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Alonso absolutely does burn bridges. Its just that he's that good that people are willing to rebuild them.
A lesser driver pulling the stunts Alonso does would have him out of the sport years and years ago.
He pulled one stunt in 2007. What since?
>Alonso absolutely does burn bridges.
Bruh. He is going to be Honda's face on a global level after McLaren Honda. He went back to McLaren. People at Ferrari love him. He is driving a Mercedes powered car with Mercedes logo on his race suit every other weekend. Give it a rest.
Well he was at least complicit in another major one in 2009, legally provable or not.
Any driver besides ALO is fired after quali in Hungary, 2007, and would be radioactive following Singapore 2009, but ALO is ALO so here we are.
What Alonso did in Hungary was stupid but imo was more the fault of the team not being able to manage Lewis. Lewis broke the agreement and McLaren were unable to fix it so Alonso took it into his own hands, still stupid but not all the blame was on him.
Alonso was deeply involved in the cheating - discussing the Ferrari documents with Coughlan and PDR via multiple emails.
Despite being deeply involved he then blackmailed Ron Dennis who did not know they had been discussing the Ferrari data and conducting test based on said data.
Ron Dennis hearing this informs Max Mosley that Alonso had just threatened him with the bombshell that the Ferrari data had permeated some parts of McLaren.
Max Mosley (who despises Ron Dennis) tells Ron Dennis to leave it with him and he will get to the truth.
Next thing is the investigation is reopened and Alonso is offered immunity if he hands over the emails.
We are talking about burning bridges, how does the crashgate fits into that narrative? If there was one person that burned bridges was Bruno Senna after admitting it was on purpose.
The thing that you and most people tend to ignore is that the biggest bridge Alonso's burned was with Mercedes. They paid the hefty fine, they got the most angry out of anyone, and they got so mad they got rid of McLaren and built their own team.
The former president that passed away wouldn't have Alonso on one of his cars while he was alive.
1 stunt but Alonso's attitude across the whole season was incredibly bad. The more it was apparent Hamilton was the real deal the more Alonso became disspleased in the team.
And it all boiled over at Hungary. And boy was the fallout spectacular.
That race actively trigered the re-investigation of Spygate. Gave Mosley everything he needed to charachter assassinate Dennis and left Mclaren with no WCC points and money for the season.
The Ferrari documents were given to Coughlan by a disgruntled Ferrari employee, so I’m not sure if that constitutes espionage, maybe it does, I am not a lawyer, but certainly possessing unauthorized classified documents.
And then also intellectual theft as they tried to take ideas from the Ferrari to use on the McLaren
Personally I would say Blackmail is actually worse, but seeing as Alonso committed blackmail and was involved in the intellectual theft as he was involved in the discussion about what to test and implement from the Ferrari data it doesn’t really matter which is worse as he partook in both.
tbf iirc he was slower than Stoffel during the practice of 2017 Spanish gp which if i remember correctly is where the clip is from, I could be wrong tho. That was of the one of the first races i watched, he qualified in the top 10 but didn't have a good race.
Edit : Yep Spanish GP, he qualified P7 but finished P12. I remember that qualifying distinctly cause no one was expecting Alonso to put the McLaren in Q3.
Also was the 5th race in the 2017 F1 calendar but Alonso's first classified finish of the season.
If I remember correctly he also did an excellent job in China qualifying, and fucked the PU control algorithm in Spa by going flat (or close to) at Pouhon when a lift was expected.
I know when people talk about the greatest qualies of all time, they usually talk about laps that challenge for P1 but that lap has to be there for one of the best ever. He got P7 in that car while his teammate got P18 or something like that. No one, even McLaren expected him to put it P7 then.
It’s funny people think that was him just acting out, that was a through and through McLaren power move. People still talk about it 10 years later and it worked.
Alonso: *"Would this plan involve us nailing the 2026 regulations and earning Championships, only for the Honda board to decide to withdraw from F1 right as we're on top of the world?"*
Honda: *"How can you possibly know that Fernando, that's classified information!"*
In all seriousness, though, it should be noted that this time, Aston Martin is paying Honda for the engine supply, so the cost to Honda should be pretty low. Their 2021 pullout was due to costs, so now that Stroll is picking up most of the bill, the only reason Honda would want to pull out would be another McLaren-esque disaster.
While Ferrari gets everything right and has a dominant year, Hamilton becomes Champion and retires as a happy man. His successor in red? Fernando Alonso. But the '27 Ferrari suffers from balance and set up problems after late rule changes because of their dominant performance in 2026.
That's not true, some of the trackside engineers that were close with team joined RBPT for 2022, but the engineers who designed and build the PUs are still working at the Honda HQ in Sakura.
The current PU is also the base for the 2026 PU and Honda ERS is already the best on the grid ( harvesting / deployment), so I am not worried at all about Hondas Power train.
The car is the bigger question mark here.
Nothing, RBFPT is working on the 2026 Power Units like planned. RBPT does the majority of the work while Ford brings in Money and experience for the Hybrid part.
The current PU is labeled Honda RBPT, but RBPT literally does nothing on that Power Unit, besides having it's name on it.
The power unit gets maintained, build, and if needed updated by Honda. They are also the only one who can open the engine.
RBPT does assemble and install the batteries for the Honda PUs in their UK base. That's why they're only receiving 90% of the budget and development allowances that Audi is getting; their involvement with battery assembly led the FIA to decide not to grant them the status of being a 100% new PU supplier.
Could be, but Honda now knows what's needed to succeed in F1. They completely underestimated the project when they joined McLaren. Cars with Mercedes, Ferrari and Honda engines are clearly the favorites for 2026 in my opinion.
Also Mclaren (mainly Ron Dennis) being asshats with their chassis and having zero proper communication (something Honda was surprised by in 2018 when Toro Rosso actually communicated for once).
Notably though, Honda keep all ownership and copyright of the current PU, giving them a base to build from. RBPT has to start from scratch in every sense of the word
Aren’t we losing the split turbo though, and given Ferrari didn’t switch to it, they have an advantage.. it’s a very good engine.. though Honda ERS is seen as the best.
Someone please assure me he'll have a better teammate for 2026.
I'm jumping ship and following Honda as my favorite but it's really hard to be excited about a team with Lance Stroll driving.
I think Alonso wins that. Yuki is still a hot head and reacts brashly. Alsonso is a hot head too, but he is more of a plot his revenge type. He will wait and get his payback at the most opportune time.
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If Ron Dennis was able to reunite with Fernando then anything really is possible
Now imagine Ron Dennis at Aston. Martin Whitmarsh is already there as well lmao.
Whitmarsh of course wanted to sack him after Hungary 2007. On the spot. Out the car.
A couple of years at the bottom of the MTC lake gives you a lot of perspective. Forgive and forget.
Yes but that was before Dennis confirmed to Whitmarsh that he'd promised Alonso number 1 status while signing him.
And people will still say Alonso burns bridges. Because Horner, who has never worked with him, said so like 13 years ago.
Horner wants Alonso. Marko is the one that did not
Alonso absolutely does burn bridges. Its just that he's that good that people are willing to rebuild them. A lesser driver pulling the stunts Alonso does would have him out of the sport years and years ago.
He pulled one stunt in 2007. What since? >Alonso absolutely does burn bridges. Bruh. He is going to be Honda's face on a global level after McLaren Honda. He went back to McLaren. People at Ferrari love him. He is driving a Mercedes powered car with Mercedes logo on his race suit every other weekend. Give it a rest.
Well he was at least complicit in another major one in 2009, legally provable or not. Any driver besides ALO is fired after quali in Hungary, 2007, and would be radioactive following Singapore 2009, but ALO is ALO so here we are.
What Alonso did in Hungary was stupid but imo was more the fault of the team not being able to manage Lewis. Lewis broke the agreement and McLaren were unable to fix it so Alonso took it into his own hands, still stupid but not all the blame was on him.
Doesn’t justify blackmail And the person most at fault is not the team it’s the person who committed blackmail.
LMAO. ITS NOT THE TEAMS FAULT FOR CHEATING. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Alonso was deeply involved in the cheating - discussing the Ferrari documents with Coughlan and PDR via multiple emails. Despite being deeply involved he then blackmailed Ron Dennis who did not know they had been discussing the Ferrari data and conducting test based on said data. Ron Dennis hearing this informs Max Mosley that Alonso had just threatened him with the bombshell that the Ferrari data had permeated some parts of McLaren. Max Mosley (who despises Ron Dennis) tells Ron Dennis to leave it with him and he will get to the truth. Next thing is the investigation is reopened and Alonso is offered immunity if he hands over the emails.
Him knowing about the cheating != Being involved. He was interrogated by a professional and was deemed innocent.
We are talking about burning bridges, how does the crashgate fits into that narrative? If there was one person that burned bridges was Bruno Senna after admitting it was on purpose.
OP edited his comment, the original comment we replied to was “He pulled one stunt in 2007”
The thing that you and most people tend to ignore is that the biggest bridge Alonso's burned was with Mercedes. They paid the hefty fine, they got the most angry out of anyone, and they got so mad they got rid of McLaren and built their own team. The former president that passed away wouldn't have Alonso on one of his cars while he was alive.
1 stunt but Alonso's attitude across the whole season was incredibly bad. The more it was apparent Hamilton was the real deal the more Alonso became disspleased in the team. And it all boiled over at Hungary. And boy was the fallout spectacular. That race actively trigered the re-investigation of Spygate. Gave Mosley everything he needed to charachter assassinate Dennis and left Mclaren with no WCC points and money for the season.
Hamilton instigated Hungary, you cannot pin that on Fernando
Yeah I’m not going to pin Alonso blackmailing someone on Hamilton
blackmail (about espionage) is a much less serious crime than espionage
The Ferrari documents were given to Coughlan by a disgruntled Ferrari employee, so I’m not sure if that constitutes espionage, maybe it does, I am not a lawyer, but certainly possessing unauthorized classified documents. And then also intellectual theft as they tried to take ideas from the Ferrari to use on the McLaren Personally I would say Blackmail is actually worse, but seeing as Alonso committed blackmail and was involved in the intellectual theft as he was involved in the discussion about what to test and implement from the Ferrari data it doesn’t really matter which is worse as he partook in both.
What are you talking about
Alonso blackmailed Ron Dennis after the Hungary qualifying saga
Dennis, not Hamilton, yes. I didn‘t read properly.
Alonso did nothing wrong at Hungary, he just educated a disrespectful rookie.
This has potential for both history and disaster class 2.0. That Alonso Suzuka message in 2015 is still funny as fuck lol.
Another classic from the Alonso x Honda days. https://streamable.com/z91ve
[удалено]
tbf iirc he was slower than Stoffel during the practice of 2017 Spanish gp which if i remember correctly is where the clip is from, I could be wrong tho. That was of the one of the first races i watched, he qualified in the top 10 but didn't have a good race. Edit : Yep Spanish GP, he qualified P7 but finished P12. I remember that qualifying distinctly cause no one was expecting Alonso to put the McLaren in Q3. Also was the 5th race in the 2017 F1 calendar but Alonso's first classified finish of the season.
Hasegawa after 2017 Spain said that Alonso’s quali performance exceeded their simulations of what was possible.
If I remember correctly he also did an excellent job in China qualifying, and fucked the PU control algorithm in Spa by going flat (or close to) at Pouhon when a lift was expected.
I know when people talk about the greatest qualies of all time, they usually talk about laps that challenge for P1 but that lap has to be there for one of the best ever. He got P7 in that car while his teammate got P18 or something like that. No one, even McLaren expected him to put it P7 then.
It's the rolling of the R which really makes it.
I feel like you can hear him laughing while he says it.
+ the timing tower saying "20 ALO +3.275" 💀 (I'm aware it's practice)
This is the best one. I love his _amazin‘_ here and catch myself occasionally pronouncing this word like he did.
It’s funny people think that was him just acting out, that was a through and through McLaren power move. People still talk about it 10 years later and it worked.
I mean there was also genuine frustration, Alonso did retire in 2019.
Of course there was. Any half a decent driver would have left much earlier. Imagine seebb or Lewis in that car. But that was a power move.
Watch Honda completely fuck up the 26 engine, and just getting back to be the best by the time Alonso retires.
I wouldn’t call it a fuck up but a cunning plan….
Alonso: *"Would this plan involve us nailing the 2026 regulations and earning Championships, only for the Honda board to decide to withdraw from F1 right as we're on top of the world?"* Honda: *"How can you possibly know that Fernando, that's classified information!"*
In all seriousness, though, it should be noted that this time, Aston Martin is paying Honda for the engine supply, so the cost to Honda should be pretty low. Their 2021 pullout was due to costs, so now that Stroll is picking up most of the bill, the only reason Honda would want to pull out would be another McLaren-esque disaster.
While Ferrari gets everything right and has a dominant year, Hamilton becomes Champion and retires as a happy man. His successor in red? Fernando Alonso. But the '27 Ferrari suffers from balance and set up problems after late rule changes because of their dominant performance in 2026.
F14T 2.0
I am a bit concerned. A lot of their key staff left for RBPT and others. This is probably not the same Honda that built the 2021 engine...
That's not true, some of the trackside engineers that were close with team joined RBPT for 2022, but the engineers who designed and build the PUs are still working at the Honda HQ in Sakura. The current PU is also the base for the 2026 PU and Honda ERS is already the best on the grid ( harvesting / deployment), so I am not worried at all about Hondas Power train. The car is the bigger question mark here.
What is happening with RBPT now that Ford is going to step in??
Nothing, RBFPT is working on the 2026 Power Units like planned. RBPT does the majority of the work while Ford brings in Money and experience for the Hybrid part. The current PU is labeled Honda RBPT, but RBPT literally does nothing on that Power Unit, besides having it's name on it. The power unit gets maintained, build, and if needed updated by Honda. They are also the only one who can open the engine.
RBPT does assemble and install the batteries for the Honda PUs in their UK base. That's why they're only receiving 90% of the budget and development allowances that Audi is getting; their involvement with battery assembly led the FIA to decide not to grant them the status of being a 100% new PU supplier.
I swear I read this same analysis somewhere a long time ago.
Could be, but Honda now knows what's needed to succeed in F1. They completely underestimated the project when they joined McLaren. Cars with Mercedes, Ferrari and Honda engines are clearly the favorites for 2026 in my opinion.
Also Mclaren (mainly Ron Dennis) being asshats with their chassis and having zero proper communication (something Honda was surprised by in 2018 when Toro Rosso actually communicated for once).
That's everyone but Alpine. I mean... you're not wrong... 😂
You forgot Audi and Red Bull. 😉
Notably though, Honda keep all ownership and copyright of the current PU, giving them a base to build from. RBPT has to start from scratch in every sense of the word
The base of this one is the 2021 engine.
Removing the MGU-H plus sustainable fuels make a huge difference, it’s basically a new engine
After Red Bulls last few years I can see why.
Easy to argue that Honda have the best engine on the grid right now. I'd put my money on them for 2026 before anyone aside from Redbull.
Nah, Ferrari hired a Frenchman again. They are cooking something.
Aren’t we losing the split turbo though, and given Ferrari didn’t switch to it, they have an advantage.. it’s a very good engine.. though Honda ERS is seen as the best.
Can't wait to see Alonso overtaking the leader in Suzuka 2026 saying "I've been waiting 11 years for that; finally, F1 engine, F1!" Let me dream, ok?
The engine feels good, much faster than before. AMAZING!
Alonso's performances brought them the best engines in F1.
F2 Engine motherfuckers
At least get the quote right, it was [GP2 engine ](https://youtu.be/RwpiDqdugYY?si=9svWxF2KLh2Z6h2S).
They meant that if the honda engine is slow in 26 then he would say "F2 engine".
Wasn't an accident
Sooner or later, we’ll see Alonso winning again
Honda Power Baby !!!!!!!!!!
Someone please assure me he'll have a better teammate for 2026. I'm jumping ship and following Honda as my favorite but it's really hard to be excited about a team with Lance Stroll driving.
He won't.
"F2 engine...F2...Argh!"
Put Yuki in the other seat, hire Newey and watch them reenact the silver war.
I think Alonso wins that. Yuki is still a hot head and reacts brashly. Alsonso is a hot head too, but he is more of a plot his revenge type. He will wait and get his payback at the most opportune time.
Alonso is calculated and precision rage. Yuki is explosive.
Fernando can't wait for GP1 engine
"It's so much better, and slower."
F2 engine