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Will too many chiefs at Alpine derail Fernando Alonso's F1 comeback?
F1MARCH 16TH 2021
Alonso is back in F1 with Alpine but the French manufacturer continues to evolve behind the scenes which could upset its F1 chances
Alonso looked impressively up to speed in testing but its Alpine management where issues could arise
AUTHORDamien Smith
Fernando Alonso made an unruffled, predictably accomplished return to Formula 1 in the pre-season Bahrain tests last weekend, running on the second and third days to bank decent mileage in the Alpine A521 and set the second-fastest time on Saturday with over 60 laps.
Instead of his fractured jaw, which as he promised appeared not to cause him any bother, ‘body shaming’ of his new car appeared to be the biggest talking point when it came to the team formerly known as Renault.
The aesthetics of this F1 generation are hard to love at the best of times – but that air inlet and bulbous engine cover… Uncomplimentary comparisons to Ligier’s ‘teapot’ JS5 are a bit overboard, although similarities to the reduced post-1976 Spanish GP version, once the ungainly high-rise airboxes had been banned, are amusingly apt.
Compromising the centre of gravity to package cooling hardware higher up and away from amazingly waisted sidepods that make mid-’70s Keith Richards look chubby brings aero gains that make it worthwhile, apparently. For Alonso, looks won’t matter this season if the A521 allows him to express himself fully as we know he can. The jury remains out on that one.
But there’s another big question hanging over this team that I keep coming back to: just how are executive director Marcin Budkowski and ex-Suzuki MotoGP boss and new racing director Davide Brivio going to get on managing this team as a joint effort?
It’s not as if they have years of experience working together. Brivio is new to F1, too. Perhaps it’ll be fine and they’ll have a good handle on where each other’s responsibilities begin and end – but the set-up looks like a typical politically derived car manufacturer fudge, especially in the wake of Cyril Abiteboul’s departure.
Last week I stumbled across a non-F1 precedent set by another French manufacturer, when I found myself re-reading an interview I did for Motor Sport in 2012 with former Peugeot 908 LMP1 ace Nicolas Minassian.
The amiable, long-anglicised Frenchman is always good company and when I caught up with him at Silverstone Classic, where he relished the chance to drive a Peugeot 905 Group C car, he was happy to discuss aspects of his five years with the manufacturer, whom he’d just quit not long before it made a shock withdrawal from sports car racing almost on the eve of the new World Endurance Championship.
According to Minassian, there were clear reasons why the fast 908 only claimed a single Le Mans 24 Hours win, in 2009, despite often carrying a pace advantage over the Audis – and he pointed the finger directly at (mis)management.
“It was a shame how it ended,” Minassian told me. “Last winter, I put out a press release saying I was off, because they couldn’t offer me a contract. They said ‘Ah, don’t worry, Nic. We’re going to give you a car’. But I was fed up waiting, I lost my patience. And between Bruno Famin [former technical director and then boss of Peugeot Sport] and Olivier Quesnel [who ran Peugeot Sport during the 908 era]… Quesnel was never reachable on the phone, and Famin would tell you one thing, then Quesnel would tell you another. Both of them were thinking they were the boss.”
Two chiefs muddying the field? Oh dear. Renault isn’t about to ‘do a Peugeot’ with Alpine – is it? If it does, we’ll surely soon hear about it. Alonso isn’t a man with time to waste if internal politics begin to derail his comeback.
Will too many chiefs at Alpine derail Fernando Alonso's F1 comeback?
F1MARCH 16TH 2021
Alonso is back in F1 with Alpine but the French manufacturer continues to evolve behind the scenes which could upset its F1 chances
Alonso looked impressively up to speed in testing but its Alpine management where issues could arise
AUTHORDamien Smith
Fernando Alonso made an unruffled, predictably accomplished return to Formula 1 in the pre-season Bahrain tests last weekend, running on the second and third days to bank decent mileage in the Alpine A521 and set the second-fastest time on Saturday with over 60 laps.
Instead of his fractured jaw, which as he promised appeared not to cause him any bother, ‘body shaming’ of his new car appeared to be the biggest talking point when it came to the team formerly known as Renault.
The aesthetics of this F1 generation are hard to love at the best of times – but that air inlet and bulbous engine cover… Uncomplimentary comparisons to Ligier’s ‘teapot’ JS5 are a bit overboard, although similarities to the reduced post-1976 Spanish GP version, once the ungainly high-rise airboxes had been banned, are amusingly apt.
Compromising the centre of gravity to package cooling hardware higher up and away from amazingly waisted sidepods that make mid-’70s Keith Richards look chubby brings aero gains that make it worthwhile, apparently. For Alonso, looks won’t matter this season if the A521 allows him to express himself fully as we know he can. The jury remains out on that one.
But there’s another big question hanging over this team that I keep coming back to: just how are executive director Marcin Budkowski and ex-Suzuki MotoGP boss and new racing director Davide Brivio going to get on managing this team as a joint effort?
It’s not as if they have years of experience working together. Brivio is new to F1, too. Perhaps it’ll be fine and they’ll have a good handle on where each other’s responsibilities begin and end – but the set-up looks like a typical politically derived car manufacturer fudge, especially in the wake of Cyril Abiteboul’s departure.
Last week I stumbled across a non-F1 precedent set by another French manufacturer, when I found myself re-reading an interview I did for Motor Sport in 2012 with former Peugeot 908 LMP1 ace Nicolas Minassian.
The amiable, long-anglicised Frenchman is always good company and when I caught up with him at Silverstone Classic, where he relished the chance to drive a Peugeot 905 Group C car, he was happy to discuss aspects of his five years with the manufacturer, whom he’d just quit not long before it made a shock withdrawal from sports car racing almost on the eve of the new World Endurance Championship.
According to Minassian, there were clear reasons why the fast 908 only claimed a single Le Mans 24 Hours win, in 2009, despite often carrying a pace advantage over the Audis – and he pointed the finger directly at (mis)management.
“It was a shame how it ended,” Minassian told me. “Last winter, I put out a press release saying I was off, because they couldn’t offer me a contract. They said ‘Ah, don’t worry, Nic. We’re going to give you a car’. But I was fed up waiting, I lost my patience. And between Bruno Famin [former technical director and then boss of Peugeot Sport] and Olivier Quesnel [who ran Peugeot Sport during the 908 era]… Quesnel was never reachable on the phone, and Famin would tell you one thing, then Quesnel would tell you another. Both of them were thinking they were the boss.”
Two chiefs muddying the field? Oh dear. Renault isn’t about to ‘do a Peugeot’ with Alpine – is it? If it does, we’ll surely soon hear about it. Alonso isn’t a man with time to waste if internal politics begin to derail his comeback.
Alonso returns…20 years after building a Minardi
Date published: March 16 2021
Fernando Alonso is preparing for his return to Formula 1 in 2021, 20 years after helping to build the Minardi he debuted in.
Every Formula 1 driver has to start somewhere and sometimes even the smallest of teams can be the perfect building block.
Michael Schumacher’s legendary career, which brought him seven World Championships, started with an outing for Jordan at Spa. Ayrton Senna got his big break in Formula 1 driving for Toleman.
Alonso was no different. For the Spaniard, the career of a superstar had very humble beginnings.
Spotted by Flavio Briatore in karting, Alonso first burst onto the scene in Formula 1 20 years ago this month. But he did not walk into a team ready-made for success. In fact, he even had to help build his first car.
Against all odds, the Minardi team, one of Formula 1’s most beloved underdogs, made it onto the 2001 grid after Australian airline entrepreneur Paul Stoddart purchased the team.
“It was six weeks and three days from the moment I walked into that building in Faenza, finding just 40 staff and a little wooden mock-up of the car, to us getting the real thing on the grid in Melbourne,” Stoddart told Motor Sport Magazine as he recalled the achievement.
The days and nights all rolled into one as Minardi worked frantically to get the PS01 onto the grid, and even Alonso found himself bolting the car together as part of this gargantuan effort.
“He was one of the few assets that came with the team!” said Stoddart.
“We raced against Fernando in Formula 3000. I always remember in 2000 when he won in the rain at Spa – with such style – I thought ‘this kid’s got real talent’.
“When I reacquainted with him at Faenza, he said ‘Paul, I will score you points’. If we were running on today’s points system, we would have done so very nicely.
“He took the interest in [the car] for two reasons. One was that he realised that if the car didn’t get to Melbourne, he wouldn’t drive. And secondly, the fact is that when you’re working so closely as a team with so few people, you really get to know what everybody is doing. It’s not hard to find somewhere to help. Even I built up and screwed on a rear wing!”
Minardi really had no business performing at any sort of competitive level in 2001 but with Alonso, a real star in the making, in the PS01, suddenly that became possible.
At the season-opener in Melbourne, Alonso crossed the line P12 and scored a best result of P10 at the German Grand Prix before signing off for Minardi in Japan with P11.
“The bottom line is that every time Fernando drove the PS01, he got 110 per cent out of it,” Stoddart explained.
“Let’s face it, the car was a dog, but Fernando made it respectable.”
As per Briatore’s orders, Alonso did not return to Minardi for 2002, instead serving as the test driver for Renault. But the Spaniard had already laid the foundations of his success to come.
His promotion came in time for the 2003 season and just two years later, Alonso with Renault did the seemingly impossible and put an end to the dominance of Ferrari and Michael Schumacher, becoming a two-time World Champion across the 2005 and 2006 campaigns.
From humble beginnings, Alonso had reached superstar status in Formula 1, but had more history to make.
After a single season with McLaren in 2007 when Alonso narrowly missed out on a third successive title, and an unsuccessful second stint at Renault, Alonso then achieved the dream of almost any driver that walks into the Formula 1 paddock…he signed for Ferrari.
This was another huge milestone in the career of Alonso and although he went so close on several occasions to that third World Championship, 11 race wins in Ferrari red only further strengthened his legacy.
Check out the new 2021 collection on the official Formula 1 store!
Come the end of 2018, Alonso departed Formula 1, calling time on a four-year stint with McLaren that had failed to provide the Spaniard with race-winning machinery.
But after pursuing other interests in motorsport, Alonso marks the 20th anniversary of his Formula 1 debut by returning to the series where his success all began. The name has changed to Alpine, but plenty of the crew remain from those Renault glory days.
To step on to the Formula 1 podium again at the age of 39 would be a remarkable achievement for Alonso. But as he first showed all the way back at the start with Minardi, giving “110 per cent” is his speciality. It would take a brave individual to bet against it.
Jamie Woodhouse
https://www.planetf1.com/features/fernando-alonso-20-years-anniversary/
Alonso returns…20 years after building a Minardi
Date published: March 16 2021
Fernando Alonso is preparing for his return to Formula 1 in 2021, 20 years after helping to build the Minardi he debuted in.
Every Formula 1 driver has to start somewhere and sometimes even the smallest of teams can be the perfect building block.
Michael Schumacher’s legendary career, which brought him seven World Championships, started with an outing for Jordan at Spa. Ayrton Senna got his big break in Formula 1 driving for Toleman.
Alonso was no different. For the Spaniard, the career of a superstar had very humble beginnings.
Spotted by Flavio Briatore in karting, Alonso first burst onto the scene in Formula 1 20 years ago this month. But he did not walk into a team ready-made for success. In fact, he even had to help build his first car.
Against all odds, the Minardi team, one of Formula 1’s most beloved underdogs, made it onto the 2001 grid after Australian airline entrepreneur Paul Stoddart purchased the team.
“It was six weeks and three days from the moment I walked into that building in Faenza, finding just 40 staff and a little wooden mock-up of the car, to us getting the real thing on the grid in Melbourne,” Stoddart told Motor Sport Magazine as he recalled the achievement.
The days and nights all rolled into one as Minardi worked frantically to get the PS01 onto the grid, and even Alonso found himself bolting the car together as part of this gargantuan effort.
“He was one of the few assets that came with the team!” said Stoddart.
“We raced against Fernando in Formula 3000. I always remember in 2000 when he won in the rain at Spa – with such style – I thought ‘this kid’s got real talent’.
“When I reacquainted with him at Faenza, he said ‘Paul, I will score you points’. If we were running on today’s points system, we would have done so very nicely.
“He took the interest in [the car] for two reasons. One was that he realised that if the car didn’t get to Melbourne, he wouldn’t drive. And secondly, the fact is that when you’re working so closely as a team with so few people, you really get to know what everybody is doing. It’s not hard to find somewhere to help. Even I built up and screwed on a rear wing!”
Minardi really had no business performing at any sort of competitive level in 2001 but with Alonso, a real star in the making, in the PS01, suddenly that became possible.
At the season-opener in Melbourne, Alonso crossed the line P12 and scored a best result of P10 at the German Grand Prix before signing off for Minardi in Japan with P11.
“The bottom line is that every time Fernando drove the PS01, he got 110 per cent out of it,” Stoddart explained.
“Let’s face it, the car was a dog, but Fernando made it respectable.”
As per Briatore’s orders, Alonso did not return to Minardi for 2002, instead serving as the test driver for Renault. But the Spaniard had already laid the foundations of his success to come.
His promotion came in time for the 2003 season and just two years later, Alonso with Renault did the seemingly impossible and put an end to the dominance of Ferrari and Michael Schumacher, becoming a two-time World Champion across the 2005 and 2006 campaigns.
From humble beginnings, Alonso had reached superstar status in Formula 1, but had more history to make.
After a single season with McLaren in 2007 when Alonso narrowly missed out on a third successive title, and an unsuccessful second stint at Renault, Alonso then achieved the dream of almost any driver that walks into the Formula 1 paddock…he signed for Ferrari.
This was another huge milestone in the career of Alonso and although he went so close on several occasions to that third World Championship, 11 race wins in Ferrari red only further strengthened his legacy.
Check out the new 2021 collection on the official Formula 1 store!
Come the end of 2018, Alonso departed Formula 1, calling time on a four-year stint with McLaren that had failed to provide the Spaniard with race-winning machinery.
But after pursuing other interests in motorsport, Alonso marks the 20th anniversary of his Formula 1 debut by returning to the series where his success all began. The name has changed to Alpine, but plenty of the crew remain from those Renault glory days.
To step on to the Formula 1 podium again at the age of 39 would be a remarkable achievement for Alonso. But as he first showed all the way back at the start with Minardi, giving “110 per cent” is his speciality. It would take a brave individual to bet against it.
Jamie Woodhouse
https://www.planetf1.com/features/fernando-alonso-20-years-anniversary/
