Former Formula 1 world champion Niki Lauda has spoken out against Fernando Alonso and said that McLaren should threaten to sue the current world champion to help him snap out of his current negative attitude towards the team.
Alonso s gripes with his team have been made very public and tensions within the team are still said to be running high. The FIA is so concerned over the internal state of the team that they have appointed an internal observer to ensure both drivers are given the same treatment at this weekend s last race of the season in Brazil.
During the season, Alonso purportedly blocked his own team-mate during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, believing that Hamilton had disobeyed team instructions earlier in the session. After the fiasco, Dennis and Alonso had a heated exchange which ended with Alonso threatening to go to the FIA with crucial spygate evidence unless he was given special preference within the team a threat which he later retracted.
Speaking to the media, he has publicly criticised his team as well as hinting that relationships within the team are not good. He has also suggested that someone in his team was sabotaging his title efforts by giving him incorrect tyre pressures during qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix.
Niki Lauda is shocked by Alonso s behaviour and has struggled to understand the Spaniard s motives. “It s unbelievable,†Lauda said. “How can he do this? I had my times with Ron he s not an easy man but I always knew the limit. I cannot damage my sponsors and I cannot damage the people who pay my money.
“I have never in my life seen a guy behaving the way is because, it my upbringing, there has to be a minimum respect. If you are employed by someone who pays your salary, you have to behave according to what they expect you to do, which is even written in a contract.
“I was amazed when he said he tested the car, found six tenths, and so why is he not number one? F*** – he knew he was never number one! There were two drivers signed up and that was it. I heard that when Ron walks into the building and says hello, the boss to his employee, he looks away.
“This is not normal education maybe in Spain they don t educate themselves in these villages where he comes from, but all these things I do not understand. “In fact, I wonder how he was able to win two world championships with this attitude.
“If I was in charge of McLaren, the first thing I would do in Brazil, at the last race, I would give him a court case for damage he has done to McLaren and Mercedes because in every contract, we all know there are certain rules that if you get paid by someone, you cannot say it is sh**.
“So if Mercedes can prove that people will not buy a car because of Alonso s attitude, there is damage. So the first thing I would do to get things straight is say, I am suing you for so many dollars. Then let s sit down you have a contract my guy and you drive. â€
You must get his head straight. You know, sometimes sportsmen aren t very intelligent – let s put it this way – and maybe have wrong managers. They get driven by all these crazy ideas it s not my fault, it s their fault and I can do what I want, and f*** them, and Ron, I don t even say hello.
“But if you face him with a court case for damage and tell him he has to fulfil his contract, suddenly maybe his brain gets a little bit of a shock and maybe then you can bring him back, because that is really what the outcome should be. But as it is developing at the moment, I think it s really tough to bring him out of his mental state.â€
