Alonso: There are no victories in war without a scar
1 November, 2012
Fernando Alonso still has the fight within him
Nov.1 (Reuters) Like the Samurai warrior that he has tattooed across his back, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso goes into Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, at the seven star Yas Marina Circuit, refusing to give up the title chase and ready to fight tooth and nail for victory.
“If the sword breaks, attack with the hands,” the Spaniard declared on his Twitter feed after last Sunday’s race in India left him 13 points behind Red Bull’s Formula One Drivers’ Championship leader Sebastian Vettel with three rounds remaining.
“If they cut off your hands, push the enemy with your shoulders, even with the teeth.”
The Spaniard, who has long been an admirer of Japanese culture, has not won a race since Vettel’s home German Grand Prix in July but has been the driver of the season for some paddock insiders.
Consistent and relentless, getting the absolute utmost out of a Ferrari that is not the fastest car on the grid, he has said that he feels he is battling the genius of Red Bull designer Adrian Newey as much as Vettel.
That may be partly mind games, belittling his rival, but Red Bull can win the constructors’ title on Sunday and become only the fourth team to do it three years in a row.
Alonso needs more from Ferrari if he is to prevent the seemingly inevitable and have a chance of taking his own title.
There have been reports, swiftly denied, of the driver losing his temper with the team after he finished second behind Vettel last weekend in a race that earned him considerable praise.
What has become noticeable, with Vettel stringing together four wins in a row and chasing a fifth at Yas Marina, is the Spaniard’s increasing use of oriental philosophy in the latter half of the season to express his state of mind.
“If the enemy thinks in the mountains, attack by sea. If they think in the sea, attack by the mountains,” he declared after seeing his lead over Vettel shrink at this month’s Japanese Grand Prix.
“Only a warrior can handle the road to become unbeatable,” he had Tweeted after Singapore last month. “His life is a challenge, and challenges are not good or bad, they are simply challenges.”
“There are no victories in the war without a scar, no rainbow without the rain,” Alonso said after Frenchman Romain Grosjean shunted him out of the Belgian Grand Prix in September.
If Alonso can overturn the deficit and deny Vettel a title hat-trick by taking his own third, the Ferrari driver will have shown his true warrior credentials.
The alternative is to end up sounding more like the Black Knight in the comedy film ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’, a man refusing to accept he is beaten until – no more than a limbless torso – he can only impotently threaten to bite his tormentor’s legs off.
It will not be for want of trying but Alonso, one of the toughest and most talented drivers in the sport, needs more than luck on his side.
Memories of 2010 are still painful. Alonso led the championship into the final race in Abu Dhabi only for Vettel, who had been 15 points behind, to win the race and seize his first title after a strategic error by Ferrari.
Vettel has triumphed in two of the three Abu Dhabi Grands Prix to date and only he and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton have won there – as well as being the only ones to have started on the front row.
The German was on pole last year, after he had already clinched his second title, but his hopes of a third Abu Dhabi win in a row ended when he had a first lap puncture that forced his first retirement in more than a year.
He has a similarly remorseless momentum now that he is going for a third title but Ferrari believe they can still be the last ones standing.
“We’re ready to give it 120 percent, just like Alonso. We’ll fight for the championship right to the last kilometre. I’m very confident,” team president Luca Di Montezemolo told the Ferrari website on Monday.
Red Bull know what they are up against.
“Fernando is a quality driver and Ferrari [is] a quality team,” team principal Christian Horner told reporters. “They are doing a strong job, he’s remarkably consistent and we are going to have to perform at our very best if we are going to maintain our lead ahead of him.
“We’ve worked hard to get into this position and there’s a real determination within the team to carry this momentum into the remaining three races.”
Subbed by AJN.
Related posts:
- Preview: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Round 18 at Yas Marina Circuit
- Alonso: What can I say, other than get angry about being unlucky?
- Japanese Grand Prix: Can Alonso be reeled in at Suzuka?
- Hamilton: Definitely one of my best victories
- FIA preview the Abu Dhabi GP at Yas Marina
Red Bull Racing & Vettel have won 4-in-a-row without suffering a scratch…let alone a scar. Good luck Alonso. YOU NEED IT
@fools:
Damn right it’s not over till’ it’s over. Red Bull has to use the new alternators in the last two races. Those things went pop twice before, they can do it again.
In fact, if it happened twice, it will happen a third time.
Forza Ferrari, I guess, since Fernando is going all-out on this one.
@Alonso_is_slow:
Yeah, his new cheat is called f-ing your mother.
@fools
Unlike you who is up at the crack of the afternoon?
Seriously, show some respect to other people on here.
Apparently when Alonso speaks quotes from Samurai’s because he loves the Japan culture is something to difficult for readers to understand like John, alosno_is_slow and vitz.
I think people are just jealous they cant have a good life like Alonso so they rather insult his competitiveness when an article is debut about him. Clearly, Alonso has a good focus and knows what he needs to do, but will his car be enough is the question. He can only do so much while Vettel in other hands has the complete package. All he Vettel concerns would be reliability. Alonso just needs a bit more aero work and they would be winning more races.
For people like John and the rest I mentioned do not know F1 and have no respect for pure drivers. Alonso is a pure driver. For all people who say he collects points and is compared to Prost is a true idiot and knows nothing about F1. Hence the fact Senna was his idol. Smh. Give up the crack pipe haters. Show some respect to a great driver. That is Alonso.
Alonso for the 2012 WDC! Its not over until its over
John still up early to be first to comment on rubbish bs as usual. Still smoking crack. smh. Can I just enjoy an article without the crack pipe talk?
@Nowhereman
Don’t be nasty!
John your a fool, and in the minority.
His mental strength is beyond approach.
His driving skills match anyone at anytime.
His car however is woefully short of being a world beater.
You have eyes but do not see.
Give the man credit for his accomplishments, after all MS thinks highly of Alonso as do the rest of the drivers.
Maybe Alonso is already working on a new cheat to win the title.
The best what he has brought to Ferrari is his cheating experience (crashgate, mass damper, stolen ferrari data over the radio, ordering false FIA decisions against opponents, illegal team orders, etc, etc,) – he sure feels it is time to use that creative knowledge.
Surely his Tawtter feed has been hacked? As low an opinion I have of him (which he fails to live up to) I can’t even imagine him talking such nonsense.