Alonso

[schumi]

Why have we not got a thread on Fernando? Okay, here's one. And for your amusement, here's a little something I found on Planet F1:

Letter to Cousin Pedro: Barcelona
Saturday 2nd February 2008

Cousin Pedro, Preston, Idaho

Hola hombre

So much has happened since I wrote you last, I quit the Mac-Laren team and go back to my old guys at Renault.

The good news is they change the drivers uniform. Before with Renault, they make me wear overalls that belong to gay fisherman. Lots of yellow in the wrong places. No es bueno.

Along with my new team I have new team-mate. Last season I race against pelotudo son of a nice guy. This season I drive against pelotudo son of a pelotudo. His father is a three-time world champion with a big stupid grin who thinks he is funnier than Chris Rock.

But is still better than driving with Bernie and Ron's spoiled little prince Lewis Hamil-ton.

Dios mio if the public knew the truth about the real Lewis Hamil-ton. He is not this sweet kid with the good manners. The minute the journalists go and the TV cameras are switched off, he turns back into his real self, the gangsta rapper. I see him in Barcelona and he says, "Yo dog, how's it hangin' mo fo."

At the circuit, for the cameras, he is dressed in official Mac-Laren clothes, but when I see him at the airport he has blinged up and looks like Kanye West after exiting a jewellery shop. El dumbass más grande en el mundo.

Renault wanted me to drive with Frodo Baggins this year. Not the guy from Lord of the Rings, that is the nickname of Finnish driver Heiki Kovalainen. He is good.

I said no. (Actually, now I think of it - Pat Symmonds reminds me a lot of Smiegel - without the good looks) Kovalainen was much too quick so I told them with an open face, "I drive with the girl Nelsinho or I no come."

We have out first testing this week and the car is too slow, even though they start working on it in June 2007. Then I find out the reason is because they have to stop the design halfway through and take out all the Mac-Laren technology that they stole off some computer disks. Otherwise they get the $100 million dollar fine from Max Mosley.

So it's good that I was able to take five CDs and a 780-page dossier that I found thrown into one of the dustbins at Woking.

In testing this week my old team-mate Fisichella is very quick in testing for the Force India team. They are the burro of the F1 world. Or the tortoise, but they always go quick at this time of year when they need sponsors and nobody weighs the car.

Honda are the real dogs right now. Last year they have a slow car and they say that it is a freak of nature, 2008 we will be back at the front of the grid. And this year the car is even slower. At least some things make me smile.

I was talking to one of the Renault test team in the motorhome and I asked him what car he drove. He said he had an old Mitsubishi Pajero. I laugh until I fall on the floor crying.

He said, "What is so funny, Fernando?"

I said "in Spain "pajero" is our word for masturbator - so you drive a Mitsubishi Masturbator V6. Is fine, but don't take it on holiday to Spain."

Hasta luego

Your cousin, Fernando.

[sainty]

That quote is either hugely amusing in an ironic and satirical way, or just as disgustly racist and stereotypical as the event that provoked it; I'm leaning towards the latter and don't really find it funny at all.

[Deleted]

sainty said:

That quote is either hugely amusing in an ironic and satirical way, or just as disgustly racist and stereotypical as the event that provoked it; I'm leaning towards the latter and don't really find it funny at all.

Oh dear Is it not possible these days to have a laugh and a joke about something or someone ( in a funny way like this - not a nasty way ) without some numptie butting in and shouting racist . Please Mr Sainty or whoever you are , take your outraged morals over to the BSF where they belong .

[schumi]

Okay, let's do something serious for a moment. Is Alonso a great driver, or did he just get lucky?

He made his debut with Minardi in 2001, and outqualified his team mate, Tarso Marques (remember him?) by over 2½ seconds. In 2002 he became the Renault test driver, and was rewarded with a race seat the following year, replacing Jenson Button and partnering Jarno Trulli. With the team he became the youngest driver to gain pole position at the Malaysian GP that year, and finished sixth in the championship.

At the end of his spell with Renault he beat Schumacher at his peak, became the youngest ever world champion, and the following year, the youngest ever double world champion. And he's pulled off some notable passes along the way.

So that's the good, but what about the ugly: (mostly taken from Wikipedia)

• At the 2003 European Grand Prix, David Coulthard and McLaren managing director Martin Whitmarsh accused Alonso of giving Coulthard a brake test.
  
• At the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix, Alonso was involved in an incident in which he brake tested Red Bull Racing test driver Robert Doornbos in the second free practice session. The Stewards decided that Alonso’s actions were “unnecessary, unacceptable and dangerous”, and awarded him a one second time penalty to be applied to his fastest lap time in each of the qualifying sessions.
  
• After a separate incident from the same race, when Michael Schumacher was asked whether he thought Alonso slowed down on purpose so that Schumacher had to pass him under red flags in practice Schumacher replied, "You said that, I didn't."
  
• In the 2006 Italian Grand Prix, after stewards ruled Alonso had potentially blocked Felipe Massa in Saturday qualifying and relegated him five places on the starting grid, Alonso stated "I love the sport, love the fans coming here — a lot of them from Spain but I don't consider Formula One like a sport any more".
  
• During the aftermath of the 2007 European Grand Prix Alonso accused Felipe Massa of trying to hit him off the track when he passed him around the outside of turn 5 in the wet. The two had a row in front of the cameras immediately before the podium proceedings. Alonso later apologised.
  
• In the qualifying for the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix, while both McLarens were in the pits, Alonso delayed the then provisional pole sitter (and his team mate), Lewis Hamilton, for the few seconds necessary to prevent Hamilton from getting another 'hot lap' in. Alonso then went on to claim pole.
  
• As result of this investigation, it emerged that other people within McLaren, among them Alonso, were aware of Ferrari's confidential information. This information was commented on to Alonso by McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa who received information from Coughlan. The email contained text suggesting that Alonso was surprised by the data and doubted its authenticity. According to the "spygate" related email exchanges between Alonso and de la Rosa, it was clear that Alonso knew about Ferrari's pit strategies in the Australian Grand Prix and Bahrain Grand Prix. Alonso finished 2nd and 5th respectively in those races. Ron Dennis told FIA about the case during the Hungaroring GP after alleging that Alonso threatened him to report the team to FIA himself if he wasn't given number one status within the McLaren team.
  
• Finally, Alonso was to return to Renault after they were cleared of using confidential information from McLaren. His team mate was likely to be Heikki Kovalainen, a great prospect, but too good for Alonso. He allegedly asked not to drive with Heikki, and Renault instead opted for the untried Nelson Piquet Jr, who provided less of a threat.
  

So, Fernando Alonso - great champion, or spoilt brat?

[Genghis]

schumi said:

So, Fernando Alonso - great champion, or spoilt brat?

Schumi,

A bit of both. He is, undoubtedly, a very good racing driver - although one in the Prost mould as opposed to the Senna or Schumacher mould. He's very good at getting the results he needs, although when it came to sheer speed, his reputation took a bit of a knock in 2007 when a rookie (Lewis Hamilton) proved to be a faster driver.

But as for his attitude, well quite frankly it stinks. He has to take a lot of responsbility over the Stepneygate scandal - his actions were not those you would expect from a double World Champion.

[Sainty]

paulco said:

sainty said:

That quote is either hugely amusing in an ironic and satirical way, or just as disgustly racist and stereotypical as the event that provoked it; I'm leaning towards the latter and don't really find it funny at all.

Oh dear Is it not possible these days to have a laugh and a joke about something or someone ( in a funny way like this - not a nasty way ) without some numptie butting in and shouting racist . Please Mr Sainty or whoever you are , take your outraged morals over to the BSF where they belong .

Interesting response.

It fascinates me that when I was part of the in crowd I was allowed to have an opinion, now I'm not, it seems I can't.

However, thanks for confirming what I had long thought, that far from being a bastion of free thought and speech, the reality is that this place is just as capable of ganging up on perceived outsiders and behaving in the same cliquey, bigoted and narrowminded way as is prevelant on the BSF, which is one of the reasons I decided to give up my regular membership here.

Fear not though Paulco, I won't be trying to foist my morals, outraged or otherwise, on you again.

Just one question I'd like you to ask yourself though; having demonstrated your dislike of an opinion that varies from yours and pointed me to a forum known to be full of folk such as yourself (one which I wouldn't be a member of if it was the last forum on the planet), in what way does that make you better than them?

[Genghis]

Sainty said:

paulco said:

Oh dear Is it not possible these days to have a laugh and a joke about something or someone ( in a funny way like this - not a nasty way ) without some numptie butting in and shouting racist . Please Mr Sainty or whoever you are , take your outraged morals over to the BSF where they belong .

Interesting response.

It fascinates me that when I was part of the in crowd I was allowed to have an opinion, now I'm not, it seems I can't.

However, thanks for confirming what I had long thought, that far from being a bastion of free thought and speech, the reality is that this place is just as capable of ganging up on perceived outsiders and behaving in the same cliquey, bigoted and narrowminded way as is prevelant on the BSF, which is one of the reasons I decided to give up my regular membership here.

Fear not though Paulco, I won't be trying to foist my morals, outraged or otherwise, on you again.

Just one question I'd like you to ask yourself though; having demonstrated your dislike of an opinion that varies from yours and pointed me to a forum known to be full of folk such as yourself (one which I wouldn't be a member of if it was the last forum on the planet), in what way does that make you better than them?

Bloody hell DonsKing mate, just try to smile every now and again, please. Schumi's original post on this thread was funny, was it not?

[Deleted]

Sainty said:

Interesting response.

It fascinates me that when I was part of the in crowd I was allowed to have an opinion, now I'm not, it seems I can't.

However, thanks for confirming what I had long thought, that far from being a bastion of free thought and speech, the reality is that this place is just as capable of ganging up on perceived outsiders and behaving in the same cliquey, bigoted and narrowminded way as is prevelant on the BSF, which is one of the reasons I decided to give up my regular membership here.

Fear not though Paulco, I won't be trying to foist my morals, outraged or otherwise, on you again.

Just one question I'd like you to ask yourself though; having demonstrated your dislike of an opinion that varies from yours and pointed me to a forum known to be full of folk such as yourself (one which I wouldn't be a member of if it was the last forum on the planet), in what way does that make you better than them?

Perhaps i worded my response stronger than i should have done . But it's just that i get sick and tired of people shouting racist at every wee bit of humour that is posted .
We seem to live in a country that is rapidly losing it's sense of humour as there is always someone who can find racism in everything we say .
I have a joke at the expense of the Edinburgh Monarchs at every given opportunity - does that make me Edinburghist . I had a light hearted bit of banter with a couple of people on here when England were losing at rugby on Saturday - does that make me anti-English , good god no .
A little piece of humour , poking fun at a Spanish spoilt brat is humourous , certainly not racist . Donsking i certainly don't think i'm better than anyone else - far from it . But i get sick and tired of wet blankets poo-pooing when everyone else is having a laugh and a joke .

[Deleted]

Sainty said:

Interesting response.

It fascinates me that when I was part of the in crowd I was allowed to have an opinion, now I'm not, it seems I can't.

However, thanks for confirming what I had long thought, that far from being a bastion of free thought and speech, the reality is that this place is just as capable of ganging up on perceived outsiders and behaving in the same cliquey, bigoted and narrowminded way as is prevelant on the BSF, which is one of the reasons I decided to give up my regular membership here.

How is one person having a pop at you "the forum ganging up" on you?
And if you are Donsking as someone said i for one always thought you were a bit of a bullshitter whether you were in the in crowd or not

[Sainty]

OK, I'll allow myself to be drawn in.

Genghis, in my original post I said I was in two minds as to whether or not it was funny; there are bits of it that are, and bits of it that aren't, specifically the use of the word 'pelotudo', which, if you don't know, roughly translates into 'arsehole', a term which could be considered to be very offensive by some.

Paulco, see above, then take a step back and think about the idea that F1 is going through a very difficult time in terms of PR just now; does a piece like that (spread all over the www) reduce the problem to something that should be laughed about, or have the potential to inflame an already volatile situation?

I wasn't berating Schumi for posting it, only berating the original author for writing it in the first place.

Maccatack: you'll have to define bullshitter for me, in my life that means liar, and that's one thing I never am.

[Deleted]

Well saying the forum is ganging up on you when only Paulco posted anything is bullshit in my book

[thetiger2799]

Erm I think Alonso is a very good racing driver, Never will be as good as Schumacher but I doubt anyone ever will IN MY EYES.

The problem with Alonso was that he was used to being the Big fish in a small pond. Then when Lewis came the media latched onto him and he started to out score Alonso on the track. So in the space of one season he had to start sharing the lime-light, and I imagine his opinion within McLaren became watered down with Lewis getting more of a say than his predocessors.

All in all a great racing driver, but has to let his racing do the talking in future.

Would be nice if he came out and made a few words aimed at the idiots who are berating Lewis in Spain.

[Sainty]

maccattack said:

Well saying the forum is ganging up on you when only Paulco posted anything is bullshit in my book

Except that Paul did, then Rob did, then you did too Doug; all I did was voice my opinions, then the team ganged up on me, and I've seen it happen to other members too.

[Deleted]

Sainty said:

maccattack said:

Well saying the forum is ganging up on you when only Paulco posted anything is bullshit in my book

Except that Paul did, then Rob did, then you did too Doug; all I did was voice my opinions, then the team ganged up on me, and I've seen it happen to other members too.

But that isn't the reality of the situation.Paulco had a pop at someone he didn't know.He wasn't sure who it was so wasn't ganging up on you.Rob just told you to have a sense of humour check.Hardly ganging up on you.And i couldn't understand how you could feel such a situation was occurring unless you came back here with an agenda and was using this thread for such purposes.
You left.I don't know if you were banned or it was your own free will.I would guess the latter.So why come back and start one with this stuff?If you had stuck to your original topic about Alonso you were on safe ground,but to then go on about incrowds and not being in and the forum ganging up on you makes you look a prat imo.I have said enough on the subject

[Deleted]

I was and probably still am a massive fan of Alonso, however his actions last year have left a sour taste in my mouth. On track he is an excellent racing driver and has shown to be very adaptable whether it be wheel to wheel racing or controlling races or controlling his pace to sit in for a podium. In fact I would go as far to say that when everything is right in his head there is nobody racing today that can touch him (including Kimi)

However when he perceives things to not be totally fair he loses the plot a little and it makes a huge difference to him, all last year was the percieved inferior treatment at Mclaren and he was ragged on the track, the year before as the season was coming to an end saw some strange rulings against him and he felt the FIA were trying to meddle to ensure the title was at least going to the last race, and he also had a rant that Renault were not trying their hardest to help him as it had been announced he was off to Mclaren.

To criticise him for picking and choosing team mates is laughable considering Schumachers records in doing this, and is also probably not true in this case as Heikki knew a long time before the season was over he would not be offered a seat at Renault, in fact the clash for a seat was between Fisichella and Piquet.

As for the race issue I am not totally surprised he has not said anything and his comments about him wanting Ferrari to win the WCC ;ast year were silly and petty, somebody in his camp really needs to keep a watch on him and make sure he thinks before speaking.