planetf1.com

Hello everyone!!

I 've been lurking for a long time and finally have decided to put my first post, and

I wanted to do it in the official thread of the driver I support.

I am a strange kind of fan though...because I have McLaren as my favorite team (from back in the 80s...)

Hi and welcome. Good thread to put your first post in.
But you shouldn't be mclaren fan after the way they treated him.

I would say give credit to elisabetF1 for being able to support both afterwards.

Unlike me, after 2007 I'm forever done with McLaren. I don't know what to do with the Alonso-McLaren shirt I bought at Spa '07. I bought it as an Alonso fan but if I put it on everyone assumes I support McLaren.

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I don't rely entirely on God

I rely on Prost



FA#14

Before all that I was big time mclaren fan and now
I'm the same am done with them to and got a shirt and fleece type top that might have to go on eBay !

elisabetf1

I am same as you, support mclaren and alonso

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Your right Ron Dennis did it too Prost aswell.

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Of course I would have preferred a different 2007 but for someone who has always been a McLaren fan since the days of Prost-Lauda (before that I was too young) one bad year really doesn't mean that much.

Anyway after 2007, reading the press, I felt as that I was being forced to choose between McLaren and Alonso and I refused to choose and decided to support both.

Fair enough enjoy the forum

Welcome to the forum and you've picked a good place to start as well .

Nothing wrong with supporting Alonso and McLaren together. I do believe Alonso rates McLaren higher than Ferrari in terms of ability, but ideologies are another thing. Ferrari is much more committed to him so he doesn't need to look elsewhere. As for McLaren, I have no hard feelings but I have serious doubts about their driver line up this year. Button and Perez don't exactly send chills up your spine.

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In an official driver thread, fans of Alonso are welcome here. We have all arrived in this thread for different reasons & from different directions. All that matters is that, for whatever reason, we all like the guy

Is anyone else feeling a bit deflated after Fernando's first day review of the F138?

Like said James "never says nevermore"
Life takes bizarre turns...

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A man is measured by the size of its rivals.

Probably he just trying to let everyone keep guessing... Then again Massa was comparing the 1st cars of the season.

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[b LOADING KILL LIST.......[/b]
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http://www.crash.net/f1/news/188152/1/a ... lanet.html

A bit different from what we read on PF1.

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... 'cause everybody's on the run.

Agreed although I think that the article on PF1 reported what he said verbatim as he speaks English whereas this article has reported what he said taking into account that English is not his first language, have filtered it & written it accordingly. A bit like I do when he says anything. I have always found that my understanding of what he is saying is totally different to those F1 fans that don't like him

Right now I'm not sure what to think. What bothers me a lot is Alonso saying that the car is very much a continuation of Brazil '12. Does that mean fundamentally nothing has changed and Ferrari will still be poor at quali ? I was really hoping Ferrari would make some advances there. Because without significant improvement in quali I don't see Alonso winning the championship.

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Obviously the rear is completely revised so I'd be shocked if there's not a major improvement there. Felipe pretty much said that the car is from another planet (compared to the very first F2012, though) in terms of downforce so I'd like to think there is some improvement. And the F2012 actually would be much closer to the RBR and Macca in qualy given that the DRS usage will be restricted in qualy as well.

Look at the positive ... He said we are in a much better place than we were this time last year

I hope you're right. I don't think the DRS restrictions will count for too much though. Red Bull's strength at least has always been downforce.



That's not saying much, considering that Ferrari were 2 seconds off the pace at this time last year. Anything is an improvement.

Anyway there are still 7 days of testing left so lets see how it goes.

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Well, even if the car is similair to pace to last year's car, it will be a solid improvement. I believe that towards the end of last year, the f2012 reached the end of its development life. There was a fundamental flaw with that car that stopped it being developed further. That being said, with the last few months, they've had the chance to tackle these problems again and it looks like they've done a better job.

Ferrari aren't going to turn into world beaters overnight my friend. Especially not on stable regs

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Winter is Coming

I think the DRS rule change will help because the RB has so much down force it means they were allowed to use it where others couldn't so it gave them more of an advantage

I know. Their strength was the financial arms race which they can no longer play. Still its sad to see them produce cars with the same problem for so many years (poor quali). Some say its their philosophy to sacrifice quali pace for race pace but why ? Its not like they are destroying everyone in the race. I hope this view has changed and they are taking quali more seriously than they normally do.

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I think the reason Ferrari have been better in races than in quali is because of the ban on refueling. If you remember back to 2010, teams had to adjust to having to do a race with 1 pit stop. I think Ferrari designed their cars to be kinder to it's tires in races, at the expense of qualifying. This was really most evident in 2011. The Ferrari, especially in the early part of the season, upto around the final set of flyaway's, the Ferrari struggled to heat up its tires in quali and as a result, struggled. Then in 2012, due to it being straight up lacking in aero, it naturally qualified further behind despite being much better at heating up it's tyres

In, short, I think the Ferrari will be better in quali this year. The changed DRS rules will also help

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Winter is Coming

Hey I think it's time to resurrect this thread after Fernando had a good start to the the season and has been getting a lot of stick in other threads. I hope this is his year to get 3rd title.

Alonso seems to be quietly confident of a front row start come raceday.

Anyone know what program is he and Massa running on fp2? Are they testing different parts etc

Hmm I wouldn't have my hopes up for a front row start. But I do see the Ferraris giving the Bulls a good run again on Sunday.

No idea what the Lotus is gonna do though

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I don't rely entirely on God

I rely on Prost



FA#14

Fernando is the pessimistic type. The fact that he is hoping for a front row start makes me think there is actually good quali pace in the car. Both Fernando and the Ferrari are good starters so as long as he is on the front 2 rows I'm happy. Worried about Kimi though. If he can run 1 less stop again Fernando needs to pull away from him fast. And I doubt Vettel's degradation issues will persist for very long. Another season of dogged fighting awaits Fernando but no one is better at it.

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Nah, from what I see in Aus the Ferrari's has serious race pace, especially in open air. Won't be too far fetched to say that he was capable of going 2 stops too. But I notice a kind of weakness on the car though, it seems to lose a lot of speed when it is caught behind another car, much more than normal that is (I might be wrong).

In any case Fernando is in a good position, even if he doesn't win this race he will still be on the podium. As for the season, as long as he outscores vettel in the first half of the season he will be well-positioned at the end because Ferrari will most likely out develop Lotus. Things looking good I would say..... Unless Massa doesn't throw a spanner in the works.

The fight is with lotus IMO. Red bull has major tyre deg issues.

For now yes, but over the course of the season Red Bull is still the biggest threat. Just look at what happened last year. They get the car right in the last 6 or 7 races and then Vettel just ran away with it.

I think you and I remember 2012 very differently. Major points were dropped due to Japan DNF (Spa didnt help either), if not the end result would have been very different. IMO Vettel definitely didnt run away with it.

I think a lot Ferrari fans have to get over their Vettelphobia, this is probably Ferrari's strongest start to a season since 2010. Things are looking good.

I think it's just semantics. I know the 2012 championship was close. But once RBR sorted out the car and made it to Vettel's liking in the last 6-7 races, that car was pretty untouchable. That's what I'm saying, we can't write off RBR yet. We know what they are capable of after they've sorted out the issues with their car.

Actually it used to be a weakness of the Ferraris of the '07/'08 seasons relative to the McLarens of that time. I had forgotten about it since '09 because I thought Ferrari had left that trait behind during the big reg changes of '09. Maybe you're right. How can you tell ? Just by looking at the lap times when in traffic ? Or can you pick it up visually ?

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Visually.

Then I envy you. I can never pick up such subtle differences.

However, I did see Alonso having a lot of oversteer moments but they seemed to happen regardless of whether or not he was in traffic. I need to pay more attention !

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Good qually for Fernando his now in a great position for the race. I wouldn't be surprised if he is leading after the first corner

Yup, both Ferraris performing well when it matters.

Even if Alonso doesnt overtake Vettel into the 1st corner, he would still probably jump him over the race. No worries there im sure.

Only threat is Massa lol. But i got a feeling Alonso's car is setup more for race pace.

Kimi starting at 10th. Alonso must win this! Easy!

Lots of Ferrari haters are awful quiet today.
The Massa critics are running away hiding under rocks.
Ferrari will put their stamp on this race with authority.
Both cars will be set up just fine for each driver and both will shine during the race.
This is the end of that damn finger of Vettel's.
I'd like to break it off and shove it up his exhaust.

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No matter where you go, there you are....

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