UNDER THE HOOD
IT’S A FAMILY AFFAIR FOR FERNANDO
Pat Symonds on Alonso’s return to Renault
The ‘silly season’ within F1 has long been formulaic. It starts in the early summer as journalists and fans examine the art of the possible and the rumour mill swings into action. In a normal year the Hungarian Grand Prix, just before the summer break, is when some shape comes to the rumours and traditionally at Monza, in September, we get some confirmation of driver alliances for the following season.
This year of course has been anything but normal, and with the break-up of the Ferrari/ Sebastian Vettel relationship being announced in early May, a flurry of activity meant many berths were full by the end of that month. Daniel Ricciardo’s move from Renault to Mclaren then left many speculating as to whether Fernando Alonso would return for a third spell at the team which gave him two world championships.
By early July we knew – Fernando is indeed returning to what he describes as ‘his family’. Cutting through the inevitable hype that surrounds such events, it is interesting to analyse the reasoning and speculate on the likely outcomes over the next few years.
Firstly, the reasoning: the Renault team has shown a high level of commitment to success in F1 since returning as a constructor in 2016. The team has spent significantly on upgrading facilities at both the chassis base in Enstone and the engine facility in Viry-châtillon. I toured the Enstone factory when the work was finished and was highly impressed with both the engineering and the production facilities. At Viry, significant upgrades had been made to enable hybrid engine development a couple of years earlier, and these continued to be expanded with the return of the works team.
Resource addition was not just physical – the engineering human resource in both bases has continued to expand. Perhaps most significantly, the recruitment of Ricciardo for 2019, at a salary reported to be around €25million a season, showed serious intent from the company that it is prepared to play with the big boys. It follows therefore that, when Ricciardo announced he was departing the team for Mclaren in 2021, Renault was not going to place a rookie with the talented but yet unproven Esteban Ocon. Enter onto the scene one very talented but somewhat disillusioned ex-world champion: Fernando Alonso.
I worked with Fernando in those championship years of 2005 and 2006. It seems an eternity ago now and, by driver career standards, it is! So, can someone of this great talent return and find that elusive third championship he so desperately seeks?
The answer of course lies in the fact that F1 is a team sport and that success is a relative thing. It depends not just on your own ability but also that of your competitors. It also relies on the many facets that bring success. Only when all of them are aligned can championships be won. If a single attribute is found wanting, then it is still possible to win races – but a championship
may be out of reach. In other words, success is not just down to the driver – even one with the remarkable ability of Fernando Alonso.
The question therefore is not whether Fernando can win the 2022 title (he seems already to have written off 2021) but what can he bring to the team to enable Renault to challenge for it? The rest will be down to the organisation. That he can drive a car exceptionally well is proven, and personally I don’t think his age – he will turn 41 during 2022 – counts against him. He has demonstrated in premier sportscar events that he retains immense fitness. The rest of ageing is a mental state – and Fernando is immensely mentally strong…
However, winning championships is not just about driving a car fast, it involves many more attributes and it is here that I believe Fernando has much to offer. A successful driver can either step into a successful team or he can build a successful team around him. The latter presupposes the raw ingredients are there, and in the case of Renault I believe the team still has a lot of people who knew how to win and more importantly still know how to win. Reproducing everything that was done in 2006 will not suffice. F1 is such a fastmoving sport that the detail of what worked 15 years ago will not necessarily work today, but the ethos of winning never changes.
We must also remember that F1 is taking a reset in 2022 when significantly different aerodynamic regulations will be put in place and the tyre characteristics will change with the move to 18-inch wheels. While of course this will put emphasis on the engineering teams to find the best solutions to the new rules, it is also a time when an experienced and adaptable driver can contribute a lot.
It is unlikely that the best way to drive a 2022 car and make the most of its tyres will be the same as the techniques employed this season. One therefore needs a driver with the experience to know whether the changes he feels in the car are consequential to the rule changes, or whether there is a fundamental flaw. He also needs the ability to adapt his driving style to those consequential changes. I feel the Fernando I worked with is one of the best at this, and there is no doubt this aspect will only have improved over the years.
So, what it really comes down to is his mental attitude. Will he pull the team around him and will his hunger for that elusive third championship drive him beyond his already exceptional talent? It could go either way, but F1 needs characters like Fernando – and I believe he can and will do the job given just an inkling of opportunity.
SUCCESS IS NOT JUST DOWN TO THE DRIVER – EVEN ONE WITH THE REMARKABLE ABILITY OF FERNANDO ALONSO