Imhotep Evil

Prost: McLaren's policy will backfire
Tuesday, 19, June, 2007, 13:47


Four-time world champion Alain Prost believes his former team McLaren’s policy of allowing its drivers Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton to race on equal terms will ultimately backfire.

The team-mates are locked in a fascinating battle at the top of the drivers’ standings, with the latest duel going rookie Hamilton’s way at Indianapolis after a race-long fight with the Spaniard.

Team boss Ron Dennis has long declared that both drivers have equal status at McLaren, although he admitted to ITV Sport following his current pair’s monumental battle last weekend that a consequence of that policy is that more pressure is created inside the team.

Prost, who had a bitter rivalry with Ayrton Senna at McLaren in 1988-89, has warned the Woking squad that it is employing a dangerous strategy.

“I think that now it is a mistake to have two equal cars within the same team,” the Frenchman told Spanish newspaper El Pais.

“In the end it will work against them because it creates too much tension.”

Points leader Hamilton’s dazzling start to his Formula 1 career, including the way he has been able to take on and beat the double world champion, has stunned even the most seasoned of F1 observers.

The British star underwent an intense period of preparation ahead of his debut, including hours of work in McLaren’s state-of-the-art race simulator.

Prost, who won 51 grands prix in his illustrious career, reckons this simulator work is part of the reason Hamilton has found the MP4-22 easier to drive than Alonso has.

“Now the simulator has reached an amazing level of perfection; it is even able to simulate weather conditions, rain, wet asphalt, wind, everything,” Prost said.

“And Hamilton has used the simulator much more than Alonso and his driving style is much smoother, less abrupt than the Spaniard’s.

“As a result I think that McLaren finds it easier to set up the cars to suit Hamilton’s style.

“But that can't disguise the fact that Alonso is a super driver, a great, great driver.”


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Imhotep Evil

Dennis not expecting Prost, Senna repeat

By Jonathan Noble Tuesday, June 19th 2007, 10:37 GMT

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, Indianapolis podiumMcLaren boss Ron Dennis is confident that his current drivers are not heading for a repeat of the tensions that marred his team's achievements in the Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost era.

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso's strong performances, allied to Ferrari's fall from the top, could leave the McLaren duo fighting it out alone for the world championship this year.

It is a scenario that McLaren last faced in the last 1980s when Prost and Senna were locked in an intense battle.

But although that rivalry resulted in McLaren's two drivers hating each other, Dennis is adamant that the scenario this time around is very different - and not just because they are much younger.

"It's different, the two years difference between them is nothing," he said. "The humour in the situation is that they really like each other.

"It is a sort of situation where (they say): 'I like you, but wish you wouldn't be so competitive.'"

The closeness of the fight between the two drivers, allied to Spanish radio comments Alonso made recently and his controversial swerve at Indianapolis, have inevitably prompted speculation that tension is developing between them.

But Dennis thinks there is absolutely no issue between the drivers, and believes that complete equality of treatment for the pair will ensure no future problems either.

"I am comfortable with the situation," said Dennis. "Of course it's great to be first and second and lead both championships, but the important thing in anyone's life is to be happy.

"They are very committed to winning, but it is also important to them how they win. I just make sure there is nothing in the team interpreted by either driver as not being equitable."

source: autosport

Imhotep Evil

Swerve shows Fernando Alonso 'a little annoyed' - Haug



Fernando Alonso on Sunday denied that swerving at the McLaren pitwall during the US grand prix had been a sign of anger during his on-track battle against Lewis Hamilton.

The reigning world champion, however, would not have his statement backed up by chiefs of the McLaren team, including Martin Whitmarsh, Norbert Haug and even Mercedes-Benz CEO Dieter Zetsche.

"(Alonso) was a little annoyed, I am sure," Mercedes' competition chief Haug told the German broadcaster RTL.

But the German insisted that rookie Hamilton, who went on to win his second win in the space of seven days, had done nothing wrong.

"Fernando was pushing very hard at the time, while Lewis drove in the same way that Fernando did in Monaco.

"You have to accept that the front runner sets the pace of the race."

Haug added that officials "must ensure" that any tension inside the Woking based team does not get out of control.

DaimlerChrysler's Zetsche, meanwhile, said: "Both of our drivers are racers, and naturally they both want to win -- even against their teammates.

"The fight was fair, it was clean, which is what you expect. You don't expect them to just sit back and watch."

Source: GMM/duemotori

Imhotep Evil

A CRASH AND GRAB WORLD
HAMILTON v ALONSO McLaren tell feuding drivers..
19/06/2007



Ayrton Senna v Alain Prost: Scrap started at McLaren in 1988 and rumbled on for six years, featuring tears, the Brazilian forcing the Frenchman onto the grass at 180mph, public slanging matches and even deliberate crashes that decided the destination of two world titles.

Nigel Mansell v Nelson Piquet: Rivalry at Williams cost both the world title in 1986, the Brazilian slamming Britain's hero as an "uneducated blockhead". Mansell's dislike of his team-mate saw him roar from 30 seconds down to one of the greatest victories Silverstone has ever seen in 1989.

Gilles Villeneuve v Didier Peroni: The feuding Ferraris never spoke to each other again after Peroni ignored team orders to pass his team-mate at the 1982 San Marino GP. Two weeks later the Canadian was killed at Zolder.
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