In the round-up: A telling anecdote about the breakdown in relations between Fernando Alonso and McLaren 13 years ago.
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Inside the mind of F1 communications director Matt Bishop (In The Pink via Google)
McLaren's former head of communications describes Alonso's unusual method of winding up team principal Ron Dennis when the pair fell out at the Hungaroring in 2007: "(Ron's) very precise about everything equal. He admits to being 'OCD' about cleanliness. And one of the things he absolutely loathes above almost everything else is people who eat juicy fruit without a knife and fork. So if you're eating a nectarine or a peach or plum, Ron wants you to put it on a plate, have a sharp knife, steady it with the fork, cut it with a sharp knife and then put small, neat pieces of the fruit into your mouth with the fork. Fernando arrived with, I think, the largest and ripest peach I have ever seen. And he just sat next to Ron (slurping) like that and letting all the juice run down into his beard and leaving the bits of fruit pulp in his beard. Not everybody present would have known quite how painful Ron would have been in finding that but believe me, Fernando did. Fernando was definitely on a number then with Ron... But that's Fernando. Fernando is a great driver. Great driver. He's also an operator."
Gasly still backs Red Bull despite online critics (Racer)
"“In 2019 and 2020 our generation, everybody is on social media. Except Seb (Vettel) who is the only one and the only exception! We are still pushing him to be on Instagram, because it’s not normal these days not to be on social media."
Nederlandse raceteams tussen hoop en vrees: 'Vuilnisbak zit vol proefballonnen' (NOS - Dutch)
Van Amersfoort responds to Bernie Ecclestone's suggestion the championship should be called off, saying he 'doesn't take him seriously' and 'his time has passed'.
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
What a really sad news, I can’t believe I will not share any more conversation, amazing stories with you Ricardo. you are one of the guys in my career who teach me the most. I will miss you so much.
Our 2006 Formula Nippon title was one of the most memorable moment in my career pic.twitter.com/nRtogqMjPW— Benoit Treluyer (@BenoitTreluyer) April 25, 2020
Very sad to hear Ricardo Divila has left us. I met him long ago in Japan and always felt he was a special man with a unique understanding of Motorsport. You will be missed amigo! Muito obrigado🙏 RIP pic.twitter.com/kdYm2sKthN
— Pedro de la Rosa (@PedrodelaRosa1) April 25, 2020
Ricardo, I’m grateful I was able to work with you and call you a friend. Your opinion I always valued along with listening to your life and motorsport stories to which I could and did listen to for hours. Myself and friends couldn’t believe how much energy you possessed everyday pic.twitter.com/08OIFZpaMr
— Jann Mardenborough (@Jannthaman) April 25, 2020
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
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Comment of the day
More appreciation for the standard of competition in IndyCar’s iRacing Challenge:
Speaking as a non gamer, I was quite impressed by this effort as it looked quite realistic most of the time. Camera shots were good and the detail sharp. Compared to the F1 races, it looked much more believable and the presentation as a whole was pretty good and easy to get on YouTube. I’d watch another.
@Mrfill
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to El Gordo!
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Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
27th April 2020, 0:43
Matt Bishop’s telling of the peachie Alonso story was ripe with delicious deviousness.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
27th April 2020, 7:41
@jimmi-cynic Great anecdote about Hamilton as well. Worth a listen.
James
27th April 2020, 10:51
Maybe Fernando should have been impeached. I’ll get my coat.
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
27th April 2020, 1:07
Well that was one of the strangest headlines I’ve read. I wondered if “wielding a peach” was a colloquilism I was unfamiliar with, but no, legitimately wielded a peach. And eating a peach with a knife and fork sounds utterly bizarre…
ColdFly (@)
27th April 2020, 8:09
‘wielding a peach’ is a little-used proverb meaning as much as ‘furtively upsetting your boss’.
Tomcat173 (@tomcat173)
27th April 2020, 8:25
@coldfly love it, you got a chuckle!
Exediron (@exediron)
27th April 2020, 4:29
Only Alonso could vex me so with a piece of fruit. He brought his doom on himself with his treason, but I did love him… I swear, I will go to my grave thinking of my driver’s peach.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
27th April 2020, 4:53
Boy it must have been fun working at McLaren under Ron’s regime…
PaulK (@paulk)
27th April 2020, 5:17
Hopefully Vettel will never join and keep representing those of us who dislike (anti-)social media.
GeeMac (@geemac)
27th April 2020, 11:13
Indeed, I was going to say the same thing. There is no need to be on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc, you just don’t learn anything useful there. The excuse about staying in touch with friends in different countries is rubbish too, I’ve lived in several countries now and have friends in all of them and stay in touch perfectly well just using email and having their phone numbers.
Viva la revolucion! :)
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
27th April 2020, 21:29
@paulk,
I don’t use social media and I am perfectly fine with it. I myself – just like @geemac – worked in many countries and have friends in different geographical locations that I stay in touch just using phone numbers.
Nice to know that I am not the only one in the anti-social media brigade !
Jere (@jerejj)
27th April 2020, 6:51
Why should he join? It’s his right and decision if he never wants to join social media.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
27th April 2020, 7:36
The Alonso headline surprised me as well. I thought it was going to refer to a peach of an argument in a conversation or discussion. Not an actual peach as in a piece of fruit. How devious of him.
bosyber (@bosyber)
27th April 2020, 8:24
The headline made me wonder too; LOL at that story, it’s so very Alonso, clever,subtle, but maybe not quite the smart thing to do in hindsight.
Islander
27th April 2020, 8:39
Yes, too clever by half, is another saying that comes to mind.
Emgee
27th April 2020, 8:57
Alonso might well be an “operator” but he’s clearly not a very good one.
ColdFly (@)
27th April 2020, 8:57
Did Alonso have a beard at any time in 2007?
Or was he ‘wielding the peach’ after his return to the team?
bosyber (@bosyber)
27th April 2020, 9:20
Wondered that too – as far as I can see Alonso was mostly clean shaven (probably in his contract? also, I think most pics. I found are from earlier in the year) in public, but who knows, maybe part of wielding the peach was also that he let some stubble grow, got to eating that peach, and only after washed and shaved @coldfly?
Not George
27th April 2020, 17:48
I thought beards were Ron’s #1 pet hate. It may have just been that day in Hungary for the “what he said” response in the “meet the team”. Was it the day after that Alonso tried to blackmail Ron, which led Ron to approach the FIA over the Ferrari data? My pet hate is how every scandal has the same suffix.
John Richards (@legardforpresident)
27th April 2020, 16:03
Bishop’s commentary was fascinating. Kudos to him chap for highlighting how he was ‘the only gay in the village’ back in Formula 1. Pretty brave in a “man’s sport”. He also highlights how some closeted mechanics have revealed that they’re afraid to come out. Not something you hear in Formula 1 as such.