruction in place for alcohol are far more lenient against tobacco use and cigarettes. That is all.

      1. Yep, if you were to run the alcohol livery even without the name you can put a big fat zero next to Middle East sales.

    2. Liveries are relatively simple to change, should Codemasters discover there are parts of the world that will not accept cigarette liveries on games in the desired age bracket.

  4. Hey @robbie see it is not just me saying JV was poor after 97 in fact i would say he was poor from 96. Damon Hill ws hardly good was he?

  5. I used to underestimate Alonso for his crying manners, and toxic personality, but after his Indy500 excursión I feel nothing but respect for that man, is hard to be in a safe place like f1, making millions, and then fly to the USA and put your bum on the line in a crazy-dangerous race like that just for the joy of racing, that said I want Alonso back in Ferrari, so he finally get the chance to race his hated nemesis Sebastian Vettel, the level of hatred between those two guys is like no other.

    1. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
      24th June 2017, 2:14

      @juanmelendezr1 If I skip a day at work, I got that day discounted from my salary. I guess Alonso can venture into as many races as he wants, because:
      a. He is Alonso, not Omar Roncal.
      b. His contract must have a clause that, in case of that junk of a car he has at Woking, he can venture into other categories.

      Too bad Honda keeps letting him down in F1 AND in Indy as well. If he enters a lawnmowers race, he’d better stay away from Honda!

    2. @juanmelendezr1 It won’t hapen mate.

  6. Kudos to the 1st. person who finds the previous version of the Guardian article without C C being substituted for B C E .

  7. So Seb got an exit clause only in 2011 after winning the championship. I would be interested in knowing what were the specifics of the clause – was it driver position or constructor position in the championship table.

    Plus, it shows how much confidence Red Bull had on their abilities to make a winning chassis and their junior driver program. They kept Webber on just 1 year contract and Seb with an exit clause for 2 years.

    1. My understanding is his exit clause was triggered if he was lower than 5th in the WDC by the end of the European season (Italy), which was the case in 2014.

      This paved the way for him announcing his Ferrari deal at the Japanese GP that year.

      1. And that’s why Seb was ”slower” that his team mate…so it can activate this clause. He had seen an opportunity and took it. Every driver wants to drive for Ferrari, and having won 4 word championships , there was nothing for him to prove at Red Bull. But it’s easier for haters to say that he was bad that year .

  8. Just watching qualifying from Brazil ’98. Giancarlo Fisichella spins off into a gravel trap. They bring a digger out to retrieve him. Martin Brundle then begins to hide his head in hands and says “if a car gors into that, unfortunately they will be pushing up daisies”.

    I’ve been watching F1 for a long time. I know Brundle had his crash in Japan ’94, that led to his belief in the statement above. However, I still can’t get over every time he says it, over the course of his career, how prophetic it is to Jules Bianchi’s crash.

    1. With eerie timing, Tom Coronel’s WTCC car hit a fire lorry in a practise session this morning, showing that even that apparently wasn’t enough for all world-class motorsport series to get the memo…

  9. You can’t really say Les Mans is something to look at in order to find out why it’s so successful compared to an average F1 race. Part of the Les Mans success is it’s generally a one off. Yes, there is the WEC, but Les Mans is a famous, historic race. Indy 500, while also part of a series, is also hugely successful as a single race and attendance skyrockets over normal Indycar races, which are pretty cheap anyway. Indy 500 had 300k crowd, while Phoenix had about 15 -20k. More people would attend Monaco if it was affordable and there were enough seats. I know a few people that went this year to Monaco who don’t watch F1 at all. Ever. But they know Monaco because it’s a famous race and went to see it for that reason alone. The Tour de France attracts far more attention than most other bike races. People gawk at famous things and people. Fame and heritage plays a huge part of general interest, but that gets watered down when you add demanding prices and take things off free to air. It also depends on capacity. Even with high prices, Spa is sold out. Melbourne is sold out. Monaco is sold out. Monza is probably close. Yet despite it’s lack of heritage, you add twice as many grandstands to Melbourne and halve the prices, you’d get Les Mans figures on race day. Easily.

  10. Regarding the piece about JV, he certainly did have a major drop-off in pace sometime around 2001-2002 or so, with it never to return. But, to say he hasn’t won anything since is not quite correct – he did share victory in the Spa 1000 km race for Peugeot in 2008!

  11. Marian Gri (@)
    24th June 2017, 6:09

    I guess we knew it already. If they were interested in his services they would have done something about it in the past years. So, if they didn’t get him while he was 30, how “interesting” can he be (anymore) at 36-37?? Let’s be honest, ALO has a major problem in finding a top seat… simply because they have good enough drivers already to win champs, every top team could use a better car.

    1. It will be close between Mercedes and Ferrari this year and it might boil down to performance of their #2 drivers. Both teams might consider a strong replacement for next year, so I think both drivers are in a vulnerable place, with Kimi being much closer to the end of his career.

      1. I agree. I’ve been saying the same since pre season testing. It was an easy decision to put Valterri as a #2 driver in that Merc because Mercedes enjoyed such a massive advantage to their rivals. Now when the going gets tough, you want 2 drivers to maximise the points haul over the length of a season. So the issue of managing two top tier drivers should be welcomed in exchange for a more competitive shot for the WDC and WCC.

        The same goes with Ferrari. It’s only when they actually started fighting for the championship did they realise what a liability Kimi has been. If they don’t win the WDC and WCC this year, Kimi’s lack of competitiveness will probably be the primary reason.

        It will be interesting to see who they take in 2018. I have a feeling Valterri will step up later this year and be able to retain his seat at Mercedes, but Kimi will flounder and be replaced in 2018. The problem is that both Red Bull drivers will be locked in for 2018, so the 2nd seat will be a hard one to fill at Ferrari. I can only assume that they will approach Perez and maybe Sainz for that role, but neither are as strong as they would want the Ferrari #2 to be.

        1. Ferrari could go for ALO, but this would bring an instability to the team, in house fights and gives them no long time perspective. Say what you want, ALO is spewing too much poison, and Ferrari’s most successful years were with a clear 1-2 status between their drivers. ALO and Kimi are both in the last years of their career. Performance wise I’ll not comment, since I’m not sure that ALO is doing as great is he’s boasting: His teammate is the only reference, and that reference is handicapped on so much levels, it isn’t halfway fair: ALO gets the updates first, doesn’t do fuel-saving and can set the car up to his liking. Vandoorne needs to do what he’s being told to do, with the “lesser car” and a setup decided by engineering, restricted consumption, … while learning the tracks in a machine that needs to be managed not to break down. End results for both: 0 points. Compared to Button last year, ALO wasn’t that great either

          1. Pure drivel…

    2. My comment is for here.

      Pretty much what I said in the last round up.

  12. Pretty much what I said in the last round up.

  13. If I were in the Ferrari team I would seriously consider Bottas to replace Kimi next year. Not only are you getting a top driver, but also someone with very valuable insider information about your biggest rival and how the Ferrari compares to the Merc.

    1. I’d rather someone spectacular in a Ferrari like Verstappen or Ricciardo

    2. GtisBetter (@)
      24th June 2017, 9:25

      The rumors are heating up that Kimi will get another 1 year contact. I wouldn’t be surprised. Ferrari is probably waiting for one of the RB drivers. But if Kimi stays, i don’t suspect a lot of movement in the drivers market.

  14. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
    24th June 2017, 10:49

    What a terrible, unpleasant, bitter article by Norris Mcdonold on Villeneuve. That guy needs to weigh up his life.

    1. Yeah at other times he has been complimentary to JV, so he must just think Stroll needs all the Canadian support he can get. Reading JV’s other quotes have him saying the Stroll family told him at the start of the season the results will speak for themselves, so JV is just playing off what the family themselves have said.

      Anyway Norris has said other disagreeable things in the past on other racing related topics so it should be no surprise that as ‘poor’ as he is thinks JV is for saying what he did, Norris is being no more mature by sweeping under the carpet the stuff that JV has done which only Mario Andretti and Emerson Fittipaldi have also done in the history of racing.

  15. I wonder if the situation at Sauber has something to do with the Honda engine deal as well?
    Don’t know if that sort of decision could be made only by Monisha and what good could come from sacking her due to it.

    She needs to write a book doesn’t she?

Comments are closed.