6 August 2007
Spare a Thought for Fernando
Here’s the scenario; you are endeavouring to set a flying lap and all you need is for your team mate to let you pass. The team radio then asks your team mate to let you through, he refuses and uses the empty track to set a flying lap of his own.
I for one might be rather upset with that. Later, right at the end of qualifying and you are sitting at the front of the pits with a little free track and just enough time for one last, fast lap. You are in the middle of a debate with your engineer about the tyres on your car and it dawns on you that your team mate - the same one who showed you such disregard less than an hour earlier cannot get past you as time ticks away.
With team mate Lewis Hamilton having already shown such a lack of consideration for his team mate, is it any wonder that there was such reciprocation from Fernando Alonso?
Read the British press and you would think that Alonso solely and wholly to blame but even they must admit that it was Super Rookie who started it. That Alonso was the one punished (and severely at that) seems to crystallize the opinion that it was the Spaniard who was in the wrong.
The reality is that both were wrong and the bad will started with Hamilton.
They say absolute power corrupts absolutely, well so does early, easy success. Let’s hope Hamilton somehow manages to buck the trend.
Whilst it is important to remember that no-one really cares about Formula One I felt obliged to respond to this post. Ignoring the fact that it is a joke sport which promotes a decadent hedonistic lifestyle of indulgence and overconsumption. Add this to the fact that I could get a podium finish in the best car and you realise that this really isn’t a proper sport at all.
What happened this week is nothing more than Alonso throwing his toys out of his pram. Similar to the prime minister who is described (officially) as the “first among equals” this is replicated in this (ahem) sport. Whilst they are called teammates, seniority and rank are very much prevalent. Spare cares will often be set up for the preferred driver and tire compositions etc will sometimes be tested on the more junior member of the team in order to benefit the “team”
Alonso expects to be number one even if his driving doesn’t merit it. In his book he has earnt his spurs and deserves respect. They are both at fault but as the senior member of the team it is an appaling example to set and one that has rightly been punished by the authorities.
I would be incensed ………..but then I remembered I don’t care.
Viva Red Bull Racing!
Long live the beautiful game
“sport which promotes a decadent hedonistic lifestyle of indulgence and overconsumption”
Which sport were you referring to again..?
“all you need is for your team mate to let you pass”
You speak as if Hamilton blocked Alonso… But it was the other way round.
Alonso surely didn’t expect such a tight fight with Hamilton at the start of the year. And it wasn’t just him. Everybody expected a 2xChampion to dominate over a rookie. But that is one tough rookie
Kimi, initially it was Hamilton who used the clean track instead of letting Alonso through (on orders from his team), THEN Alonso blocked Hamilton. I was just trying to point out that it was Hamilton who started it!
But you are certainly right, Alonso did NOT expect to be anything other than top dog both in performances and in the minds of the MacLaren team.