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[sagi58]

If all that is true, then Ferrari have made a big mistake in letting Alonso go!

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 wrote:">Alonso to join Hulkenberg at Le Mans – reports

Fernando Alonso could follow Nico Hulkenberg’s lead in splitting his F1 duties with a sensational debut at the fabled Le Mans 24 hours next year.

Last week, the sports car prototype manufacturer Porsche announced it has signed Force India’s Hulkenberg to race not only at Le Mans next June but also the Spa six hours.

It was said Hulkenberg would drive a third three-driver Porsche prototype in 2015. His teammates for the Le Mans entry were not announced.

This year, Porsche returned to prototype Le Mans competition with Mark Webber leading one of the two 919 Hybrid cars.

Now, Italy’s Autosprint is reporting that with Alonso now close to having his full-time F1 seat with McLaren finally announced, it could be followed by a shock round of extra news.

The publication cited sources close to the German marque as saying Spaniard Alonso, who famously officially started this year’s edition of the Le Mans 24 hours, could also sign up with Porsche for 2015.

“Porsche would not be an alternative to McLaren-Honda for Alonso,” agreed Spain’s El Mundo Deportivo, “but a complement.”

The report said Alonso would join Hulkenberg in the third Porsche entry, along with another unknown driver.

“Despite their friendship,” El Mundo Deportivo added, “Fernando would not race in the same car as Mark Webber.”

The report said the biggest stumbling block to a Le Mans deal for Alonso is the fact that McLaren is a direct sports car-making rival of Porsche. (GMM)

[sagi58]

After reading some of the "selected" comments about Alonso and Ron Dennis at the media event that confirmed him, I thought I'd look for the context within which they were written.

I have to say, I'm impressed with how hard it must have been for both of these men to put their differences aside. Bravi!

, Ben Anderson and Glenn Freeman wrote:">Fernando Alonso returned to McLaren to make up for 2007 F1 season

Fernando Alonso says that he has returned to McLaren to finish the job he started in 2007, having described that year as the lowest point of his Formula 1 career.

The two-time world champion has rejoined the team he left in acrimonious circumstances seven years ago, and he says that the disappointment of that campaign is part of the reason behind him wanting to return for 2015.

"It was not the best feeling in 2007," Alonso said at the McLaren Technology Centre on Thursday.

"But in all the years since, inside I only had one thing remaining in Formula 1 to do.

"I was happy with everything I have done apart from 2007. I didn't achieve or deliver the best of myself.

"So now, some years later, you are more mature, you learn things, you understand things you didn't know at 25 years old.

"Now I arrive to finish the job that I started in 2007. This was the first and the main priority to come back."

McLaren boss Ron Dennis, who was at the centre of the storm with Alonso and Lewis Hamilton in 2007, said that the passing of time had relieved any tension from that year.

"In Formula 1 seven weeks is a lifetime - seven years is a huge amount of time," he said.

"I know the media will be looking for any kind of fracture in any part of the team's relationship, and especially Fernando and I.

"But I can tell you you'll be wasting your time. It isn't an issue.

"You always have challenges between drivers - I had them with Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna several times - but this one [2007] got away from us.

"I look back on my contribution to that with exactly the same emotion that Fernando expressed.

"You regret the mistakes you make in your life and sometimes you can't change what's happened.


"So could I have engineered a way out of it? I probably could have dealt with it better."

HAMILTON'S ROLE IN 2007

Dennis added that he believes Hamilton was a key player in the problems at McLaren escalating in 2007, rather than Alonso being solely to blame.

"To go back to that period, you look at this young guy, understandably perceived by many people as the chosen one," he said.

"But [he was] also someone who had immaturity, and really, who struck the first blow?

"I would say Lewis had his role to play in starting this process which escalated."

Alonso added: "As long as you are honest with yourself and you learn from the things you did, it's time to think of the future.

"This is not any more 2007 McLaren-Mercedes, this is McLaren-Honda which is a completely different thing in my opinion.

"Jenson [Button] is not Lewis, and I am not the same as in 2007.

"I am sitting here ready for this challenge because I see no problems at all and I see this as a winning project."

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, Kate Walker wrote:">The heartening tale of "Little Alonso"



This week The New York Times ran a feature on a potential racing star of the future, a six-year-old called Rashid al-Dhaheri.

Rashid first decided he wanted to be a racing driver at the 2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, his first experience of motorsport. According to his father, the then-toddler spent all three days staring transfixed at the Ferrari garage. Ever since, he has been making - quite literal - baby steps into the world of racing, working with a race coach and travelling to Italy to begin the ladder of karting progress a single-seater career demands.

It goes without saying that Rashid is an incredibly privileged young boy in that he has the financial support to make these first steps possible. At six his racing overalls - in Ferrari red - feature around half-a-dozen sponsors, and there is vested interest from the Middle East in promoting home-grown racing talent.

But what I found to be the most heartening aspect of Rashid's story was the larger tale it tells about Formula One's impact in the Gulf. He may be but one very young boy whose future is far from set in stone, but the simple fact that there is a young boy out there who fell in love with the sight and sound of the cars and made it his goal to drive them is exactly why there are positives to F1's continued spread around the globe.

For all that we like to moan about the lack of fan support in non-traditional territories, when we do our jobs correctly we create first-generation fans like Rashid in countries new. How many of those famous F1 drivers of the past 60 years first fell in love with the sport when they encountered it as small children? How many of those people working in motorsport are doing so because they were inspired as kids?

We may not be taking Formula One around the world with the altruistic goal of spreading our passion across the seven seas, but there has to be some feel-good silver lining in all that accumulated wealth. For me, right now that silver lining is a small boy in a go-kart going by the nickname "Little Alonso".

[sagi58]

Here's a comprehensive, albeit dramatic, look at what happened at Ferrari, this past year, that ended up in Alonso leaving:

Mark Hughes wrote:">Alonso leaves Ferrari

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This could actually be posted in more than one thread; but, since Alonso is a key player, I figured this was a good place to put it:

 wrote:">Mattiacci and Alonso – the real story

It's quite long; but, worth a read!!
Enjoy!!

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 wrote:">'No We should all 'respect' Alonso's Ferrari exit - Campos

Ferrari's management situation led to the departure of number 1 driver Fernando Alonso. That is the view of Adrian Campos, a former F1 driver who in 2010 founded the team that became known as Hispania.

The 54-year-old Spaniard now operates junior teams including a GP2 outfit, and spoke to the sports daily AS about Alonso's controversial switch from Ferrari to McLaren, where he spectacularly clashed in 2007. "Honestly," Campos told the newspaper, "I think we all have to respect the decision taken by Fernando. Only he had all the information."

"The only thing I can say is that he lived through a bad time at a completely headless Ferrari team, with major problems for Montezemolo who eventually left and bosses who didn't know racing and showed a great inability to form a group of people working in the same direction. Unfortunately, Fernando did not have a great boss like (Jean) Todt, or a greatly respected technical figure like Ross Brawn, as was the situation for Schumacher," he explained.

Campos said he therefore understands Alonso's decision to leave, but joins the rest of the F1 world in wondering if McLaren-Honda is the right move. "The Ferrari-Alonso marriage was broken," he insisted, "while Honda has won many titles although it was true the last project was disastrous."

"But the work Honda is planning now with McLaren, and the budget they will have, is information that is all in the hands of Fernando, and with that he will have made the right decision. Everyone else can say what he wants, but I think we should respect his decision and let's see what happens," Campos added.

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I MISS YOU GUYS!

[sagi58]

And, we miss you!! So great to see you, again!!
Where ya been?? Everything OK??

Come back soon!! Ferrari needs all our support!!