gt2urbo

kimis manager was seen meeting with him as well.

NaroEscape

Probably more a move from FA's manager to make it look like RB is interested to open negotiations with Ferrari for an extension beyond 2014. The old "hmmm...RB is interested in my client, would be a good time to lock him up now, no?"

the flyin' scotsman

how much say would Seb have?......would Freddys mgr approach Bull avec rouge without Alonso directing?

Kimi is doing just fine at Lotus.....hes getting what he wants and that's to be left alone and race.

Promoting Riccardo is the move for RB as far as Im concerned

ltc

http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/...ernando-alonso


Happy Birthday: Fernando Alonso and Luca di Montezemolo

Luca di Montezemolo has, according to Ferrari, 'tweaked the ear' of Fernando Alonso for comments the double World Champion apparently made during the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend.

According to the Scuderia's website, the marque's President phoned Alonso, who turned 32 on Monday, to wish him a happy birthday.


Yet Montezemolo then went on to rebuke their star driver regarding the unspecified comments, which came on a weekend which not only saw Alonso and Ferrari lose further ground to Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull in the title race but also brought rumours linking the Spaniard with a move to the World Champions.

That Ferrari chose to make Montezemolo's ticking off public is intriguing given the speculation. In it, they said, 'there is a need to close ranks, without giving in to rash outbursts that, while understandable in the immediate aftermath of a bad result, are no use to anyone.

'That was a reference to the latest comments from Fernando Alonso, which did not go down well with Montezemolo, nor with anyone in the team. So, when Montezemolo called the Spaniard this morning to wish him a happy birthday, he also tweaked his ear, reminding him that, "all the great champions who have driven for Ferrari have always been asked to put the interests of the team above their own. This is the moment to stay calm, avoid polemics and show humility and determination in making one's own contribution, standing alongside the team and its people both at the track and outside it."'

Speaking after the race at the Hungaroring, where he finished an anonymous fifth, Alonso responded directly to the Red Bull rumour and insisted he was "very happy" at Ferrari.

"Obviously we need to improve the car if we're to have chances to win the World Championship," he said before highlighting F1's summer break as a potential 'silly season' of rumour-mongering.

"August, with four weeks with no Formula 1, is a very dangerous period for you guys. Hopefully we'll have a quiet summer," Alonso added.

The statement also said that Montezemolo had attended a meeting with Ferrari Team Principal Stefano Domenicali and engineers at their Maranello headquarters on Monday.

Montezemolo opened the meeting by saying that, "The Ferrari I saw in yesterday's race doesn't sit well with me".

After poor qualifying performances at both the British and German GPs, Alonso was happy to line up fifth on the grid in Hungary. However, he subsequently struggled for race pace.

Team-mate Felipe Massa finished eighth, with Domenicali saying Ferrari needed to investigate whether the new tyres Pirelli introduced at the race might be a factor.

At the season's halfway stage, Ferrari lie third in the Constructors' Championship, 83 points behind Red Bull while Alonso has slipped to third in the drivers' standings, 39 points behind Vettel.

ltc

http://en.espnf1.com/ferrari/motorsp...ry/119083.html

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has issued a public scolding of Fernando Alonso following comments made by the Spaniard at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Although Ferrari did not make reference to the exact comment that angered the its boss, Alonso was quoted in the Italian press saying he would like a faster car for his birthday on July 29 while he told English journalists that Ferrari had produced new parts at recent races that were not working.

In an article on its website, Ferrari said Montezemolo felt that "there is a need to close ranks, without giving in to rash outbursts that, while understandable in the immediate aftermath of a bad result, are no use to anyone."

It added: "That was a reference to the latest comments from Fernando Alonso, which did not go down well with Montezemolo, nor with anyone in the team. So, when Montezemolo called the Spaniard this morning to wish him a happy birthday, he also tweaked his ear."

The article went on to directly quote part of what Montezemolo said to Alonso.

"All the great champions who have driven for Ferrari have always been asked to put the interests of the team above their own," the Ferrari president told his driver. "This is the moment to stay calm, avoid polemics and show humility and determination in making one's own contribution, standing alongside the team and its people both at the track and outside it."

The rebuke is the first public schism between team and driver since Alonso joined in 2010, and comes after stories emerged over the weekend that his manager may have approached Red Bull about its vacant race seat in 2014. Alonso now lies 39 points adrift of Sebastian Vettel in the drivers' championship and said on Sunday said that his team needed to get on top of its issues at the next few races after recent upgrades failed to improve the car.

"At Silverstone we did a step backwards with the performance of the car," he said. "For the Nurburging we came back to some old parts on the car and the behaviour was much more normal, and then at the Young Driver Test we had the confirmation that we needed to go back to some parts we used previously.

"Now we understand the car, we understand the problems.We know that we produced a car that was not working and in a way it is normal to have this deficit now because the car we are driving is with the very old parts.

"Over the summer we need to make the step forward that we thought we should make at Silverstone. We need these couple of tenths that did not appear to come immediately for Spa and Monza to have the same performance with the cars we are fighting for the world championship."

Larry L

"Alonso was quoted in the Italian press saying he would like a faster car for his birthday. . ."

Hilarious.

Fred should probably recognize that discretion is the better part of valor, lest he wind up unemployed like Alain Prost after a similar outburst 20-odd years ago.

ltc

Does Ferrari really need Santander's money and therefore need Alonso?
Does Alonso need to spend the few years he has left at Ferrari?

Luca gets 50M Euro right off the top, before any Constructor's money is paid out, just for 'being Ferrari'.

I think Alonso has just realized that he will never win a WDC at Ferrari and will be quickly forgotten in and around Maranello.

The question is ... who has caught Luca's wandering eye now to replace Alonso and Massa?

multi21

Well, it took 3 years, but it's finally come -- The Alonso we all know. The first rat to jump ship, but we've already seen this move before in his F1 history.

Being in Maranello last year and touring the Ferrari Museum is tremendously moving and the display for all the Ferrari WDC is unmatched. If you win a WDC you are immortal in that part of the world, there is nothing like it.

Fernando may never taste what's it like to be immortal, I'm afraid.

Flying Finn

I know it's a rumor but the latest I heard is that while Luca never really liked him and that was the reason 08' and '09 cars were developed for Massa's style (until he got hurt and we all saw how the pace changed after that with Kimi scoring 2nd most points) but that he finally has realized the mistake he made and is warming up to the idea of getting their last WDC back...

NaroEscape

and I know that the rumor was squelched with the signing of an extended contract, but we know contracts can be broken and with Ferrari's seemingly unlimited budget to buy it out.... Vettel??

He's still very young, and he will never be 'immortal' no matter how many WDC's he wins for RB....

John H

I think Alonso is posturing for an extension with Ferrari beyond 2014. If he was serious, it wouldn't be so obvious.

ltc

Personally, I think the "immortal" tag for drivers who have driven (and won WDC) for Ferrari is well past it's prime. It's a romantic holdover based on past glory, not recent history.

They will always be Ferrari, they will always be favored by the FOM and FIA, but there have been some great drivers who never won for Ferrari who are pretty damned good.

Larry L

Jean Alesi for one - still blows my mind that he only won one GP. When I watched him duel with Senna at Phoenix in the Tyrrell, I was convinced that I was watching a future WDC at work.

My993C2

Raikkonen won one (most likely because Hamilton in his rookie season forgot to read the memo Fernando sent him where the young Brit was to play second fiddle to his Spanish teammate). Schumacher won five times, but prior to that it was Jodi Scheckter back in the late 70s. Am I missing anyone between Schumacher and Scheckter? I don't believe I am. Not even Prost and Mansell could win during their days in Maranello. Plus should Scheckter and Lauda even be included in the modern era since plenty of drivers were still dying when these two raced. It's really only been Schumacher and the one year Raikkonen won (though poor Felipe thought he had the WDC only to be taken away from him).

ltc

Agreed.
It has much more to do with Ferrari's self inflated sense of entitlement (and fed by the FOM and FIA) than their actual performance.
Of course Luca is THE perfect Ferrari President ... he embodies self entitlement.

Yes, they are part of F1 history, but I don't think a driver is ultimately judged on whether or not he/she had the chance to drive for Ferrari.

Why would Vettel drive for Ferrari?
Why would any driver not want to drive a Newey designed car?

Alonso MUST be frustrated. His preferred team has choked, he has choked and once again their wind tunnel has sprung a leak.
As Pete mentioned, he has come to the realization that he had (and blew) his chance at a WDC with Ferrari.
(It is similar to Webber, who had and blew his chance at a WDC with RBR at Korea, leading Alonso and Vettel in the WDC) ... funny how both Alonso and Webber choked that year.

I don't think Alonso has much faith in the 2014 car ... otherwise he would have just gone out and EARNED a contract extension if he knew the car/engine was going to be that good.
Then again, he's getting a bit older, slower, less attractive ... and we know how that plays with Luca.

Adios Alonso. Win the 2013 WDC and then quietly go away a 3X WDC.