months ago has not spoken to Ron Dennis. Ferrari will not - at least for now. But it plays poker with Bernie Ecclestone. Mr. Deprived of F1 is now ready to talk ... without boundaries. Fernando Alonso frowns. Not surprisingly, you might think. But fortunately, it is because you are thinking. A lot. Before him is a card full of adjectives word and must choose three of them to describe themselves. His eyes scanned the pages methodically, then pauses. "What does that mean?" Asks Fernando pointing to the word moody. He explains that it is temperamental before your finger to move to the first two elections. "Private" and "determined." Another pause and then choose the third: "Proud."
Bingo. He smiles and points to other possibilities that did not choose. "You know, I'm smart and generous. I'm not even a winner! ".
is very difficult to see the real Fernando Alonso in those days. It said as much during his stormy year at McLaren who became difficult to separate fact from fiction. In England, at least, the last conqueror of Schumacher became a pantomime villain. Each time he went on television you could almost hear the boos and gossip around the country, while going head to head not only Lewis Hamilton, but the whole team.
was an incredible change for a man who had been universally accepted has
ta then be a little complicated, outgoing and never give up. During the winter 2006, was spoken with respect. "The difficulty is that Fernando really wants to concentrate on work during the weekend," said Ron Dennis before Christmas 2006, "with a fair and acceptable level of sponsorship and media work is an agreed format."
Undoubtedly, the desire to Fernando for a quiet life away from the track would be respected. Alonso was the first world champion to join McLaren since Nigel Mansell in 1995, and would be the man who would end the nine-year championship drought. However, less than a year later, the relationship fell apart.
Then Fernando, When you spoke last with Ron Dennis?
After Brazil, last year.
A former teammate of yours, Jacques Villeneuve, McLaren summed up your year saying, "climbed into the car and was never observed, even after being world champion." Do you agree with it?
Uh ... yeah, it's fair.
Have you ever asked for preferential treatment on a computer?
People always talk about the first mate, second mate and the like. I did not ask to be first. Never. But what I can not accept is being treated like the fourth or fifth, you know? I want at least have the same opportunities that my teammate and that was not the case in the last championship final. So really that was the end point.
say that was the end point, when did it all begin?
do not know. I do not know when ...
Was controversy after your win in Monaco?
I think it was after that, sometime after the summer.
Never tell your side of the story of 2007. Will you someday? Maybe someday
do, might have to be in a book or something. But still, is not the time ...
How many people trust now in F1?
(Sighs). In fact, in many. I think. I hope all people, and then I have some disappointments (laughs). But at first, I trust everyone.
go back to the afternoon of Sunday, October 21, 2007 at Interlagos, B
razil. The most vibrant of the F1 championship in living memory had just ended and while Kimi Raikkonen celebrated, Fernando went quietly in the McLaren garage toward the paddock. "Their fight for the middle period with its softer tires cost him the title? "No, not lost there," Alonso replied at the time. "It was my fault when I hit in Japan." The answer was simple, direct and above all, honest: he lost the championship by his own guilt in the terrible monsoon Fuji and not going to blame others or look for scapegoats. And then it was as if a weight had been lifted from their shoulders, worried before.
Since that afternoon, his visits to the podium have silo "limited", so to speak in a friendly way. For the first time in three years is not fighting for the championship. Then Fernando was adapted to life outside the spotlight of the championship? "There was some frustration when I saw he would not win races and I would climb the podium," he admits.
"But
remains a challenge to beat our main rivals and that is my motivation to do better. I will continue fighting for the podium or even a victory this year because it will demonstrate that I'm still here. I want to prove to everyone that I am the best, so I need a great performance to achieve, which implies a podium or a win. And I try to do in the second part of this season. " Reading between the lines, it is obvious that the tribulations of Alonso at McLaren have paradoxically reinvigorated. After winning title after title, spoke openly about not growing old in F1. Now put on a new challenge - call to redeem a tarnished reputation, or show that his critics are wrong, but no error the intensity of his voice.
"Of course I thought about that, but now I think otherwise," he says when you mention the issue of early retirement. "After this time, I have enough time to win championships - all will see that I am determined to win and be quick, so I still have many years ..."
Oddly enough after the events of 2007, Fern
walk and politics do not mix well. The crosscurrents of F1 have, in turn, frustrated and enervated in recent years. As a result of his penalty in Monza in 2006, his voice seethed with excitement when he stated that Formula One was no longer a sport, referring to what he thought was an excessive external intervention in their battle for the championship with Michael Schumacher. 2007 was a political disaster: When a pilot has been charged with blackmail against his own team manager? None of these campaigns for the title had the purity of the sport that Alonso seems to crave so much. So after seeing his childhood dream to drive for McLaren to become rather a nightmare, do you still love your job?
"Yes," he says. "I love driving anything: a go-kart, motorcycle, auto, whatever. These are the best cars in the world. It's very special for me to feel the steering wheel in my hands. And F1 is the greatest feeling. " But is it enough just to take the wheel? Would you rather be happy and finish in eighth place unhappy and win? The answer is instant: "Winning to me is always to win."
The controversy, however, is never far away. Perhaps the most short-sighted approach that puts the national press in each of his movements - in Spain, Fernando is not only involved in F1, F1. Every phrase in the news and each publication gives a potential boost to the meaning of his words. Moreover, hardly avoids questions and often talk freely about whatever and whoever.
means that their views are so often these
tempted to conclude that he secretly enjoys the controversy. "No, no - I do not like," he explains. "I think I am a normal person with normal hobbies. That's weird because in Formula One have to be a bit, I know, bizarre. You must be a happy, happy and good all the time. If you are concentrated and always serious, people see you as strange. " But you miss the days when you were just you, your father and go-kart?. "Maybe a little, yes ... but also F1 is very attractive for all the media attention and what to do. If you go to India, Korea and Japan also are a celebrity there, and that is very attractive to people. " Fernando While sitting in the modest trailer for Renault, it becomes clear that there is an atmosphere where you feel completely at home. It has no shoulders hunched and face long that prevailed in 2007 - his actions are open and expansive, warm expressions. Renault seems to stop and, more importantly, returning to the team, Fernando will teach the essential truth that no man is an island.
The environment, including the chatter in the back of a motorhome important you
ta. He spoke as the team director, Flavio Briatore, as a "father figure", an unusual description for a man as private as Alonso. "It was in F3000 when he called me," says Fernando. "We met and started a relationship as manager and pilot. Without it, perhaps now would not be in F1. In addition to his first drive, Falvio is always to help me with what you need. In Formula One is not normal to have a person always willing to help, but Flavio is willing to do, so I thank you. " Over the years, Renault championship, Alonso appears frequently some conspiracy at the office of Briatore followed by teammate Giancarlo Fisichella. Perhaps a crucial pre-race count? "Strategic discussions on how to counter the challenge of McLaren or Ferrari? No, the answer was "scopa", an Italian game of cards.
The stakes are rather low - 60 USD or so per game. But spend entire afternoons as friends in the game. The same thing happened towards the end of 2007 in Fuji, the rumor was that Alonso had signed a preliminary contract with Renault after he was seen leaving the championship with Renault. The reality here was that he had played cards with his old boss. The habit in 2008 switched to poker games and Alonso was found in a table with Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone Robert Kubica in Monaco.
Can you imagine playing poker with Flavio and Bernie? Fernando just laughs at the memory. "Flavio won ..." he smiles. And how much money you have earned Mr Briatore over the years? "Ha ha! The truth is that not much, not much ... "he says with a feigned remorse.
As the club
of letters, Kubica has been a friend and rival Alonso since they were together in kart in adolescence. In 2006, Alonso, then double world champion, Robert they labeled as the young driver he most feared. But really can be good friends with a pilot when the two are after the same thing and only one can win? "It depends, I have not stopped fighting the championship with Robert!" Replies and laughs Fernando. "But why not? I think you should have a similar character and in a similar way of looking at life outside of Formula One, because not everything in your life should be the GP. So if you find someone like that, it is difficult to have a relationship. Not only Robert, also Fisichella and Trulli. All are good guys, and you can have fun inside and outside the circuit. That is very important. "
This year in Monaco, the big rumor was that Alonso would be the head of Ferr
ri in 2010. Since then it has been associated with Honda and BMW in 2009, among others. With all this, doubt has persisted about the exact terms of the contract with Renault, with hints credible performance that a clause would allow him to leave the French team at the end of the 2008 season only if the computer is not in the top three places constructors' championship ... has hinted that will change your team in 2009 When thinking of the next year?
after the summer I think we'll see what the possibilities are.
Have you been to look for houses in the area Maranello? No.
So what does the future hold?
By the time I read a lot about this, but not closed anything like that. Is really just a matter of common sense. If we improve, if we are fighting and winning races at the end of the championship with Renault, then the coming year look good. It's our first goal, try to improve together, because we still have much work to do to reach the big teams. After that, we'll see ...
Wherever you finish, do you still believe you're the best out there? Yes
The final answer is given with conviction, with a stare. Lc reaches
entered what is this enigmatic man. The firm belief of being the best and the knowledge of having shown more often than any other driver of which are now out there. Forget the unruly stories and rumors, history will remember the two world championships - and others who might earn up to have, in his words, "enough." It is clearly not a man of deception or a boundless ego, is well known. "Proud? Sure. "Private? No doubt. It seems more determined than ever. Source: F1 Racing.
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