Fernando Alonso - Time for a move on again?

Alonso’s Formula 1 career so far can be segregated into three major stages:

Renault (2003-06):-The team was already on a surge when he joined them in 2003 and it was just a case of pouncing on to the opportunity he had got with a midfield running team. He rightfully earned his No.1 status in the team and at the time he won the 2006 world title, it almost seemed like a team and a car that he had forged around himself.

Fernando Alonso celebrates his victory with Team principal Flavio Briatore in Monaco, 2006.

McLaren (2007):- He went to Mclaren expecting to get same sort of favours he had had at Renault and why blame him for his perspective. Very few people would have expected Lewis Hamilton to pose the serious challenge for the title in his rookie season.

“It was very simple- Alonso didn’t expect Hamilton to be that competitive in his first year. He told me at the beginning that it was my decision to sign a rookie like Hamilton, but that it could cost me the Constructors’ Championship. Fernando was calculating everything, but not that Lewis would challenge him.”- Ron Dennis after Alonso left Mclaren.

It would be fair to say that he gained a lot from his stay at Mclaren and it did turn out to be a career altering season. More importantly what he must have learned is that the atmosphere at McLaren was never something that suited him as a person or as a driver.

Ferrari (2010-Present):- He did fulfil his father’s dream of seeing him driving for Ferrari at some point in his career. As things stand he does seem to have struck the balance when it comes to the bonding he has with the team. But the truth remains that he has just not got a car that is truly worthy of fighting for the championship.

Possible Red Bull move?

“It was good for my career to take that step of joining Mclaren. I learned how to work with a team and also to withstand the media pressure. The difficulties I had were coming from the team and media. Now I am prepared for everything in Formula 1, and also in life.”- Alonso on his time at Mclaren.

Lesson Leanrt?

An inference that could be possibly drawn from the above three stints is that he was most successful when he had a good car engineered around him, and, more importantly, a team that backed him completely.

He has never got the combination of the two ever since he left Renault in 2006. So, should he be expecting something similar when he goes to Red Bull? Obviously no. He would be aware of the fact that he’ll be entering ‘Sebastian’s team’, and beating him in such a scenario would be an uphill task. Can he accomplish what Button did to Hamilton at McLaren? Or will it be a 2007 all over again? Only time will tell.