Vettel rumours “not helping” Ferrari – Alonso

2014 Singapore Grand Prix

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Fernando Alonso has criticised the media rumours suggesting he could swap places with Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull in the future.

Vettel also denied the reports which emerged in the Italian media earlier this week.

“It’s sad when these rumours are created in Italy,” said Alonso. “It’s a shame as it’s not helping Ferrari, which is the reason why we are all here and Ferrari is a much bigger brand than any one individual or even Formula One in general.”

“I have a lot of respect for Ferrari and try and maintain a good atmosphere with the guys in the team, in order to have a very united team. It’s what we need and what the people expect from us. So it’s not clear to me what is the purpose of these rumours coming from Italy.”

Alonso played down the consequences of the new restrictions in radio communication, saying “It won’t make a big difference”

“I don’t think it will have a huge impact on the race itself, or preparations for the weekend,” he added.

“In any case, at Ferrari we have not used the radio for any performance related reasons. We tend to use it to control temperatures, to talk about traffic and strategy. I cannot say how it might affect other teams.

“As for the change in general, it has generated a lot of media attention, like the situation with FRIC, but in that case, we saw the final impact on the race was nothing special. I think it will be a similar case with this radio rule.

“It’s like if you’re a coach in football or basketball and cannot talk to your players; in the end it’s the player who shoots the ball. It won’t change our driving style and it’s not as though we won’t know how to drive the circuit.”

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Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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19 comments on “Vettel rumours “not helping” Ferrari – Alonso”

  1. “In any case, at Ferrari we have not used the radio for any performance related reasons.

    LOL, or for Team orders, eh!
    Whatever, as the FIA hardly ever plays Ferrari’s messages there is no way for us to reliably verify this (hm, do I want to browse back some of those weekend radio articles? I am pretty sure they do talk about setup etc at least during FP sessions.)

    1. Do you understand the meaning of “performance related”?

    2. it seems slightly off to me that they won’t allow this kind of chat in practice. i understand banning it in qualy or the race, but before then it’s all just part of setup work. maybe it should come under parc ferme rules or something.

      1. I don’t see the point in preventing messages in practice either, in the end all of that stuff gets discussed in the debriefs anyway. What’s next, the drivers themselves being put under parc ferme rules? Every driver must sit motionless in their cars until after the race. Exceptions will be made for the draining of ballast.

  2. I honestly believe that Alonso’s interviews are the most sophisticated and calm of all the drivers. There was a time (2003-2007) when he would often get agitated and speak with a bit of a Hamilton-like-philosophy of talking and then thinking (I know there will be people who will hate but it’s true). But I was one of few people who believed that nobody now would handle a teammate the caliber of Raikkonen off the track than Alonso. I honestly can’t remember the last time he was agitated in an interview or something. I especially liked how he handled the interviews after Abu Dhabi 2010, Brazil 2012 & Monaco 2013.

    1. Kind of glad he seems to have dropped the Samurai Alonso routine. At first it was moderately clever, but then became a bit artificial.

      One would think that rumors would be rather expected and subsequently ignored at Ferrari. Isn’t the part of the job description of “the media” to just make stuff up even where there is no real news? And that does not only apply to Italian media, it’s fairly universal.

  3. Fernando Alonso:

    It won’t make a big difference […] We tend to use [the radio] to control temperatures […]

    Has he read the list of banned messages? Amongst other stuff:

    Information on tyre pressures or temperatures
    Warning on brake wear or temperatures

    Should be an interesting weekend….

    1. Curiously I think the same way, in the end best drivers will be the best in drivers.

      Soccer or basketball will not be much better without coach/player interaction.

    2. In any case, at Ferrari we have not used the radio for any performance related reasons. We tend to use it to control temperatures

      @jimg I spotted the same thing (although obviously the rules have changed again and they can discuss tyre temperatures now etc) but maybe these are the mysterious Ferrari messages we don’t get to hear:

      Fernando Alonso: Guys, I’m a bit hot
      Andrea Stella: Ok – we are looking into it, just have a drink for now
      FA: Will I have time to take my vest off at the next stop?
      AS: Negative, so we need climate control two clicks down, switch off heated seat and use the air conditioning boost if you need it.

  4. As an Alonso fan, I would love to see Vettel become his teammate.

    Preferably, in a tail-happy car which is very unpredictable difficult to drive. ;)

    Alonso would make Vettel look like another Raikkonen, IMO.

    1. No one can drive a bad car as well as Fernando. Kimi needs a good front end, Vettel a good back end, this years Ferrari has neither!

  5. So it’s not clear to me what is the purpose of these rumours coming from Italy.

    Could it be that some in Italy don’t want Fernando in Ferrari anymore, or that they never liked him in the first place?

    1. I don’t think there is a single team on the grid that would not snatch Alonso up if they had a seat available and the money to pay him. Maybe you don’t like him and instead are projecting your feelings.

    2. @mantresx

      may be you wanna rewatch the italian GP and see all those banners supporting Alonso.. to me it always looked like he’s adored by fans in spain and italy (after he joined Ferrari)..

  6. I cannot understand why the FIA thinks banning certain radio communications will be beneficial…if a drivers brakes are overheating and in danger of potential failure if not managed, why can the team now not inform the driver of that? Isn’t that a huge safety issue? What if a drivers brakes explode and is subsequently injured in the resulting accident which could have been prevented if he had simply been told he needed to manage the situation? I’m perplexed by who is in control, and the decisions being made in modern F1.

    1. Team has two methods:
      1) Pit the car to prevent failure
      2) Pitboard message that reads “COOL BRAKES”

  7. at Ferrari we have not used the radio for any performance related reasons.

    Oh my, are they clueless even on race day? (a joke guys :) )

  8. Personally, I just think he’s playing down the possible impact. I’m pretty sure they do use the radio for performance just as all teams do. They will advise Alonso of optimum maps etc. He is playing it down, and possibly trying to play mind games with his opponents.

  9. Isn’t it more likely because, now that Massa-Smedley are gone, most of the Ferrari comms are in Italian? Most commentators don’t speak it therefore FOM don’t put that feed on so much.

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