thanks jetalt and kosmos for those interviews. Nice reads to warm up GP weekend

There is an interesting article in the Spanish press today (El Mundo newspaper). According to the article, after the Monaco crash Alonso returned to the garage and saw the morale very low and the disappointment in the eyes of the mechanics and he felt guilty. Then he wrote personalized letters to every single mechanic by his own hand and he delivered every letter by himself. In the letter he apologized to the team, recognized his own mistake and promised to them that they will fight for the title at the end of the championship.

They provided a quote from Andrea Stella (during the Monaco GP) saying that Alonso did something special for the team in Monaco. Sadly I can't find that quote in english.

Thanks kosmos. I recall that Lobato mentioned that something happened after that crash that meant that Ferrari was even more Fernando's team.

There was a bit of speculation (I think even a thread sprang out of it) that perhaps the crash wasn't Fernando's fault but someone in the team's error, but that Fernando took the fall for it. Seems that speculation can be put to rest now. (EDIT: found the thread, for anyone interested: http://forums.autosport.com/index.php?show...p;hl=Alonso+FP3 ).

Very nice touch from Alonso though. That and the post Silverstone radio chat have been impressive momments and he's been proven right. Great way to establish 100% belief in him in the team.

They are nothing against Prost team mate, or Massa team mate ( Heidfeld, Fisichella, Villeneuve, Schumacher, Raikkonen, Alonso )

NITROPOWER and BILLKAOS, Muchas gracias

Very true.

I would also add that the respect form of addressing to the second person as "usted", is slightly used nowadays in Spain amongst younger generations; it's basically used for addressing older people who don't belong to your acquaintances. As it's been already suggested, to use it may well be interpreted by many as a way to set an imaginary barrier of mutual understanding.

As I said in page 2 of that thread though, the Spanish forum member that translated it got it wrong, as Lobato never said that, and actually the first thing he said is that it was a driver error. If there was any doubt, he clarified it at a later entry on his blog.

Yeah, prty, completely agree. I wasn't trying to give them impression that the speculation was Lobato's, I was trying to make it clear that it was forum speculation arising from a comment of Lobato's (hence two seperate paras).

Obviously the comment from Lobato has now been proven to be 100% correct. As were your comments in that thread

class

So that's what it was. Thanks for clearing that up.

When things are going his way, everything is rosy. When not, he is critisizing his team, team mate, the sport and your grandmother

Very impressive indeed. He never ceases to surprise me

Add to that his comments on the radio after the Silvestone race when he was almost 50 points behind the WDC leader :

It is a time to stay united, to react with grit and determination and our driver made that very clear to all the team on his slowing down lap after taking the chequered flag. “OK guys, keep your heads up, heads up. We will win the championship,” said Fernando over the radio. “We are only halfway through the season and there is plenty of time to recover. We have a great car and we proved that to everyone this weekend and confirmed it with this fastest race lap. It is only the first half and we know we have to do better in the second one and we will do exactly that. Well done all of you for this weekend: whatever the result, we have done a good job. Come on! There’s plenty of time to catch up.” Then came the reply from his race engineer, Andrea Stella, who certainly summed up the feelings of the whole team: “Don’t worry, no one is giving up. We are all behind you, we want the same thing and we will fight right to the end to get it.” Grit, determination and the will to win: three things that are definitely not in short supply in Maranello.

A true team leader both on and off the track

No hay de qué

A great post. Especially considering the one that preceded it.

For me, it is one thing just saying it on the radio.
its another thing to actually do it.

Ferrari must believe they can do anything as a team now.
Massa will have to dig deep now, but if anyone can do it at Interlargos, he can.

Very interesting graph of Alonso's career. It's a comparison between the starting grid position and the final race position.



http://www.marca.com/2010/11/05/multimedia...mp;t=1289047313

Fair enough

Another brillant race, getting the maximun of the car. The scenarios for the next race are too numerous to talk about but I really think that Fernando need to start the race on P1 or P2, but we will see. From my point of view, Red Bull team orders will happen if they need them, Ferrari should think about it.

Completely right - Alonso NEEDS to qulaify second - minimum - if not, he is at the mercy of Red Bull.

Busted.

Who did say Alonso would not take risks and would be conservative?

Alonso was on fire in the first laps. He was brilliant and great to watch. His overtaking on Nico was pretty good. After that, he just controlled the race.

So very good race

Yet another drive of a true double champion.

Abu Dahbi should be better for Ferrari than Brasil so fingers crossed.

Alonso overtakes Hulkenberg: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTG8YKb3DOI

Great race by Alonso, on fire in the first laps as well as towards the end. Very fast driving, while at the same time having to take care of the engine. Not an easy position to be in, solved masterfully. Now we are in for a real thriller of a race in Abu Dhabi!!!

Since Germany:
P1
P2
Ret
P1
P1
P3
P1
P3

I'm so afraid he will retire in Abu Dhabi.

Great race by Alonso, man of the race.

Strangely maybe, but I'm not (so much). If it happens, so be it, it's just a title more or less, after all.

Matters far more to me how he performed recently, I was missing that Alonso in the first half of the season.

A masterful drive by Alonso today. Was fast when he needed to be and he took care of the tires leaving enough for a good run at the end to fend off any challengers.

Yes, me too. I was disappointed by him and at certain moments just thought he lost what he used to have.

But he's been superb lately and I would so want him to steal the title away from the Red Bull's.

I can't verify it but on SPEEDtv they said Alonso had a very low mileage engine for Abu Dhabi and today was his big hurdle as far as engines go.

Anyone know if that is true?

His overtaking was great, but it was measured, not risky or aggressive. He was very conservative on the brakes against Lewis and Hulkenberg and worked more on pressuring the guy in front rather than trying to actually stick a risky pass on them.

I was a bit disappointed at his timidness at first, but in the end, I think it was probably the best way to go about it, and its why Alonso is a great race driver and I'm not.

Don't think so, it's been widely reported that he'll be having to use the same engine he used this Saturday and Sunday, next Saturday and Sunday. Which was the Monza race engine. It's quite a stressed engine having now done Monza and Interlagos, Ferrari have had engine issues for themselves and Sauber this season. It'll be tense that's for sure.

Fernando has got his groove back and is out for blood!

He will be using the Monza and Interlagos engine unless Marc Gene is a top dramatic actor.

I, too, think he raced very well. His overtaking of Hulkenberg (or, as Alonso says it, Hunkelberg — I know, German names come with difficulty to a Latin) was very well calculated and masterfully executed. And he pressed Hamilton into a mistake (hence the 'no grip, no f-duct'). After that, Alonso drove very consistently fast. But qualification cost him dearly. I'm sorry for Massa, though. He had a horrible day.

Tahnk you Juan Diego (my Spanish students still give me the 'tú'; I hope this is a good sign ;)

Alonso drove like a champ today. I don't like the guy, but he is maybe the best driver out there.

He was fantastic again today. I would love to see him take the title from Redbull. What an amazing second half he's had.

Great drive from Alonso yesterday. His move against Hulkenberg and pressuring Hamilton into a mistake (2nd race in a row) were masterful. If it's true he managed to conserve his engine for good parts of the race that's also good news. Having said that, it was his own mistake on Saturday (in admittedly tricky conditions) that put him in that position in the first place and it's hard not to think that he would have had a good to chance to take the victory here, or at least second, if his qualifying had been better.
I really, really hope Ferrari is as good around Abu Dhabi as many people are saying, otherwise Alonso is going to have to rely on one of the Red Bulls hitting mechanical trouble and then people will say he 'inherited' the title which is nonsense: the way he has almost single-handedly taken the fight to them in the second half of the season in a car that is still clearly inferior almost everywhere has been brilliant, and makes him deserving of the title, just like Red Bull clearly deserve the constructors.

I'm confident that he will beat the Bulls in the title standings... Abu Dhabi will be great for us...

That sums it for me too. Nobody has strung together a run of results as impressive as he has in what has to be said is clearly, although not by much, an inferior car.

He said it... Podiums will win this thing and I will bet good money that he will put his car between Vettel and Webber come quali at Abu Dhabi.

I just pray he wins the race. It will be a fitting end to the championship.

Those results sum it up really.

I hope he goes for the win at Abu Dhabi & takes the title by more than 7pts. He deserves it regardless but it'll shut the knockers up.

It was a superb race from him in any context. Given the pressure to avoid a DNF that the WDC position gave, it was even more impressive. Definitely a champion's drive.

I really hope he wins the title in Abu Dhabi... I can't think of anyone more deserving to be champion with the quality of his racing, and if he can take it from the Red Bull's he certainly deserves it.

Ferrari have done a fantastic job this year, so if they fail at Abu Dhabi in anyway; it doesnt matter to me at all.

------------------------------

I thought Alonso would have a hard time getting past Hulk, but he got past him when he made a mistake. Lewis on the other hand i thought would have no problem getting Hulk, but he really did struggle. So much for his overtaking prowess.

He deserves the title

For Alonso, Ferrari will use the Bahrain qualifying engine that was overheating and changed before the race. Super low mileage

Stefano said it was close to overheating (on Ferraris YouTube channel), while other commentators have said that those engines overheated? Not sure which one is which but i don't think it got damaged

yesterday, Marc Gené was very specific about the engine for AbuDabi: Alonso will use Monza&Brasil engine.

of course Ferrari has to analyze how fine is yesterdays engine compare with the other ones that may be used (ex. bahrain "overheated"). They could change the plan, but the first option was to use the same engine again.

about topic: nothing to add that hasnt been said. Alonso #1

that engine passed away long time ago, your info is incorrect