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A former Ferrari chief has pointed the finger at departed Fernando Alonso following the Maranello team's recent troubles. Legendary designer Mauro Forghieri, a key Ferrari figure from the 60s to the 80s, said the Spaniard cannot simply blame the team for his failure to add another title to his tally since joining in 2010.
"If for three or four seasons in a row the car has the same problems, that means you are not developing in the right directions, and it's the driver's fault," Forghieri told the Italian website diariodelweb.it. Alonso, widely credited as the best driver in F1 today, has returned to McLaren for 2015, despite clashing badly with the British team in 2007.
McLaren's acting CEO Jonathan Neale told the Mirror: "There has been a lot of speculation about our relationship with Fernando last time but we can confidently put that to one side and say we are just here to get the job done."
Forghieri, however, is less confident about Alonso's place within a team. "Alonso is a great race driver," he said, "but not a good test driver. Each year, when he shook the car down, he said everything was perfect, then after a few months he began complaining. A real champion is the one who is able to manage the team."
He said Alonso therefore does not compare with Ferrari's last great driver. "Ferrari's problem in the last few seasons," claimed Forghieri, "was not having another Schumacher." (GMM)
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
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Replies (2)
Login to replyBtwnDitches
Posts: 204
What a bunch of B.S.!! There's no way that Alonso could run that team (and take the blame for Ferrari's demise) with the company management and associated grid leadership it had during the years that he struggled to win the driver's championship. Giving cars a thumbs-up after a few dozen test laps does not make drivers subsequently responsible for 20-race deliveries of performance and durability. Last year was a total flop for Ferrari, not because of Alonso, but beginning with car and power unit design miscalculations. Just another backstabber dusted off by current Ferrari management to try and relocate blame. "Et tu, Brute?"
TomV
Posts: 1
I agree with btwnditches. It has been Ferrari's fault all along. The team showed it had problems not understanding racing by their awful calls for pit stops or not to stop that cost the team wins. That is not the drivers fault, it just showed that Ferrari's management was not up to doing their job.