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[Ron Dennis]

An article from Autosport

Spain's sports minister criticizes McLaren




Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso lost the Formula One world championship because McLaren failed to behave like a team, according to Spain's sports minister Jaime Lissavetzky.

"In sport you have to work together or else you almost always end up losing," Lissavetzky said at a news conference in Madrid on Tuesday.

"From the outside it didn't look like there was much team work going on at McLaren. They should have applied the basic values of sport."

McLaren's British driver Hamilton was a warm favourite to win the title going into the final race of the season at Sao Paulo, but he and Spanish teammate Fernando Alonso were edged out by a point by Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.

"As the saying goes vengeance is a dish that is served cold and as Raikkonen is an 'iceman' he ended up getting his revenge," said Lissavetzky.

"I would have liked Fernando Alonso to have won, but he has won the championship twice and is a real star and ended the season just a point away from winning a third title."

Can I draw your attention to the words "applied the basic values of sport". What he means is that Alonso should have been given no.1 status and team orders that break FIA rules should have been adopted. How can you defend such immoral people who define 'basic values of sport' as cheating?

And how about the comment about Raikkonen getting his 'revenge'?

Revenge for what? Neither Hamilton nor McLaren have done anything to Kimi that would warrant revenge! The Spanish official gloats on the fact that Hamilton did not win the title!

I am sure the decent Spanish people are cringing at the comments made by this guy!

But of course - you know he will claim he was......wait for it........misquoted!

It's like the Nazi's excuse at the Nuremberg trials "I was only obeying orders", only with the Spanish it is "I was misquoted!"

[McLaren Fan]

More tripe from the Spanish. Alonso and Spain cry because there is no equality in the team and out comes the Spanish sports minister strongly insinuating that Alonso should have been given number one status! Slightly hypocritical. I wonder how many people know that Alonso behaved like a hermit from the day and hour he came to McLaren. How does he expect to have a close relationship with the team if his father is the only one he talks to. That fact is Alonso was beaten fair and square by a rookie and his already over-sized ego has taken a direct hit. Then, as if that weren't bad enough, he started crying like a baby, blackmailing the team, screwing up, etc.

[Ron Dennis]

Its bad enough when Alonso whines - but when a countries government comes out and whines in his favor......it beggars belief!

[ArtHowe]

Let's face it RD, the Spanish have been presented with a sporting hero, God knows that doesn't often happen in Spain. All of a sudden... he's a has been. He just hangs there around their communal neck, a dead albatross, a reminder of the Armada and all their other abyssmal failures, an embarrassment. The Spanish are fond of celebrating dead things, they devote festivals and public holidays to corpses. This is one of their major exports... Mexico et al. What could be more fitting than that their government should acknowledge and honour the entombment of the corpse of Alonso's reputation with an official communique? I expect this to be closely followed by an announcement that a public holiday is to be declared to mark so solemn an event... this will mean that the Spanish will have yet another day when they don't have to get out bed at the ungodly hour of 2pm to go to work.

[McLaren Fan]

[Ron Dennis]

The have good league football teams, Carlos Saintz and some good bike riders - they should act a little more dignified.

[McLaren Fan]

Their footballers are not exactly knights in shining armour. All a load diving cheaters.

[Ron Dennis]

yeah the Spanish cheat at soccer - like the Italian teams - a mere breath will send them sprawling to the ground in agony!

Look at that git in goal at the Celtic game!

[Dazza]

But it's not just Spanish footballers that dive, remember Jürgen Klinsmann?

Anyway, what did the Spanish expect? to see Alonso win the title every single year? it's hard enough to win 2 titles.

Regarding driver equality, Renault's Pat Symonds was quoted as saying that although he has always believed in it, he is beginning to change his mind, because it's getting more difficult to win championships whithout favouring one driver. Prost also suggested McLaren should have given Alonso No 1 status. It seems driver equality is no longer fashionable.

[raithrover]

You can always rely on politicians to be out of touch, badly informed, full of nonsense and providing pointless quotes in an attempt to score cheap points with voters. More so in Spain it seems.

[ArtHowe]

Yes Raith, as has been amply proven by McBlair, McBrown, McSalmond and all the other clueless Macs of that ilk who are currently destroying Britain... but I suppose that's off topic.

Ok... I McApologise. Back to ElBashing!

[7UpJordan]

But it's not just Spanish footballers that dive, remember Jürgen Klinsmann?

He invented diving, and now it's spread to English players as well like Everton's Andrew Johnson (only got Palace promoted in 2004 because of his diving and only got called up for England for his diving), Darren Huckerby and even some of our own players like Michael Tonge...