Seems like much more mature and likeable guy then few years before. I have to admit that as McLaren fan I didn't like him at all - especially after 2007., but it seems like he's much cooler now

Alonso was likeable (and cool) up until Lewis started questioning team decisions in only Lewis's 5th race. (for which Lewis later admitted he handled the year badly)
For a driver who is introverted and "never wanted to be famous" Alonso has always been interesting to listen too. During his battles with schumacher, Michael was very quiet and uninformative, even sarcastic. The negativity towards Alonso is more to do with how popular Lewis was.

The bribery thing is laughable, given his employers were at it themselves and have just admitted to it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8600241.stm

Bribery thing doesn't really have anything to do with McLaren F1 team, lets not go into that in this thread anyway.

As long time McLaren fan in my mind I have no doubt that Alonso should have done his speaking at track. Altough I never did like Alonso too much, I was really happy when he announced transfer to McLaren as I believed that he is best out there. Once the season started I expected (and actually hoped) for him to trash Lewis in first few races, get #1 status quickly and wins the WDC. None of that happened, and I realised we have 2 world class drivers in McLaren and was hoping for a good (and fair) fight until the end of season. Unfortunately both of them misbehaved and acted childishly.

Alonso´s interview in EL PAIS(google translate):






Interview

Terrific race by him today, shame about the ending.

Shows why he is the best driver on the market.

"The Ferrari driver lost his clutch before the start of the race and was forced to step on the throttle on corners in order for the gears to engage."
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82694

Rev matching to change gears on an F1 car for an entire race in the Malaysian heat...thats some oldskool skills, I'm a fan but that is just amazing!

Man, FOM is quick. Took less than a minute between you linking to that video and FOM taking it down.

Well, PM for it ;)

That's impressive.

Alonso has had a nightmare 2 races but hes still only 2 points behind in the wdc and has shown blistering pace in both races so there are postives to be taken. His luck will soon change and he will be super strong.

and once again marc gene noticed it by just listening to the engine...hats off for him and for fernando

he knows superior and feels superior, it´s just a matter of time

Alonso was the driver of the day. His drive deserved more than an engine blow up.

With Kimi gone, I find myself watching Alonso's race with interest. He (along with Hamilton perhaps) is the most exciting driver to watch. He did well today, just unlucky again.

I fully agree, alonso and hamilton are, once again, drivers of the day for me, it all looked bad, like alonso hadn´t the pace, but he had it indeed without clutch though

Thats three races in a row really. We need these guys at the front of the grid fighting for race wins or atleast hunting down Red Bull!

You guys are lucky to have good commentator. Our commentators were just bashing "two time wdc" Alonso for being behind Massa.

They should be up front cus I think they are in a league of their own. The races are more entertaining this way though with them racing up the field. With them up front qualy will pretty much settle it. They can battle it out but overtaking between them seems unlikely.

Red bull may be strongest but its Hamilton I fear not Vettel.

I wonder how long before Alonso will show his frustration of Massa right in front of him...
There must come a day if this keeps up

*phew* <fans self>

what is even better is that gene provides loads of data and estrategies from the garage, no big secrets at all, nobody expected him to be better than pedro in terms of comments but he´s clearly outclassed pedro

unfortunately for me the next race I´ll be back to england and brundle´s "as lewis and button are english they can zig zag, chop cars or whatever they do as it will be perfectly well done" and my holidays will be over

Massa didn't break his car. They have reliability problems and I'm sure this is what mainly worries Alonso right now.

Brundle also picked up on it just by listening. Great to have guys who know what they're talking about commentating.

well both of them also picked vettel exhaust problem, it´s fantastic having these two guys indeed

well they only have gene, because carlos sainz only spoke a couple of times and really didn't add a thing, and well lobato is lobato (ill leave it at that).

cheers.

commentator lobato

especialist gene

cooperator carlos sainz

If Carlos Sainz didn't appear again in the commentary, I won't miss him at all. He didn't add anything, just boring and uninsightful comments scattered here and there.

Then again, Marc is absolutely superb. With Pedro on the grid, I didn't think anyone get anywhere near his level of insight and knowledge, but I stand corrected. Very technical, lots of useful data about strategies and no big secrets. I'll give him a few more races to be more comfortable and start making the ocassional joke here and there.

I think it was obvious. The crew from Speedtv also picked it up immediately..

Piquet tips former teammate Alonso for 2010 title:

http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp...63651&FS=F1

video of Fernando driving with no clutch, in comparation with the massa´s normal engine sound:
no clutch

not again

"He was such a good driver that, to try to get to his level, I had to push myself in ways I did not know even existed,"
(....like cross walls? that would explain a lot.... )

"In Formula One you’ve got all these drivers of which there are only a few real racers" - Stirling Moss
Seems like Nelsinho realized it

That's embarrassing...

In your eyes.

Piquet Jr. reminded people on his twitter that Massa's Australian GP quli time was 7 tenths slower than his teammate, a gap even bigger than himself did last year on the same GP.

From a driver point of view, unlike his father he never says anything bad about Fernando, but respect and appreciation.

Yeah but coming from a co-cheating driver involved in the worst race fixing scandal in F1, it is embarassing for him to talk about Fernando at all. Piquet should not say anything for a few years, just lie low and let the stigma pass. I actually liked him as a driver and I support his father and him in their lawsuit - but his agreement to participate in the race fixing cannot be overlooked. Alonso has been quite good in leaving the topic to die and he has had the support of his old time friends like Schumi and Kimi, Nick and Jenson. That helped him, and everyone figures if his old buddies still accept him, then perhaps we should all just have our admonishing words for Alonso and move along. But Piquet speaking about Alonso winning as his "old teammate" is just bad form and brings the whole cheating scandal to mind again. I have to imagine that is embarrassing for Alonso.

Beat me to it

I'm sure Fernando won't feel so much as you do. He'll be OK with that. In fact he said Piquet Jr. has the talent to be given his another chance in Formula One. He wouldn't mind his presence, let alone being just talked about.

Support for Alonso? Sorry I didn't realize there was any. I remember fellow drivers were either saying they could/couldn't imagine Piquet Jr.'s behavior or just keeping a distance from the issue. But Alonso wasn't in the involved position in first place to need "support" anyway.

Or you call not accusing/estranging FA without proof/reason as "support"? Lucky him!

Another blown engine .
Its gonna be a long season for us alonso fans

No, this is great. Else the 2010 season will be too easy for Alonso. Red Bull breaks down all the time so it would be like stealing candy for a baby. Then we can all stop watching F1 now because it's obvious that Alonso will the WDC ( Massa is too slow to have a real shot )

Now hopefully the more reliable but slower Mercedes and Mclaren can hopefully join the fight.

yet alonso says they are not concerned at all... I don't know what to believe

The engine that went in practice today was the engine they replaced in Bahrain before the race and now only used for practice. So no change in their engine situation as such, they still have as many qualifying and race engines available as before this weekend.

5 Live commentators very impressed with Alonso's drive in Sepang. Apparently he had to select neutral after braking, with the car decelerating without the aid of engine braking. He then had to modulate the throttle while hunting for the correct gear for corner exit.

Ferrari were mighty impressed. Ant Davidson couldn't use the expletives to describe how impressed he was as they were on air

Alonso power sliding out of the hairpin in China FP2

I bet Hamilton can't do that...

I'm not following...his car blew up with like a lap left. He should have backed off that engine, but he'll learn...

That was an excellent job by Alonso... Shame he went for a pass on that last lap and blew it up. To do as well as he did is simply amazing though.

nonsense!

Don't be too harsh, he's just a boy...

If that was a 'superlative' drive,I guess some of the drives we've watched in the past must have been divine. Schumacher must be a god,eh?

Schumacher who? I thought you are busy to defend you beloving Shumi in Shumi vs Rosberg thread.