German Car Zone

Alonso: McLaren not ready to win yet

By Pablo Elizalde Thursday, February 8th 2007, 17:46 GMT


World champion Fernando Alonso believes McLaren still have work to do before they are ready for the start of the season, despite their impressive form in early testing.

McLaren have looked like the team to beat so far this year, with their drivers often topping the times with the new Mercedes-powered MP4-22 and showing strong form on long runs.

Despite their apparent speed, however, Alonso is staying cautious and reckons the British squad need to get a better grip on setting-up their car before the Australian Grand Prix.

"I don't know what to say. The times have been good and people are following us closely but the car, it's not even close to ready for Australia and time is running out," the McLaren driver told Spanish network Telecinco during testing at Jerez.

"I hope that in Barcelona and Bahrain we can get it set up properly in two weeks time," added the Spaniard, who reckons the Ferrari and Renault teams will be the main threat at the start of the season.

"Ferrari are looking very good and Renault will start the year well, but they will get worse, as usual."

When asked what he liked best about his car, Alonso joked: "The colours."

Alonso was the centre of attention during the tests at Jerez, where several thousand fans watched the local hero work with his new team.

The world champion admitted he was not happy with the way the Spanish track had handled the crowd, however, and said McLaren are considering not returning to Jerez to test.

"I enjoy the support from the Spanish people during the pre-season, but McLaren are considering not coming back to Jerez because they allow too many people inside the paddock," he said.

"It's got out of hand and it would be a shame if we didn't return to Spain to test just because people can't watch their manners."

Source: www.Autocar.com

And then people wonder why so many hate this guy... Unbelievable...

OK but care to explain ?!

It's true the Renaults are better in the first 1/2 of the season then in the second, that being the case in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

Ofcourse it has also to do with long term strategy and alocation of budget and work hours and men power between improving the current car and developeng the next ones as well as with tyres and in some cases bad luck.

Now this is good news, if only Kimi/Ferrari would suffer the same problems it would open the road for Heikki as 2007 WDC .


Ofcourse it could just be a smoke screen/phychological warfare.

Simply he thinks too much of himself and that's why he speaks (diss) like that.

End of the story.

Every WDC is arogant/cocky to a certain degree. That's Formula 1, always was, always will be.

In the old days it was even worse.

Drivers just took the car went round the track to satisfy their ego/prove that they're the fastest. This not only could mean braking the car = destroying the team's effort, but also the drivers enadgered and sometimes lost their own lifes idiotically.

One of the things that lead to Senna's death was that he couldn't accept he wasn't the fastest and pushed the clearly fragile/instable Williams too much.

Alonso's main complain was the car, not how superiour he thinks he is. But this is Alonso, and he always had a carrot and stick relation with his team(s), unlike hugy bear M. Schumacher.

This is no surprise, since the last time McMerc started in force was in 1998 if memory serves me well.

Ofcourse, again it could all be a smoke screen/phychological warfare.

lonso says McLaren may boycott Jerez tests




McLaren may boycott future tests at Jerez if the circuit does not ramp up paddock security, according to world champion Fernando Alonso.

In an interview with Spanish television network Tele5, the 25-year-old complained about the hundreds of countrymen who this week disrupted his work at the southern test venue.

As Alonso moved about the Jerez paddock, he was regularly swamped with requests for personal autographs and photos.


"I am happy that Spanish people are following my progress in the pre-season," the newspaper Diario As quoted Alonso as saying, "but my team is considering not returning to Jerez because they are letting too many people into the paddock."

He added: "It is getting out of hand and it would be a shame if I could not return to one of my home circuits to test."

Source: Racing-Live.com

Kind of a repost.

Hamilton hot on Alonso's heels
09/02/2007 13:00


On the last day of dry running at Jerez this week, McLaren rookie Lewis Hamilton pipped his illustrious teammate Fernando Alonso to emerge as the silver camp's quickest race driver.

The English youngster seemed pleased with the feat when he spoke in an interview with the Spanish newspaper Marca.

"It is difficult to read too much into it because we are doing different things, but we are close together," 22-year-old Hamilton said.

"It was a good day for me, but I have worked hard every day so far (this winter) and these are the results," he said.

Lewis, however, toed McLaren's new party-line in denying that the Mercedes-powered team possesses clearly the best performing 2007 car on the winter tracks.

He insisted, "There are many things that we still have to do before we get to the first race, that is for sure."

Hamilton also rejected suggestions that Alonso, just three years his senior but with six years more experience in the F1 paddocks, can be his "teacher" throughout '07.

"I would not say that he is my teacher, but, for sure, I can learn from him," the Briton started.

"For example, his (telemetry) data; I am already able to see where I am losing out to Fernando and where I can improve," said Hamilton.

"Anyway, we are getting along really well - I don't feel nervous around him, we chat about the car and the changes we are making. We are working well together," he said.

http://www.wheels24.co.za/Wheels24/N...066955,00.html

McLaren toe the party line

Friday February 09 2007


The McLaren team are playing down their chances of success this season despite their early season pace.

World Champion Fernando Alonso told Spanish network Telecinco that the MP4-22 is, "Not even close to ready for Australia and time is running out".

Alonso's team-mate Lewis Hamilton echoed his team-mates view, "There are many things that we still have to do before we get to the first race, that is for sure."

Now Chief Operating Officer Martin Whitmarsh is the latest member of McLaren's personnel to jump on the bandwagon.

Speaking of the rain hindered final day of testing at Jerez he said,

"We have a much better understanding of where we are, and more importantly on what work needs to be done between now and Australia to ensure that we arrive in Melbourne in the best possible position."

"Although the timesheets seem to be favouring us we are fully aware of where we need to improve the cars performance during the forthcoming tests in Barcelona and Bahrain."

Earlier Alonso had said, "I hope that in Barcelona and Bahrain we can get it (MP4-22) set up properly in two weeks time."

Clearly they're not going to let their testing pace go to their heads.


http://www.planet-f1.com/News/Story_...905360,00.html

CLARIFICATION



The interview was made by Antonio Lobato (AL), the lead sports journalist at Tele5, the spanish network that holds F1 rights in Spain. AL has achieved a good relationship with FA and they both are from the same hometown, Oviedo in Asturias at the north of Spain.

You can find an excerpt of the interview at Tele5’s website. Here is the link:

http://www.informativos.telecinco.es...0208alonso.wmv

You have to listen to the interview to see exactly what FA really says, why he says it and what he really means. Like many times before, they omit many of the questions, they select the most juicy parts of his answers and they put them all together like if he had made a statement. I am going to try to translate as accurately as I can what you can see in that link:

AL starts asking FA about McLaren and the very good lap times they are showing in these first pre-season tests at Valencia and Jerez…


FA: … Humm…I don’t know. I really don’t know what can I say to you… The times are coming out well, everybody is looking carefully what we do, a little, but the car is nowhere ready to go to race to Australia and we are running out of testing days so we have big hopes that next week at the tests in Barcelona, and moreover at Bahrein where we will have two more testing weeks, I hope we’ll be able to get the car ready to race…

(they cut the answer here and follows inmeadiately with FA saying)

FA: …and I really expect that (the tests at Bahrein) to be the last “push” to the car setup, because even we have been able to be fast up until now, that doesn’t mean the car is ready to win a race.

(Cut)

AL: What is what you like most from the car?

FA: … Humm…Its colours?... No, no….

(FA laughs like meaning to say “No I am just kidding” but they cut his answer again)

AL: And on the team, lets forget about the car. Do you feel… strange? Or do you feel more comfortable? Do you still make mistakes and walk up to Renault’s box instead of McLaren’s when you arrive to the paddock?

FA: No. I feel more comfortable. Everything is more comfortable.

(Cut)

AL: Give me a headnews on each team at this stage of the pre-season? (I am not sure if headnews is the correct translation for “titular” which is the main sentence used to head a piece of news on a newspaper)

AL: Ferrari?

FA: Ferrari goes very well. VERY well….(FA laughs)

AL: Are you going to give me the same answer on every other team I ask you?

FA: No (laughs)

AL: Renault?

FA: …Humm… Renault, I believe they will have a good start of the season, and then they will start to perform a little bit worse…

AL: Like almost always before?

FA: Like almost always before, yes.