Fernando Alonso rebuked by Ferrari chief Di Montezemelo

[REDARMYSOJA]

Very silly from Ferrari to post that on their own website, baffling what they expected to achieve.

Did not expect that from Luca.......at a time when Horner is trying to distabilise the Scuderia.
He should have calmed down and talked to Alonso behind closed doors.

There must be more going on here than we know for Luca to say this publicly. Perhaps Alonso wasn't the only target for this.

[REDARMYSOJA]

Giving everyone a knife is weirder. Someone's been slipping hallucinogens in Luca's coffee.

Maybe that's a message to commit harakiri if the season fails.

[ManFromMilan]

As far as i can read online all Alonso said was " i wish for a faster car", when asked what he wanted for his birthday. Not even a rivals car or nothing as controversial.

All seems very strange indeed.

[Suzie]

To be fair we don't know what's been said behind closed doors, for all we know this is about more than any post-race comments. Because I really don't think what Fernando said warrants an entire news item about Luca's opinions on it.

[mandzipop]

Giving everyone a knife is weirder. Someone's been slipping hallucinogens in Luca's coffee.

Maybe it is symbolic, for instance being stabbed in the back. Or being prepared to stab someone in the back.

[Suzie]

Maybe it is symbolic, for instance being stabbed in the back. Or being prepared to stab someone in the back.

Yes I gathered there was symbolism to it

[brembo man]

The knife means "cut the excuses ", Forget about who has the best car. " Win the next races no matter what. " An offer Alonso can't refuse.

[killer]

The knife means "cut the excuses "

Is this cultural? A press release has the knife to mean what a bit would, as in "take the bit in one's teeth". Interesting if it is.

But yeah there is more to Luca's message than us on the outside can ever know.

[Hornet]

Ferrari does not like being insulted publicly by its drivers.... Alain Prost comes to mind....

I don't see anyone insulting the team. Alonso just candidly said he'd like a fast car like the rivals have. I saw a comment elsewhere on this which I totally agree with, it says it IS in the interest of the team to provide their drivers with the fastest car. At the end of the day, everyone in the team wishes for a car as fast if not faster than what the rivals have. Or at least they should I hope.

As far as saying we're not fast enough, Ferrari have already admitted that. Stefano, Pat Fry have all said we were not fast enough, we lost performance even as Stefano himself said.

[Kingdom Hearts]

Very silly from Ferrari to post that on their own website, baffling what they expected to achieve.

I agree, nothing good will come from this, the stupid rumor about Fernando's manager on the RB motorhome could have been easily fixed, now between that, the performance of the car and Montezemolo's words, is a big snowball that will keep rolling all summer long.

[medeni73]

So LDM gave knives to engineers as a gift...After Spa and Monza we should expect horse heads in beds and after that, well, some of them just might get nice aerodynamical cement shoes...:)

[Greig]

I wonder if they had Ferrari logo's on the knives or just cheap Aldi ones or something?

[RedRebel40]

I wonder if they had Ferrari logo's on the knives or just cheap Aldi ones or something?

hahaha, he should send a horse head to their homes, a knive is a bit too 'weak'.

[Grillo]

The knife: there's an idiom in Spanish and Italian that says "con el cuchillo entre los dientes" and it applies to a situation that you have to do something extremely focused and giving your all to success (originally in a real battle that you hold a knife with the teeth so you have it ready to use it against the enemy). It's quite common to hear it in sports journalism in a tough match.

That's why Montezemolo gave a knife to every Ferrari member.

Funnily enough I think Alonso always race "con el cuchillo entre los dientes".

[wisepie]

The knife: there's an idiom in Spanish and Italian that says "con el cuchillo entre los dientes" and it applies to a situation that have to do something extremely focused and giving your all to success (originally in a real battle that you hold a knife with the teeth so you have it ready to use it against the enemy). It's quite common to hear it in sports journalism in a tough match.

That's why Montezemolo gave a knife to every Ferrari member.

Funnily enough I think Alonso always race "con el cuchillo entre los dientes".

At last, someone who probably understands the significance of the knife gesture! I think we need to take most of this discussion with a pinch of salt and accept it at face value.....a kick up the bottom for one and all.

[Fiondella]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/23495111

Ferrari have revealed that Fernando Alonso has been admonished by the company's president.

The team said Luca Di Montezemolo phoned the driver on Monday to wish him a happy birthday but also "tweaked his ear" for his "latest comments".

Play mediaAlonso coy on Red Bull rumours
Ferrari have not revealed which remarks by Alonso, 32, upset Di Montezemolo.

But when he was asked what birthday present he would like after finishing fifth in Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix, Alonso replied: "Someone else's car."

A Ferrari statement said Alonso was reminded by Di Montezemolo that "all the great champions who have driven for Ferrari have always been asked to put the interests of the team above their own".

According to the statement, Di Montezemolo also insisted that "this is the moment to stay calm, avoid polemics and show humility and determination in making one's own contribution, standing alongside the team and its people both at the track and outside it".

It also revealed that Di Montezemolo was referring to Alonso when he told a team meeting on Monday that "there is a need to close ranks, without giving in to rash outbursts that, while understandable in the immediate aftermath of a bad result, are no use to anyone".

It is highly unusual for Ferrari to reveal its internal dealings in such a manner and it emphasises Di Montezemolo's strength of feeling about the situation.

The statement comes a day after it emerged Alonso's manager had had a meeting with Red Bull team boss Christian Horner over the Hungarian GP weekend.

Sources say Alonso's manager, Luis Garcia Abad, told Horner that the Spaniard was potentially available to partner Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull next year and would like the opportunity to do so.

Analysis
Andrew Benson
on Alonso & Ferrari "Ferrari president Luca Di Montezemolo is playing a dangerous game in publicly admonishing Fernando Alonso.

"The Spaniard has carried Ferrari on his back for the last four seasons, performing miracles in an uncompetitive car. So it is understandable if he is frustrated, even if his manager meeting Red Bull's team boss Christian Horner in Hungary was probably not the most sensible idea.

"Di Montezemolo's actions are unlikely to sit well with Alonso, a proud man and truly great driver.

"How will this end? Will everyone calm down and accept that, for all their current problems, Alonso and Ferrari are probably in the best place they can be? Or will it turn sour, in the way Alonso's relationship with McLaren did six years ago?"
Alonso, who lies third in the drivers' championship, 39 points behind leader Vettel, insisted after the race that he was "very happy" at Ferrari.

Asked whether his representative had approached Red Bull, Alonso said: "I don't think so. Not that I know."

Abad told BBC Sport there had been "no discussions" with Horner.

The Ferrari statement will do little to quell the impression that all is not well between Ferrari and their star driver.

Sources close to Ferrari say the team are not entirely convinced Alonso always gets the best out the car in qualifying, while those close to Alonso say he feels he is constantly having to push to the absolute maximum to make up for an uncompetitive car.

Ferrari's admission that Di Montezemolo is unhappy with Alonso's public behaviour came on the same day that the team confirmed the signing of former Lotus technical director James Allison to lead their design department, with Pat Fry moving to a new job as director of engineering.

Allison, who is one of F1's most highly regarded design engineers, joined Ferrari with the explicit approval of Alonso.

The two worked together at Renault when Alonso won his back-to-back titles in 2005 and 2006, when Allison was deputy technical director.

Prior to that, he worked at Ferrari for five years during the early 2000s, when they dominated the sport with Michael Schumacher.

[Greig]

Have moved the posts discussing this from the Hungarian GP thread to this new thread.

[F2002]

The president may have over reacted, but then again, don't tell Ferrari that you'd rather have someone else's car!

[Ste]

That post by Benson is ridiculous. I've been speaking to him on Twitter about it all morning.

The exact words Alonso uttered were " la macchina degli altri.". Which, to be fair, can be translated or interpreted in a number of ways. However, they have of course selected the one that people would interpret as "I want to move" or "I want to have a different car" rather than simply "a car as quick as theirs" as it clearly should've been.

Unfortunately, Benson is just after as many article reads as he can get - obviously - it's a shame he gets those by writing deliberately misleading articles.

[Grillo]

Red Bull is negotiating with Raikkonen and he is asking for a huge amount of money to join Red Bull so they're propagating that rumour that says Alonso wants to join them, it's a message to Raikkonen. I doubt Alonso wants to leave Ferrari but I'm quite sure he does not want to join Red Bull where he knows he would not be happy whatsoever even if he wins the championship.

[BigGar32]

Am not impressed that Ferrari have put this on their own website. Having said that, I'm also not impressed with Alonso "indirectly" having a go at the team in public.

Just hope that it's silly season and that we can move on from this and sort the car out for Spa!

[tifosi1993]

They are playing with media...

[Hermann]

As far as i can read online all Alonso said was " i wish for a faster car", when asked what he wanted for his birthday. Not even a rivals car or nothing as controversial.

All seems very strange indeed.

That is what i understood as well. No idea whats so 'insulting' about it, everyone in the Ferrari team would like to have a faster car.

[impactX]

Wish both Fernando and Luca handled the situation better.

[Kingdom Hearts]

That post by Benson is ridiculous. I've been speaking to him on Twitter about it all morning.

The exact words Alonso uttered were " la macchina degli altri.". Which, to be fair, can be translated or interpreted in a number of ways. However, they have of course selected the one that people would interpret as "I want to move" or "I want to have a different car" rather than simply "a car as quick as theirs" as it clearly should've been.

Unfortunately, Benson is just after as many article reads as he can get - obviously - it's a shame he gets those by writing deliberately misleading articles.

Thanks for this, can you translate an interview from Italian properly, I mean without a translator?, the interview of the " la macchina degli altri." quote has a lot of info.

[Ste]

Thanks for this, can you translate an interview from Italian properly, I mean without a translator?, the interview of the " la macchina degli altri." quote has a lot of info.

It can be translated as:

"someone else's car"
"the car the others have"
"the other guys' cars"

Pretty obvious what he meant!

[F2002]

It can be translated as:

"someone else's car"
"the car the others have"
"the other guys' cars"

Pretty obvious what he meant!

Re-reading this, and with a fairly good background of Italian, it sounds more like a joke to me than anything particularly offensive towards the team.

Let's not forget the context: driver just finishing fifth after another long struggle, championship deficit increased, no longer in second place, Hamilton wins first race with Mercedes after only a few races, etc. etc.

Montezemolo has a duty to keep things in check, at the same time, he has been promising a car "that will win from the first race" for four years now.

[Ste]

A tweet from someone else:

According to sources Vettel would "switch" seats with Ferrari if Alonso were to move to RB. Vettel's move to SF has long been expected F1

When will they stop!!

We need a Samurai quote from Alonso right about now...

[theforce]

Give Fernando a car worth fighting the front runners and he'll get the job done. Other than that...

[ntukza]

That post by Benson is ridiculous. I've been speaking to him on Twitter about it all morning.

The exact words Alonso uttered were " la macchina degli altri.". Which, to be fair, can be translated or interpreted in a number of ways. However, they have of course selected the one that people would interpret as "I want to move" or "I want to have a different car" rather than simply "a car as quick as theirs" as it clearly should've been.

Unfortunately, Benson is just after as many article reads as he can get - obviously - it's a shame he gets those by writing deliberately misleading articles.

Whether or not Benson misinterpritted Alonso's comment, LDM still admonished him for it and I think that's more damning than Benson's misinterpritation.