Blinky McSquinty wrote:
FormulaFun wrote:
He didn't have any digs at Seb, in fact he praised Seb for being infallible in 2011, how can that be anything but a compliment, these so called 'digs' are non-existent as ashley has said above me and made it abundantly clear that he wasn't saying it to make people think anything and was merely putting forward his opinion that he considers Hamilton his main rival
You see, Ashley described this very situation, where fans fill in the blanks. Alonso never said that Hamilton was his main rival, only that Hamilton was the strongest driver.
Oh but he was also directly quoted as saying about Vettel: "I didn't say he's not the strongest driver" Ashley tried to describe the situation, but she admitted that his comments made no sense and rather than try to make sense of them, she just ignored the nonsensical part and focused on the praise. That does not take the onus off of Alonso and her statement does not support your point either.
Others speak of language barriers (i.e., maybe Alonso doesn't understand that "strongest" is the final superlative - so what he actually meant was "strong" and there can be two or more "strong" drivers). True, but those "fans" are also "filling in the blanks" so again, Ashleys reasoning fails.
Alonso gave Seb a couple of backhanded compliments - which is not the opposite of badmouthing. Perhaps you can call it badmouthing light, but he knows what he is doing. A contradicting compliment (Hamilton is the strongest, oh - I didn't say Vettel wasn't the strongest) and false praise (he made no mistakes in the wet - except his biggest mistake from the lead and his biggest accident in F1 to date) does not serve as "praise" - sorry.
Furthermore, this is one statement. Alonso's history of negative remarks concerning Seb speaks for itself. If he was trying to turn over a new leaf, he failed.
But he isn't. He's just onto more games. You'll see.
nike2die4 wrote:
it does come off as Seb fans get disgruntled that Alonso doesn't mention Vettel's name.....it's as if Alonso isn't entitled to his opinion,the guy has been saying the same thing since the end of the 2010 season,i don't know why it's so hard for some to accept that's how genuinely feels,they always have to put on their Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson hats to dissect everything and pass it off as "mind games".
Actually, it comes off as if some are a bit desperate to see Alonso's words of praise as genuine, and that it means a lot to them that he praise their driver of choice. They feel that if Alonso is playing games with Vettel, his statements about Hamilton just might not be genuine.
I can relate, but sadly, it is all just games for Alonso. Just like Monty publicly valuing Vettel over Hamilton. Their Vettel quest might be sincere, but most of the public comments: just games games games.
Have you heard Alonso's latest sincere statement? "Massa is one of the best drivers in the world and I will support him in a title bid if necessary"

If nothing else, el Nano keeps us entertained.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/105186probably only in your head.