Ferrari has given Fernando Alonso an extraordinary public rebuke in the light of negative comments the Spaniard made after Sunday’s Hungarian GP.
The fact that Alonso’s management has had contact with Red Bull Racing has clearly created extra tension in the camp as the team struggles to keep its title challenge on course.
A story on the Ferrari website today about Luca di Montezemolo’s reaction to an uncompetitive race for the team in Hungary has exposed to all the world that the previous rock solid Alonso/Ferrari relationship is in danger of going off the rails.
The story noted: “Montezemolo is doing his utmost to ensure that the team has all the support and resources it needs, starting with the announcement that James Allison, formerly with Lotus, will join the Maranello team, starting work already on 1st September. However, 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.
That was a reference to the latest comments from Fernando Alonso, which did not go down well with Montezemolo, nor with anyone in the team. So, when Montezemolo called the Spaniard this morning to wish him a happy birthday, he also tweaked his ear, reminding him that, “all the great champions who have driven for Ferrari have always been asked to put the interests of the team above their own. 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 remains to be seen how Fernando reacts to the story…
Adam Cooper F1 
Is this from the same source as the Horse Whisperer column? Always found Ferrari’s in-house press etiquette slightly baffling – like some kind of keyboard warrior making snide and cryptic accusations.
Was Luca swatting him for negative comments or indirectly hitting out at him over the Red Bull rumors? Or both??
I am a Ferrnado fan and would like to see him get another WDC, but it’s galling knowing it would be in a Ferrari. Luca does nothing for the brand.
Seems this story has a far different “spin” than others where FA is quoted as sayin he wasn’t aware of his manager saying anything about his future to RBR. Maks the reading public a tad confused. What, exactly did FA say following Hungary which would have caused the reaction described ?
This had nothing to do with the Red Bull rumors.
Today (Monday) is Fernando’s 32nd birthday. Shortly after the race, a journalist asked him what he would like for his birthday. Alonso said “someone else’s car”. Obviously Luca did not like that answer.
But honestly, Alonso has been carrying the team since he arrived. He always spouts the company line while wringing every las bit of speed from an under-performing car. I think he got caught off guard and spoke out the frustration that he has felt for a long time.
http://autosprint.corrieredellosport.it/2013/07/29/montezemolo-bacchetta-alonso/9252/
They suggest LdM was referring to Alonso’s answer that for his birthday gift he would like to have a ‘Red Bull’ (their car, of course).
Kneel, Fernando, and kiss the ring of Enzo. Know thy place as a Ferrari driver – one who is merely a replaceable employee.
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The Scuderia became accustomed to Schumacher’s work hard – struggle in silence demeanor (whatever complaints he made they were behind closed doors). This has set the benchmark for all that have followed him, look at how frustrated Ferrari became with Kimi after his first season and WC, the next years car was of average performance and Kimi’s “that all I can get out of it” pragmatism literally got Alonso in the door at Ferrari, they actually paid Kimi not to race just to get Fernando into that seat.
Now Alonso has come full circle, a double WC impatient with another average car for another season. If past is prelude he will speak his mind publicly and probably not take a dressing down well. Look at the McLaren experience when he did not get his way, possibly the greatest tantrum thrown in F1 between driver and team. To be fair, Senna was not adverse to giving his employer a kick in the backside with a few choice quotes to the media to get them moving, the old “I’m looking at other teams” tactic is hardly original.
All that being said, was not there once a certain Italian team not happy with the direction of the sport and its regulations, who threatened to leave F1 and go to American open wheel? Even going as far as commissioning and building a car for that series. What was their name? They were located in Marenello if memory serves.
I suspect Alonso is having a chuckle at the reaction he has evoked, they are not going to fire him after all!
LdM can be mad at the team, not the drivers. His reaction is also very late. At the first sign of degradation in performance, good analysis had to be made and the core disease cured. If not possible, just treat the symptoms. SF failed at both, while Alonso did more than what was expected from him – maximized the points again. As opposed to Massa.
Quote: “all the great champions who have driven for Ferrari have always been ased to put the interests of the team above their own.” – is that really the interest of the team – the fourth fastest car?
Alonso waited a lot – 3 and a half years. It was about time for this volcano to erupt.
….especially after the pit wall decision that cost him a title by 3 points!! If anyone is entitled to speak out it’s Fernando.
Was it Cesare Fiorio who sacked Prost in ’91 for being rather more vocal than Alonso in his criticism of the car? From what I recall they didn’t win a race for the next three years.
Alonso has every right to be frustrated given that they’d have been also-rans in the last few seasons without him, and if that manifests itself in an off-the-cuff jibe after two hours battling to an unrewarding fifth place in 50-degree heat, so be it. LdM needs to get some perspective.
No it was not Cesare Fiorio who sacked Prost in 91…………. The faceless men from Fiat sacked Cesare Fiorio mid season 91 for the car being slow. At the end of the year the same Fiat management sacked Prost for saying it was slow. Genius I tell ya!
Oh! And the 92 car was a disaster, they sacked the talented Ivan Capelli for driving it.
93? Enter Jean Todt. It been 20 years since the good old days of dysfunctional Ferrari anarchy. How Jean Todt “cured” Ferrari is one of life’s great unexplained achievements.
Okay, so Luca’s merely reading the tea leaves then (whilst feeling a knife in his back)?.
It is highly gratifying that Luca has at last realised his one major mistake was simply signing the way overrated, genuinely multi-gated, spoilt brat. Real Ferrari fans can celebrate.