It was 2 points to gain (old system .5 points) and he would have P8 on the grid today (5 place penalty grid for gerabox change).

We see how many points he can get tomorrow from P3 (instead of P8 behind Kubica... and Massa).

Er,I seem to have been quoted,so just to make it clear: I posted on a thread that was merged with this one. Not the kind of person that would bother with an Alonso thread,sorry.

Cheers.Happy fawning while we still wait for the 'dominant' performances by the Alonso+Ferrari combination that the experts predicted before the start of the season.

Nice interview with Alonso, a little contradictory when he talks about destiny I guess.

http://www.ferrari.com/English/News/Formul...o_exciting.aspx

I pick this quote "Total: Ferrari favourite for the Championship"

Great read, but this part made me laugh

Does shyness at work not turn into an obstacle?
«Yes. But in my case it disappears when I put on my helmet.»

I just get the image in my mind of Alonso walking around Maranello in his helmet so that he has the confidence to talk to people.

I know I have a strange imagination.

nice one!

Okay.



Ups...

Nevermind, AFAIK everyone can still post in any thread he likes to. No need to be ashamed of it...

It's nice knowing that Alonso and I share something in common.(Shyness.)

Heh, I can see Fernando walking around Maranello with his helmet on saying, "Where is the car so I can drive it?" The engineers respond, "Umm, Fernando, you cannot drive the car because of testing regulations, and it's not ready yet." "I don't want to know, I want to drive," is Fernando's reply.

How so?

He seems to reject the idea of fate/destiny consistently?

Alonso's interviews away from the track always seem quite interesting, my view of him has come full circle since 2007 (as I'm a hammy fan and got into F1 in 2007 you can probably imagine what my view was to start with!).

What is he saying below, that he views macca as the main threat?

Which drivers’ couple could create a problem for Alonso and Massa?
“Felipe and I are complementary. While I’m missing something in the corners he has, while I am faster in some sections. Learning from each other is a secret. Who could create problems? Button and Hamilton»

Maybe is just me or maybe he only believe in destiny when it comes to fatherhood, when it comes to other things he don't believe, not dig deal anyway.

"In this case destiny will decide for us; well, maybe not, because even in such a situation you’re your own referee."

I don't know whether it is getting lost in translation, but in this interview Alonso actually seems to be quite mean to his opponents, uncharacteristically so...

He is fundamentally dismissive of Schumacher's return, implies he should have stayed retired, says Ferrari is a better place without him.

Also, he may be implying that Hamilton/Button will prove to be a problematic partnership, rather than their main rivals. If he was picking out rivals, I'm sure the Red Bulls and Rosberg/Kubica would be mentioned too.

He seems to have found confidence to speak his mind, and Ferrari are happy to indulge him.

Not that I have a problem with this, by the way. I'd rather an honest driver than a PR friendly one any day of the week.

Oh, I think I missed that part,

I think he only referred to destiny because, beyond doing the obvious (!), you can't control whether pregnancy ensues.

That's the bit I was trying to work out the meaning behind.

Well, he could also mean that only Hamilton and Button are the only patnership where both drivers are good enough to challenge Massa and him.

I do not think he saying anything bad about Schumacher either. I think even Schumacher himself would have dismissed the idea to drive a F1 car after a 3 years brake and after 7 WDCs when he was as old as Alonso is today. Alonsos seems surprised that he did return, I am sure Michael was surprised as well that he felt the desire to return.

And the fact that Schumachers is gone from Ferrari, does imho really take some pressure of the current drivers. The team is freed from the pressure of what he Schumacher schieved.

Errr..No. Might be easier tto understand the answer if you care to read the question. The question is:



So very obviously Alonso is referring to a strong driver pairing besides himself and Massa. Not a driver pairing that could create a problem among themselves.

He may be right with both meanings, though.

I'm actually not buying the declarations of happiness from both pairings. This is competition, after all. Still early days in the championship so of course everyone trys to play friendly, but when things stay as close as they're now between teammates, anything can happen at Ferrari as well as McLaren (or Red Bull, for that matter). Let's wait for the end of the season until we judge the relationship between teammates.

how epic would it be if Alonso manages to win this weekend? i know its going to be tough considering the pace of the Red Bull's and McLaren but it would be awesome to see him win in a Ferrari in front of his home crowd

Yes, of course that's possible, we'll have to wait and see how rosy things will be both in McLaren and Ferrari when competition hardens.

My main point was that some people tend to read what Alonso says like the devil reads the bible. Alonso can hardly open his mouth before he's accused of something. May it be bashing Schumacher and/or throwing evil suspicions on the state of happiness inside McLaren.

Which he in this case hasn't done.

I don´t see any bashing in this interview of Alonso. On the contrary, as mostly, he comes across as very sincere and pensive.
Thanks by the way for posting the link to the interview!

Not sure if the thanks are for me, I didn't post the link however. But I'll happily take your thanks, add my own and re-direct them to kosmos, who did post it.

http://forums.autosport.com/index.php?s=&a...t&p=4320523

Thanks Kosmos, thanks Suntrek!

The Spanish translation of the interview, published in AS today, seems to be perfectly clear on his views:

-- highlights mine.

The money quote, vis-a-vis becoming a father being: "In this case destiny won't decide, we will."

Further, he makes it perfectly he's, much like myself, an atheist:



Quick translation: Spaniards and Italians are devout Catholics. And in Italy we have The Pope....What's your relation with God?

Fernando: "There is none and I have never come close. I repeat, I don't believe in destiny nor in superior beings*; if a plane crashes and I die, I don't believe it's because one has been called to heaven."

*Other than Jose Mourinho no doubt

«Yes, a lot. I was even more surprised that he came back... with the calm life he could have lived and with such a past...»

How is this dismissive and implies that MS should have stayed retired? He's just saying he's surprised that he wants the racing life again.


«Now, maybe, we’re a little freer...»

How is this saying that Ferrari is a better place without him? Often it's preferable to have you predecessor out of the way (in any job) if you feel that you are up to the challenge and do it your own way. And I'd imagine even more so in this particular case.



How so? I totally don't read it that way and am surprised that anyone could. After all it occurs in an answer to the question "Which drivers’ couple could create a problem for Alonso and Massa?"

[edited for grammar]

Alonso fan checking in!

I agree with what he says about Schumacher. I mean Schumacher belongs to Ferrari history and it was ok that he still was part of the group, but if they wanted to move forward it was neccesary for him to have a very clear position, I mean make him team manager or something else, but not just there as "advisor if needed".

With Massa constantly praising his mentor and a part of the press comparing Schu's way of working with Kimi's (or Massa's)....blaming one (or the other)...it wasn't very "rosy".

Alonso is clever, he knows that he has now the cards in his hands, he can win championships (the car is good from the begining and he has a great team).


P.S. The shadow of Schumacher at Ferrari garage in 2007-2009 was like when you are starting dating someone new and the boyfriend/girlfriend keeps bringing the ex in the picture.... (he/she used to do that, he/she liked to do this, ...)

I am not a fan of Alonso, never was, but if that is what he really said then my estimate of him got up quite a few notches right now. Seems to me that he is quite a rational guy.

Hmm, this makes it very difficult for me to hate him, damn.

I never could stomac stupid comments from sportsmen (like Senna, for instance, as good as he was as a driver, but his opinions...well ) about how God helped them to achieve whatever they did. People are being murdered, raped, robed... every second around the world and some people have a nerve to think that their competitivness in some sport is Gods priority #1 over kids dying for hunger, women being raped etc....

Anyway, nice to see Alonso has his brains working properly.

What he said was said millions of times also by Kimi's fans. It's reasonable and it is true what Alonso said.

Taken from a personal glimpse of the drivers as regular guys, I couldn't agree with you more; damn good to hear that us atheists are not freaks -- not that I ever felt that way. But still, I'm hardly a mainstream personality. All these "Christian Athletes" (or any other religion) really annoy the hell out of me for the very reasons you listed. It takes some chutzpa to believe that god/s are more interested in pulling for you that they are in fixing all the blatant injustices in this world. I mean, honestly other than the drivers themselves, the fans who follow them, and the bucketfuls of money involved in the overall scope of problems with this world, I would think that a sky-pixie would be least interested in being a fan of any particular driver as opposed to getting involved with the myriad if real problems we're faced with and not with the super-rich playing their games. Be it F1 or any other sport. Such as Nadal coming out out with similar views on an extended interview a few months back. Good on him as well. The more the better to fight ignorance. Plus I like the guts they shown in doing so, for even is secularism is rather mainstream in Europe, it's still not quite mainstream to manifest said beliefs; especially when appealing to a Global audience.

Refreshing to see rationality come to the forth without much (any?) witch-hunting going on. And yes, it does (and will) make a difference if we can finally start speaking up. Enough with the superstitious/mythological mind-set and all of the PC cr*p that surrounds it -- we are in the 21rst Century after all!

And sorry you have to start liking the guy. But there it is.

~Confirmed atheist in foxhole -- or in an OR to be exact. And hardly alone.

[edited to add content]

He didn´t say that.

The question was: "what drivers pair could put pressure in Alonso and Massa," and the answer was "Lewis and Jenson."

Nice interview with Alonso. To me, he's always come across as an intelligent and rational person.

The question about God... I remember that back in 2007, a few races before the final race, there was an article somewhere in which the same questions were asked from both Hamilton and Alonso. The topic of religion came up, Lewis said that he was sure God had helped him all the way, that he always thanked God for the skills he was given. Alonso's answer was a simple "I'm not religious at all", and the author of the article basically concluded that Hamilton would win the championship because he had God's help.

Back to the current FA interview, some of you say there is a contradiction in what he says about destiny; well I think when he's talking about having a child, he means 'destiny' as the unplanned things that happen in your life, and the other 'destiny' clearly refers to religion.

Yes, that's what I like about him. Very rational and logical. He's a lot smarter than most people think.


Well God kinda left him out there in the gravel trap in Shanghai, didn't he?

At least at the Nurburgring God arranged a crane.

Suspicious.

Yeah I think so too. Especially in the longer, in-depth interviews which he gives in Spanish; he usually can't express himself so well if he's not talking in his mother tongue (which is obvious I guess).

While I agree with the first part of your post, again, that is not what he said. Quite the contrary really, as he mentions that having a child is not in destiny's hand but his and his wife's. Of course, there's always the small chance that contraception might fail, but he never considered or mentioned that; quite the opposite really if you read his quote -- I'm thinking that the implication there is that an abortion would come before a unwanted pregnancy should an "accident" occur. Not that he would/should say as much as that is a very private matter between himself and his wife.

Rational indeed.

I know I'm aware that he says that the child-thing is in their hand and not in destiny's, my point was simply that in this case, he probably talks about another "kind" of destiny which has nothing to do with God. (Because some people found it a contradiction that he talks about destiny here, and then he says that he doesn't believe in destiny.)

God, Child, Destiny,... com'on guys,...

I can't wait

jezzz goosebumps





let the roaring begin

I se that some atheists relate to other atheists and that helps them to embrace someone who they dislike previously. That is an interesting concept. I am Christian and I still like Alonso for who he is, an honest down to earth guy and I can care less if he is or isn't religious.

it would be like if I found out that Roseberg was christian and because of that I now like him more. I guess some atheist have a different way of seeing things and make that ideology inclination so important when passing judgement on a person.

It is very easy to like him, just try it, c'mon don't hate , I know very deep down you are an FA fan , just do like Tyler Durden ( the imaginary ) told to Tyler Durden ( the real ) in fight club when they were driving that Lincoln in the rain at a very high speed : " just let go !' " let go !"

Don't know who here you were exactly referring to but I definitely won't judge people different because of their beliefs. I've respected Alonso a lot for years and basically always enjoyed reading his interviews/predictions/previews because of the rational way he thinks and the realism he uses in his comments. Only now I read that he's an atheist, I did not know that.

In fact, your last comment about 'I guess atheists...' is quite generalizing and it seems you're the one judging people on one simple attribute.

my mistake I should have inserted the word "some" .. I'll edit the post.

New comercial....... B E A U T I F U L

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCPSTxJtgQw

So Fernando is a horse whisperer, who would have known. Now he should become an engine-whisperer as well.

Beautiful ad, thanks for the link.

What does the text say?

free translation

At track doesn´t worth who you were neither what you did,
everyday it´s a new life,
at track only counts the minute, the concrete second when you have to do your best
and when you think you´ve done it..... (then the journos start joking about it and i can´t understand the rest )

I agree it is a beautiful ad. That horse is gorgeous.

Very kind of you, thanks!!!

En la pista, no vale quien fuiste ni lo que hiciste.
Cada día es una nueva vida.
En la pista sólo cuenta el minuto, el segundo concreto en el que tienes que dar lo mejor de tí.
Cuando crees que lo has conseguido, ha llegado el momento de volver a empezar.

Free translation II:

On the track it doesn't count who you have been or what you have done (in the past).
Every day is a new life.
On the track only the minute counts, the very second when you have to give the best of yourself.
And when you think you have done it, it is time to start all over again.