Bye Bye Alonso !

[Tazio]

If Alonso goes to McLaren/Honda , Dennis will not be there .
Gotta be part of the deal .

Why so Baggie? Both of them have more money than they know what to do with, and I think Fred's talent trumps any lingering grudge Ron may have. Personally I don't think either hold a grudge, this is business, and aparantly Ron has signed off on Fred.

McLaren is making a final push to convince Sebastian Vettel or Fernando Alonso to lead the team in its new Honda era, AUTOSPORT has learned.
Team chiefs Eric Boullier and Ron Dennis are focusing their efforts on securing the two highly-rated top Formula 1 stars as soon as they can.
Although both drivers are under contract for the immediate future - with Vettel committed at Red Bull until the end of 2015 and Alonso a year longer at Ferrari - that has not proved a turn-off for McLaren.

Plus I really think Ron wants another F1 title for McLaren while he is still among the living. It has been quite a while now, and I doubt he cares about trivial matters in his pursuit there of!!
JMHO Meat!

[ShiftingGears]

Well I wouldn't have expected Alonso to drive for McLaren after 2007. I also wouldn'tve expected Alonso driving for McLaren after this year - I understand he feels he needed a change but McLaren seems like a significant step down. I wonder if he is banking on the Honda engines being rockets.

[Hawkmoon]

I'm disappointed but I understand why he wants to leave. Ferrari really haven't held up their end of the bargain for most of Alonso's time at Maranello.

What I don't understand is a move to McLaren who are in worse shape than the Scuderia. Honda aren't guaranteed to produce a magic engine next year and even if they did, McLaren haven't made a decent chassis since 2008. Red Bull aren't an option having already announced that Kvyat will replace Vettel. Mercedes? Not likely, at least for 2015. I'm not really sure what Alonso hopes to gain by leaving Ferrari now.

[dj_bytedisaster]

I'm disappointed but I understand why he wants to leave. Ferrari really haven't held up their end of the bargain for most of Alonso's time at Maranello.

What I don't understand is a move to McLaren who are in worse shape than the Scuderia. Honda aren't guaranteed to produce a magic engine next year and even if they did, McLaren haven't made a decent chassis since 2008. Red Bull aren't an option having already announced that Kvyat will replace Vettel. Mercedes? Not likely, at least for 2015. I'm not really sure what Alonso hopes to gain by leaving Ferrari now.

He's recently started talks to acquire a cycling team. Could it be that he takes a sabbatical to get that going and comes back after knowing how good/bad Macca is? Other option might be a takeover of Lotus together with Briatore. Rumours about that have been around for some time, too.

[Mark]

The cycling team thing was over a year ago now and hasn't appeared to come to anything.

[jens]

I'm disappointed but I understand why he wants to leave. Ferrari really haven't held up their end of the bargain for most of Alonso's time at Maranello.

What I don't understand is a move to McLaren who are in worse shape than the Scuderia. Honda aren't guaranteed to produce a magic engine next year and even if they did, McLaren haven't made a decent chassis since 2008. Red Bull aren't an option having already announced that Kvyat will replace Vettel. Mercedes? Not likely, at least for 2015. I'm not really sure what Alonso hopes to gain by leaving Ferrari now.

Moving from Ferrari to McLaren doesn't seem to make much sense indeed. I have a suspicion Alonso has fallen out with the new Ferrari management. With LDM and Domenicali there weren't many problems, but once the leadership in Ferrari changed, automatically something changed with the Alonso situation too.

Alonso is a complicated personality, and has fallen out with teams before. So there is substance to the theory. But it is impossible to know, what exactly has happened behind the closed doors, because Alonso has parted ways with this new Ferrari management rather quickly after they took power in the team.

[janneppi]

It may very well be that the new bosses at Ferrari didn't really want Alonso to stay that badly. He's been there for what, five, six years without the team winning much. Any other top driver would have been under lot of criticism for those results(regardless of how bad the car is).

[zako85]

It may very well be that the new bosses at Ferrari didn't really want Alonso to stay that badly. He's been there for what, five, six years without the team winning much. Any other top driver would have been under lot of criticism for those results(regardless of how bad the car is).

Sounds like you haven't paid close attention to Ferrari's accomplishments in the past five seasons. Alonso's utter dominance over Ferrari's most recent world champion Kimi Raikkonen and his utter dominance over Ferrari's "almost a world champion by one point" Felipe Massa for five years should finally give you a hint just how good Alonso is. By now it is clear that if it was not for Alonso, all this time Ferrari would have been an ordinary midfield team whose main goal is to stay ahead of Force India or Sauber. Just try to imagine where Ferrari could have been if during 2010-2014 seasons, it was racing with Massa and Raikkonen. Alonso exposed both of them as good but relatively ordinary drivers. I think Ferrari's top managers know very well that they're losing an incredible talent. But what else can they do? Alonso has more money and Ferrari cars in his garage than what he knows what to do with. What he needs is an honest to god race car that can compete at the front, and Ferrari hasn't given that to him since 2010.

[airshifter]

I'm really not at all shocked.

Regardless of what Ferrari claims, they haven't delivered since Alonso has been back. Given a car good enough for even a shot at the title, chances are by now Fred would have another. He has been pushing Ferrari pigs well beyond what should be expected of the car for years, and by now I think the Ferrari title means less to Alonso, and a shot at another WDC means more to him.

TBH, I couldn't fault Alonso for leaving even if it was for a lesser brand than McLaren. Ferrari have failed him, and he has continued to provide 100% through the years of the bad cars.

And in the high stakes game of F1, I'm sure Alonso and Ron will figure it out. Ron needs good drivers, and regardless of their rocky past relationship, he knows Fred is the best out there right now.

The only question I have is if the Honda money will be enough to create another great car. They threw a lot of money into cars before the Brawn dominated for a single season, and really that was almost all just the proper exploiting of the diffuser rules. If they gave Fred a car like that, the season would be wrapped up early.

But in any case, we will see how good the car is. With Fred as the pilot, there will be little doubt what the car is capable of.

[janneppi]

By now it is clear that if it was not for Alonso, all this time Ferrari would have been an ordinary midfield team whose main goal is to stay ahead of Force India or Sauber. Just try to imagine where Ferrari could have been if during 2010-2014 seasons, it was racing with Massa and Raikkonen.

Judging from the average from 2007-9 anywhere from 1-5.

Alonso exposed both of them as good but relatively ordinary drivers. I think Ferrari's top managers know very well that they're losing an incredible talent. But what else can they do? Alonso has more money and Ferrari cars in his garage than what he knows what to do with. What he needs is an honest to god race car that can compete at the front, and Ferrari hasn't given that him him since 2010.

Maybe it's the team that lacks engineering talent, maybe it's the combination of Alonso and team that doesn't quite reach the top, or maybe it's Alonso's driving style that doesn't result in a winning car the same way RedBull has done over the previous years.
Now they are apparently getting a 27-year old 4 time WDC to replace a 33- year old 2 time wdc who's won a championship 8 years ago.

Don't get me wrong, IMO Alonso is a very good driver, but it's really a long time for a one of the most respected drivers in decades not to win anything.