As an Alonso supporter, I was highly disappointed with Fernando's actions after the race and felt it was unbecoming and beneath a two time world champion to display that kind of behavior to a competitor whose job it was to keep Alonso at bay.

I agree that the track was nearly impossible to make a good pass, but then why did Alonso dispaly that kind of actions afterwards? In his head did he feel that he could have made a pass, but Petrov blocked him? There was no outcry of blocking or dirty tactics afterwards.

 

Who could know what was going through his head? Clearly, it was the wrong thing to do. It's a high stakes game and high emotions go along with it....

 

Try as you might to find excuses for FA outburst jesture to RK but you have to completely ignore history and there is a lot of it with this guy. You can't take this one event out of context and justify it. If there were no pattern I would go along with Twenty Six about it being "understandable in the heat of the moment..." BUT there are so many skeltons in his closet.

9.5 Degrees said it best: "it was unbecoming and beneath a two time world champion to display that kind of behavior to a competitor"

 

I'm not making excuses for Alonso, I said I can understand it, he's human. According to Jean Todt, Petrov and Kubica were under team orders to intercede on behalf of Red Bull. I'm not a fan of team orders, and wish the FIA had stripped off those 7 points for Ferrari, but this is the sport we all watch, for better or worse, it's out of our hands. In the dog eat dog world of Rennlist F1 threads it's funny how sensitive you guys act, except when you are dishing out the hate

Team orders to be 'regulated' not banned - Todt
Date 2010-11-19

Team orders will be "regulated" rather than allowed in Formula One, FIA president Jean Todt has revealed. The issue came back onto the agenda in 2010, when Felipe Massa was ordered aside for Fernando Alonso at Hockenheim by a Ferrari engineer telling the Brazilian: "Fernando is faster than you". "Personally, I'm not against team orders, but I am against lying," the Frenchman is quoted as saying in interviews this week. He said covert team orders "deceive the audience and the media" and subsequently require teams and drivers to lie afterwards. "Team orders have been banned since 2002, but I ask myself how many have been issued in a 'soft' way. The difference with that and what Ferrari did (at Hockenheim) is that it was anything but soft. It was a provocation against the regulations," Todt told Italy's La Stampa. But when asked if the FIA will react to the latest affair by simply abolishing the rule, he answered: "It will be regulated. F1 is a team sport and each team will have responsibility for their behaviour. We will not tolerate lies or coded messages like 'Save fuel'."

Fascinatingly, former Ferrari team boss Todt blamed Rubens Barrichello for the original team orders controversy of 2002, when the Brazilian was explicitly ordered on the radio to 'Let Michael (Schumacher) pass for the championship'. "I shouldn't have had to say anything," Todt said this week. "We had agreed beforehand that if he (Barrichello) is in front after the pitstop, he was to let Schumacher pass without making a fuss. It was agreed, and drivers are paid to accept certain decisions. But he made me call him 50 times and he moved at the last corner -- the audience booed, Schumacher gave him first place on the podium and Ferrari was fined $500,000 for violating protocol," he explained. Asked if he regrets the affair, he admitted: "Yes, because with hindsight it could have been avoided. Schumacher would have won the championship anyway. But I would have regretted even more if we had lost the title by a couple of points," added Todt.

And in an interview with France's L'Equipe, Todt said he thought the works Renault drivers "helped" Renault-powered Red Bull to win the 2010 championship by holding up key rivals in Abu Dhabi. "They (Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov) helped Red Bull even though this team often complain about the lack of competitiveness of the Renault engine," he said.

 

I suspected as much.............gotta believe RBR bought the drinks before and after the final race for Renault et al.

BTW..........F1 is way bigger than Wayne..............can we please move on?

 

In L'equipe's page http://www.lequipe.fr/Formule1/ with the last interview http://www.lequipe.fr/Formule1/breve...spectacle.html that quote doesn't exist.
And I don't think the president could say something like that, even if he believed it. : )

 

It's called actions in the heat of the moment. Happens to a lot of people. Doesn't make it right, but people do strange things when adrenalin is running high. He was clearly frustrated. He showed his frustration. It was not Petrov's job to let him thru.
Almost every passionate driver has had such incidents. Alonso is not the 1st to do something like this.

 

Wait a sec, can you show me a quote from you when your 7 time WDC almost ran his ex teammate into the wall? He refused to apologize after the incident and was not even considering it anything serious, until he felt the pressure from the public and media and then finally came ahead and apologized. Did you have anything to say then? Please provide your quote.
All I ask is, just be consistent. Don't pick and choose when something is wrong. Say it, no matter who does it. Don't speak up because you dislike one driver, when you stay quiet for others.

 

I don't think you will find any quotes from me on that subject but if you did it would say that I thought it was a chicken $hit move unbecoming a WDC made worst by the fact that the posistion was worth 1 single inconsequential point.

I totally agree about the heat of the moment. We have all been there, done that but... FA has so much history he doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt or a heat of the moment pass.

 

Whatever suits you. I for one am willing to give him a pass. You can feel otherwise .

 

Breaking news Paris....

In a highly unusual move, the FIA President (and Ferrari shareholder) Jean Todt has approved an engine reliability upgrade request from one team.... for the benefit of another team?

Based on a request from Ferrari, the FIA has ruled that all Renault powered cars will be required to run only 7 cylinders for the upcoming 2011 season, thus improving their reliability and decreasing their ability to keep other cars behind them.



I knew it was a Renault conspiracy against Ferrari...and now justice is served. All is well in the F1 world again.

 

Once again the Alonso apologists are hard at work. They have moved on from the stage of Shock and Denial. Now they are on excuses.

To say that there was a conspiracy that the Reanult factory team was told to help Red Bull is so far out in left field, it's almost beyond comment!!

Unless Kubica and Petrov were instructed to ram into Alonso and take him out, the name of the game is finish in front of your competition in a race. You guys ever heard of it? It's called competition. It's their job to not let Alonso or Hamilton or anyone else by.

That's it, next year lets give Alonso the WDC before the first race of 2011 and let everyone else just go in circles, because if you dare impede his progress, there must be a conspiracy.

Unbelievable..... You whack jobs

 

Wait a sec Pete, who said that there was conspiracy? No one here has ever claimed that? People try to make it seem that passing Renault should have been a piece of cake. I just disagreed with that and would be happy to provide numerous quotes from several drivers and team principals. Even the FIA president agreed that the track did not allow any passing.
Also, the Renaults were nothing to sneeze at in AB. The McLaren's could not put a dent on their top speed either, that is all I am trying to say.
No one is apologizing for anyone. The matter of fact is, Alonso was running 4th and could have remained 4th, if he just "followed the leaders" instead of trying to cover Webber. This was a team mistake which cost Alonso a WDC. It was Ferrari's championship to lose and they lost it because of playing it safe.
That is what is the truth, no twisting, no spinning. It was a bad call. To be honest, Alono has been a great team player and has not once thrown the team under the bus. He has said the right things and defended the team. How come, no one seems to see that?
This is no attempt of any apology. We all saw what happened, plain and simple. Let's call it the way it happened.

 

Raj, see post #529 where 26 posted that Todt believed he thought the Renault team helped the Red Bull team. There must be some controversy about that particular quote because Slow911 said there was no such quote in the French newspaper, but the very thought of that is riduculous isn't it?

 

I saw the quote but didn't pay much mind to it. It is after the fact anyway. It doesn't matter what Renault did. What matters is what Ferrari did. Ferrari as a team cannot expect others to help them. It is up to them to bring a competitive car and have the proper strategy.
The team failed and they will learn from this and come back stronger next yr. It took Schumi 2-3 yrs before Ferrari became a dominant force. Alonso, in his 1st year is already ahead of the game. With Vettel in RBR and Hammy in McLaren, it is the best possible scenario for any racing fan. 3 best drivers in 3 seperate and extremely competive teams.
I expect McLaren and Ferrari both to come back stronger next yr. It is great for the sport and for us. This is just the begining. Can't wait for next yr .
Regards.