> Alonso's days at McLaren are numbered

ApeX

Fernando Alonso is reportedly on the verge of quitting McLaren after a traumatic weekend at the Hungarian GP.

Alonso's already fractious relationship with his new employers and team-mate Lewis Hamilton plumbed new depths at Budapest, with the Englishman revealing that the pair were no longer on speaking terms after stewards ruled that the World Champion had deliberately impeded the rookie.

According to The Guardian, 'McLaren insiders expect Fernando Alonso to leave the team at the end of this season.

'Alonso, who was signed by McLaren at the end of 2005 at a cost of $25m a year, 16 months before he first raced for the team, has confided to friends and advisers that he has not received the priority treatment he expected as a double World Champion.

'Unless these problems are addressed he could negotiate a release from his contract, which runs until 2008, at the end of the year and possibly return to Renault or even take a sabbatical.'

"Ron isn't about to change the way he runs his team after 25 years just to accommodate Alonso," a team colleague told the newspaper. "If he's going to win, then he'll have to beat whoever is his team-mate first."

Alonso himself did nothing to dampen down the speculation by refusing to deny that he is contemplating leaving the team. "We'll see" was the extent of his response.

Although the top end of the 2008 driver market was considered to be settled, events at Budapest have put the F1 rumour mill in full swing. The Daily Telegraph claims that Renault 'have suspended negotiations with Giancarlo Fisichella' to facilitate Alonso's return.

Team boss Flavio Briatore, though, has denied that he's about to make an approach for Alonso.

"I know nothing about that. We have never had any discussions about that," he insisted. "This is a McLaren problem, not mine."

Source: Planet F1

Nikhil

Hahaha..... he is fast turning into a better version of Montoya. Too much attitude...

Safin

Well Mclaren will do well to acommodate Alonso. Every driver has his whims, and as far as possible if some cookies would please him Mclaren should do it. At the end of the day Mclaren needs Alonso for the points and for being a fighter. Ron might have run Mclaren as well for 25years but change is necessary to face newer situations. And renault will grab Alonso in no time and Mclaren will only kick themselves next season.
McLaren can do without another Kimi

A loud mouthed driver who wins is better than someone who keeps his mouth shut and keeps blowing the engine every race by his"aggressiveness".

Alpha-Q · 08:20 PM

I guess its about time McLaren do away with their everyone gets an equal opportunity theory, the only way forward in this is to set a proper hierarchy in the team. Either ways, it looks like Alonso wont stay long with the Mclarens(that is if Lewis wins the championship), which is a pity, cos I don't think there aren't any vacancies in the top 3 teams, and a sabbatical is the only logical solution.

Agnel

Originally Posted by Safin

Well Mclaren will do well to acommodate Alonso. Every driver has his whims, and as far as possible if some cookies would please him Mclaren should do it. At the end of the day Mclaren needs Alonso for the points and for being a fighter. Ron might have run Mclaren as well for 25years but change is necessary to face newer situations. And renault will grab Alonso in no time and Mclaren will only kick themselves next season.
McLaren can do without another Kimi

A loud mouthed driver who wins is better than someone who keeps his mouth shut and keeps blowing the engine every race by his"aggressiveness".

are we getting the correct meaning of alonso as a fighter?

he fights with everyone if he wins or doesn't win

ApeX

Originally Posted by Safin

McLaren can do without another Kimi

A loud mouthed driver who wins is better than someone who keeps his mouth shut and keeps blowing the engine every race by his"aggressiveness".

I think just the opposite. McLaren needs someone like Kimi to keep it going. They will do well without the internal team battles and drivers blasting their own boss. Believe me, Ron will be the first person to realize that.

And just for your information, no driver on earth can blow an F1 engine by his "aggressiveness". Get your facts right and get some damn proof before you start blaming Kimi for those failed Mercedes engines.

Nikhil

Apex is right.... All engines have rev imiters which can be set either from the car's steering wheel or from the pit garage (I think this has been removed since 2005 or something).

No driver can just blow his engine as and when he feels like....

And any team would be better off without such infighting. It is ridiculous. You cant blame Kimi for not doing well in McLaren. In 2003, he almost won the championship....

If McLaren cant give a good car to it;s drivers, you cant blame the driver

Safin

And just for your information, no driver on earth can blow an F1 engine by his "aggressiveness". Get your facts right and get some damn proof before you start blaming Kimi for those failed Mercedes engines.

try to go beyond the dictionary meanings of words

I think just the opposite. McLaren needs someone like Kimi to keep it going. They will do well without the internal team battles and drivers blasting their own boss. Believe me, Ron will be the first person to realize that.

McLaren don't need Kimi. Sorry, you might be his fan, i am mclaren fan and there is no doubt that Kimi has a terrible bad luck associated with him.(which might be and probably is his own doing but for want a better word we can all blame it on his luck)

If McLaren cant give a good car to it;s drivers, you cant blame the driver

You worry about your ferrari's

Mclaren is giving a good car now and all they need is to rein in Alonso a bit and pacify the two drivers. They have a great team and one of the key things in any industry is to manage two champions, which incidentally Mclaren have. Its never easy to do and i hope Mclaren can do it. Alonso and Hamilton is a dream team to have. Andwith two champions who are both fighters(in both senses @ Agnel

) it takes some skill to manage.

Nikhil

McLaren don't need Kimi. Sorry, you might be his fan, i am mclaren fan and there is no doubt that Kimi has a terrible bad luck associated with him.(which might be and probably is his own doing but for want a better word we can all blame it on his luck)

If McLaren cant give a good car to it;s drivers, you cant blame the driver

You worry about your ferrari's
Mclaren is giving a good car now and all they need is to rein in Alonso a bit and pacify the two drivers. They have a great team and one of the key things in any industry is to manage two champions, which incidentally Mclaren have. Its never easy to do and i hope Mclaren can do it. Alonso and Hamilton is a dream team to have. Andwith two champions who are both fighters(in both senses @ Agnel ) it takes some skill to manage.

You cant just blame his luck.... that is pretty stupid honestly. There is no luck involved. Only for the driver. But for the team as a whole, it is silly.

If the team works hard and gets their calculations right, they have a good car. If they dont, they get either a slow car or an unreliable one or both.

And many other teams have had 2 drivers equally capable of being champions (Ferrari in 1999 when Schumi broke his leg and Irvine lost the championship in the very last race). McLaren just give both their drivers equal preference.

I have no problems with that.... in a way, that is good...but it could lead to problems sometimes....

In a way I feel bad for Barrichello that he never got to show his true potential because he was always the No 2 driver at Ferrari. If Ferrari had given both the drivers equal opportunities, maybe Barrichello could have even been world champion.... you never know.