Will Fernando Alonso pick BMW, Honda or stay at Renault in 2009?
Fernando Alonso is not going to be in Ferrari overalls any time soon
Ferrari has confirmed Kimi Raikkonen will drive for the team for at least one more season in 2010. With Felipe Massa contracted for the same duration, the Scuderia will not be looking for any news drivers until 2011 at the earliest.
So where does this leave Fernando Alonso? The Renault driver was widely tipped to join Ferrari in 2010 and possibly even as early as 2009.
Recent rumours have linked him with BMW and Honda, and of course there remains a decent chance of him staying at Renault next year.
Renault
Pro – Renault are a known quantity to Alonso and, after the debacle at McLaren last year, that must be important to him. Similarly, he knows he is not in any danger of being paired with a team mate he disapproves of. He won back-to-back championships with the team in 2005 and 2006 so he knows they have it in them to win again.
Con – The 2008 car is poor, and that was despite them curtailing development on last year’s R27 early in the season. Renault have fallen behind on engine development because of Flavio Briatore’s desire to obey the spirit, rather than the letter, of the engine rules. Alonso and the team have differed on strategies at several key points this year, and a potential win at Spa went begging as a result.
Honda
Pro – Some sources claim Alonso has already signed with Honda. Honda is his chance to ‘do a Schumacher’ and transform a struggling team into race winners. Alonso has first-rate abilities in developing a car (despite his much-derided “six-tenths” comment last year) which is exactly what Ross Brawn need. They’ve got Ross brawn, who’s been prioritising their 2008 campaign for a long time. And it would keep him in England, where he has been living for several years.
Con – Jenson Button might be a more competitive team mate than Alonso would wish for (although he didn’t fare well against Giancarlo Fisichella in 2001, who Alonso hammered at Renault in 2005-6).
BMW
Pro – BMW are a top-three team at the moment and, given the improvements they made over the last two winters, could well be winning regularly next year.
Con – I can’t see Alonso being paired with Robert Kubica, who looks every bit as promising as Hamilton, and therefore just as likely to upset Alonso. Nor can I see BMW letting Kubica go, especially as Ferrari is now full until 2011.
Who do you think Fernando Alonso will drive for in 2010 – or 2009?
Toncho said on 13th September 2008, 17:53
I would put my money on BMW as Mario Thiesen has been suspiciously postponing the 2009 line up. I am not sure that they can offer him a winning car. They may be the third team but their lack o development in the second half of the season is incredible and now Toro Rosso, Toyota and even Renault have close the gap. Anyway I fear that wherever he ends, he won’t win anything anymore.
the limit said on 13th September 2008, 19:32
@ Niguen.
I completely agree with you on the Alonso/Kubica situation, I think they would make an excellant partnership and would take BMW Sauber forward.
The point that most people forget about Alonso’s disastrous year last year was that he was not so much unhinged by Hamilton’s raw pace, but by his standing in the team.
The closeness between Hamilton and Dennis, and others within McLaren hightened Fernando’s sense of paranoia, which was not misplaced in my opinion. Hamilton was an unknown quantity to the Spaniard, where as Kubica is not. Would Mario Theissen favour Kubica over Alonso?
All the evidence suggests that Theissen would almost certainly handle the pair alot differently than Dennis did at McLaren. After all, Hamilton is McLaren, Dennis found him, nurtured his career, and gave him his big break. It is completely different.
The bottom line is that nobody is better placed within Renault now than Fernando Alonso, and only Fernando knows in what ‘true’ state the team is in, and how far off the pace they ‘really’ are.
Alonso comes across to me, in interviews that is, as a tremendously proud and confident man, in no way content to play second fiddle. With both Renault and Honda in such dire straights, and the Ferrari deal dead in the water, Alonso has only one realistic alternative. For the sake of Formula One, it would be great to see Alonso back in a car capable of winning the championship again. He is just too good a driver to let go to waste!
amy said on 13th September 2008, 23:39
Alonso at BMW, he wants to be champion again, they are looking to win a championship, they go hand in hand. I dont think Alonso would have the same problem with Kubica as he did with Hamilton because with hamilton there was the factor of how close he was with Ron, the fact he was the brit in a british team etc. Kubica and Alonso are also friends, get rid of hiedfeld and put Alonso there.
Pink Peril said on 14th September 2008, 0:18
@ the limit
Spot on, mate.
I’ve got my BMW T-shirt at the ready ;)
Steven Roy said on 14th September 2008, 1:09
I can’t see him moving anywhere. I am sure he has enough get out clauses in his contract to walk away from Renault but his options are limited.
Ross Brawn’s affect on Honda is overrated. Some people have suggested that Brawn and Alonso would be like Brawn and Schumacher. But Ferrari had Rory Byrne, Nigel Stepney and a whole stack of other people which Honda don’t. I can’t understand why anyone would think Button would be a threat to Alonso. We know how Barrichello fared against Schumacher and he certainly isn’t any faster now than he was then but Button hasn’t exactly dominated him. WHen Mark Hughes did his half season team mate comparison the most evenly matched pair on the grid were at Honda. Alonso would burst the Button myth in double quick time. There is no reason whatever to believe Honda will progress in the near future.
The BMW car suits Kubica’s driving style more than Heidfeld’s and Alonso style is the closest on the grid to Kubica’s so unless next year’s new regs fundamentally change the basic behaviour of their car it should be easy for Alonso to slot in their. He may be friends with Kubica but the first time Kubica goes faster than him there will be fireworks. Fisichella was rarely ever a threat but its no secret that any time he was Alonso blew a fuse. I don’t see Mario Theissen putting up with that. The thing is though that Alonso in the car seems to be immune to any ructions that are going on within the team or sport so although I would expect a fiery relationship between the two I would not expect it to affect Alonso’s performance.
Renault seem to be dead in the water right now and will stay that way until Flavio realises that F1 is not a hippy commune. When did anyone in F1 ever pay any attention to the spirit of the rules. I really can’t bleieve Flavio made that statement when you consider some of the strokes Benetton pulled in the Schumacher years. Maybe Ross Brwn just didn’t tell Flavio what he was doing.
Alonso deserves to be in one of the best cars on the grid but I can’t see it happening next season.
GeorgeK said on 14th September 2008, 2:07
Renault have taken their eye off the prize with their seeming lack of engine improvements to enhance their own “reliability”. Alonso is too competitive to stay there.
His best drive would be BMW, but I agree with all of the earlier comments that Kubica and Alonso may be a poor fit. And Dr. Mario wouldn’t tolerate his antics.
I wouldn’t discount Toyota if they continue to improve over the last five races. And If Felipe bungles the championship this year and Kimi continues to be mediocre, don’t be surprised if they drop Massa and pair Freddie and Kimi as early as next year.
The price of failure in Maranello is very steep indeed.
Gman said on 14th September 2008, 2:55
Good point GeorgeK, but Massa is looking good, and I don’t think he’s going to revert to early-season form anytime in the near future. Still, if he or Kimi do regress, absolutley a seat could open at Ferrari.
If Fernando dosen’t stay put, It’s either Honda or BMW as a destination. Any team looking to sign him needs two things- the resources to compete for the championship, and big money. That rules out about half the grid, including Williams. Honda appears less likley as a destination as I see it now, even though they would probably do anything to get him as well.
With BMW, Alonso is indeed good friends with Kubica and I believe Robert would welcome him as a team mate. In terms of driver management, absolutley Dr. Mario would take a different approach than Ron did, as the situation would be much different than when Alonso was in Woking. BMW is one of the key movers on the KERS deal, and could be in very good position to compete for the title- all in all, it could be an excellent fit.
In my view, if Alonso sees the ship stuck in the mud and/or sinking at Renault, he calls BMW and they welcome him with open arms. And for as much respect as I have for Heidfeld, I’ll use a phrase from sportscaster Stephen A. Smith to describe his situation in that case- BMW would ditch Nick YESTERDAY….not tomorrow, not next week….YESTERDAY if they had a chance to put the double champion in blue and white.And if he thinks Renault can make progress and be back at the top, he’ll stay- simple as that.
Paige said on 14th September 2008, 8:53
I think Alonso will take Honda. Brawn is clearly quite keen to have him there, and the desire for a team to have a driver is very important. Honda would probably pay Alonso more money than anyone else on the grid (more on this in a moment), and they would give him a more generous contract in non-monetary ways than any other team. Brawn knows how to build a team technically, and he will attract plenty of talent to come and work for Honda. Alonso is PRECISELY who Honda needs to take the next step, and the opportunity to add to his legacy will be a powerful incentive to a man who is clearly very keen to get back to the top.
I don’t think BMW would be a very good fit for Alonso. For one, Dr. Theissen will not put up with the drama that has been associated with Alonso in the past, be it during his year at McLaren or even before. Secondly, BMW will not pay Alonso the rate that he’s likely seeking, as they in the past have not been that keen to pay drivers highly. Thirdly, BMW already has a driver with very good developmental abilities in Heidfeld, who has a lot of responsibility for the rapid progress BMW has made up the grid. Thus, it’s not very important that they acquire a driver with developmental talent, especially since they have a budding young elite in Kubica. BMW’s focus shouldn’t be going out to get Alonso: it should be on keeping Kubica happy, and the last few weeks have at least produced the appearance of some discord among the parties.
ukk said on 14th September 2008, 9:35
ALO -> BMW
KUB -> Renault
we’ve seen this already w/ Heikki
ninguen said on 14th September 2008, 11:16
I don´t think Kubica would be happy to part ways with BMW now there´s a good possibility to fight the championship, i see more probable Heidfeld going to renault
ABout the alonso don´t putting up with fastest teammantes, Trulli was beaten him in 2004, and Alonso never told a word about him, possibly it had more to do with Alonso not being concentrated, but they worked along very well and they stillregards themselves as good teammates, last year Trulli said many times he wanetd Alonso at Honda. I think Alonso can put up with a faster teammate, but can´t put up with an unequal treatment, at least if he thinks it exists.
vlady said on 16th September 2008, 1:19
Have any of you considered that Hammy was to blame for th whole McLaren fiasco? Seems to me that Fernando has a lot more friends in the circuit and as of lately, Hammy is only getting on people’s bad sides with all his arrogant rants and blatant disrespect for his opponents. Also, Alonso and Kubica are friends so I really don’t see a problem with them being on a team and still maintaining a good competative relationship. I’m all for Alonso going to a team that will allow him to be competative. He’s stuck with a “back of the mid pack” car at best and he’s still managing to score points so I would love to see him use his talents with a car that has the potential as well.
Loki said on 16th September 2008, 11:14
I don’t think Jenson Button as a team mate is a “Con” for Alonso to Honda – as much as I like Jenson Button, I’m 99.999% sure he won’t be troubling Alonso if they were paired up. In fact, I’m almost sure he’d be the perfect number 2 – someone to bring home points without really being able to challenge Alonso….that is if the car was capable….which brings me to the REAL Con of joining Honda: how much better will they be next year/year after – look at the past 2 seasons, they’ve not improved at all.
Ross Brawn is considering long term success, but Alonso wants it relatively soon (and to be honest, I want to see Alonso up there too, it’s been a bit boring without him near the top). Alonso’s also made a few remarks about teams jumping several places within a season, so I’d imagine that Ross Brawn would have to offer him something extremely good that would make it worth his while if they produce yet another steam-pile-of-cow-pat car.
But who knows, with the aero rules next year, it could switch teams around a bit: Mark Webber was always in the wrong team at the wrong time.
If I were Alonso, I’d sign for BMW before Honda. If I were to sign for Honda, I’d need to see something solid in place – not just Ross Brawn – a real plan, for me to go there…and that won’t happen because it’ll probably be team secrets.
Fergus Gallas said on 16th September 2008, 16:17
Why be so obvious. BMW, Renault, Honda…
Fernando doesn’t need money, he needs a team built around him. Renault and Honda might not have a decent car in a few years time. BMW and Ferrari are done.
If I were him i would choose STR Toro Rosso. Good engine, small team, sponsorchip is there especially with a 2xChamp, the car is developing nicelly and the tech crew is very good.