Second race at Red Bull Ring won’t be a “copy-paste” – Ricciardo

18 comments on “Second race at Red Bull Ring won’t be a “copy-paste” – Ricciardo”

1. 

   Aussie Rod (@aussierod)
   9th July 2020, 0:37

   Love the COTD & well said.
2. 

   Michael (@freelittlebirds)
   9th July 2020, 3:05

   About the COTD, very well-said. Are folks really questioning Alonso’s poor team choices or even the timing of those choices? He has driven for some of the best teams in F1?

   Also I believe a better comparison to another champion would be to Zlatan Ibrahimovic instead of Rafa Nadal. I’m a huge fan of Zlatan’s but there’s no denying that he can be a controversial team player.
   1. 

      Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
      9th July 2020, 3:42

      Very good analogy between Zlatan and Alonso. Zlatan may not have won as much as deserved to, but if you look at his goalscoring record throughout his career, it is phenomenal. Not only that, if you look at his goals, more often than not, they were pretty spectacular. Further to that, he demands nothing but excellence from his team, which some players have not liked. He is a winner, and guys like that push hard all the time.

      If Zlatan was a more toned down and agreeable individual, he wouldnt be half as much fun!

      Alonso is the same. He is demanding, abbrasisve, pushes his team hard, but he is disliked by the racing fan fraternity who somehow idolise Senna, who was possibly worse in everyone of those aspects.
      1. 

         Michael (@freelittlebirds)
         9th July 2020, 14:55

         @jaymenon10

         Zlatan may not have won as much as deserved to

         The only thing he didn’t win but certainly deserved was the Champions League but he did play in the era that 2 other super players also played and they both played with the 2 best teams (3 if you include Man United).

         Obviously his transfer to Barcelona wasn’t a success as he’s the only player of that caliber to only last 1 year – it’s eerily similar to Alonso’s transfer to McLaren at the time that Lewis was there.

         I think he also deserves a Ballon D’Or but there’s no chance he would get that.

         In a manner of speaking he’s much like Alonso in the sense that Alonso also didn’t necessarily always race for the best team at the right time.
3. 

   Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
   9th July 2020, 4:51

   @freelittlebirds I chose Nadal because he’s the same relentless player that never gives up. He’s a complete beast. People might like Federer better (as I do) but his will power was fascinating to watch.
   1. 

      ColdFly (@)
      9th July 2020, 7:18

      Congratulations with your deserved CotD.
      1. 

         Balue (@balue)
         9th July 2020, 9:01

         Yeah good one @fer-no65
   2. 

      Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      9th July 2020, 15:06

      @fer-no65 Nadal is outwardly humble, though, and Alonso is certainly not humble. There’s probably no tennis player (perhaps Kyrgios or McEnroe) that exuded the level of confidence that Alonso does or that is as controversial on the court, particularly on the men’s side.

      Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic are probably the 2 most confident sportsmen I can think of that Alonso could be compared to but Ronaldo is closer to Lewis in terms of his success on the field.

      If Ronaldo wins the Champions League with Juventus, it’ll be disastrous as there can be no discussion of GOAT in soccer ever. It’d be akin to Lewis winning WDCs in F1 with all the teams :-)

      Ibrahimovic shares many similar career traits as Alonso. I’d be surprised if they are not good friends, although their egos could fill up any room leaving no room for the other one:-)
      1. 

         Michael (@freelittlebirds)
         9th July 2020, 15:11

         @fer-no65 Oh, by the way I’m a huge Federer and Nadal fan. When they play each other, my wife is in favor of Rafa and I’m in favor of Roger. You cannot imagine the marital pains this rivalry can cause :-)

         When I hear they’ll be playing each other, I’m 1 part excited and 3 parts afraid :-)
4. 

   Niefer (@niefer)
   9th July 2020, 6:30

   On CotD, I don’t think his career choices are wrong about moving to a place but once he’s already in the place. It was his own doing on burning bridges inside McLaren on the first spell. Had him stayed for 2008, he most likely would have won it, à la Piquet, leaving for Renault to wait for Ferrari’s seat. I can’t remember something he should’ve done differently at Maranello, since Ferrari is its own problem, but do I remember him elevating his own moral at the cost of the team’s, and that’s harm enough, should we remember the team’s immediate growth under his substitute. At McLaren’s second spell, what stuck with me was the way he dealt with Honda. Granted, the engine was a complete disaster, but the way he behaved extra doors was a disgrace. He completely compromised Honda’s integrity, alongside with the partnership’s. As the team leading driver he should’ve persuaded Ron Dennis to let Honda supply any of the smaller teams, à la Red Bull, and also should strenghten the development ties with the japanese, à la Senna. Because back then he already knew it was his last chance.

   His common trait of converging all the team’s attention over him is his strenght but also a big flaw. He blew Raikkonen off, whom I consider a better talent, exhausted Massa, a well capable driver that had the valuable Todt card inside Ferrari (part of Charles’ ascension, worth mentioning), made kibble out of Vandoorne, a driver with huge expectations over him. Anyone who thinks all that was on pure pace alone is a fool. Alonso knows how to work intra doors. Problem is, his focus isn’t on the right mark.

   Most people forget, but the team mate is a huge part of the operation. Because with him there is a whole personnel. Whoever thinks managing this kind of situation isn’t grueling should think twice. No matter how good Alonso delivers on track, his tenures all ends the same, like a dry land.

   How big his legacy would be if only he worked together either with Hamilton, Raikkonen or Massa at some level. Any of them. But no, he sees himself as the highlander. There can only be one. Well, in the championship, most definitely. But the team needs some cooperation to thrive. Didn’t Senna and Prost cooperated for a season before killing each other?

   He focus so much on himself that he neglects everything else, the price being the spirit of the teams. If hindsight reveals the easiest perspective, then I guess Alonso has a good opportunity, to seek into his own history for what went wrong that he could do differently so he can reach his next goals this time. I’m sure what we see is the just tip of the iceberg.
   1. 

      James Coulee
      9th July 2020, 8:37

      It can’t be that horrible if McLaren wanted him back and Renault Is having him for the third time..
   2. 

      frood19 (@frood19)
      9th July 2020, 10:44

      I don’t really buy the idea that the leading driver should have so much sway in the managerial or strategic aspects of running the team. sure, they are a figurehead and dominate the press-quotes, but how can it be incumbent on the driver to persuade the engine manufacturer to supply other teams? whatever alonso does behind the scenes (and unless you’ve been there, you really, really don’t know), it is the responsibility of those managing him to curb whatever negative energy he has and to enhance the positives.

      many seem to see 2007 as the sliding doors moment in his career, as the critical point when he made his bed, but that’s a fallacy – there were numerous factors that led to the collapse of those relationships and, to my mind, the buck stops (or should have stopped) with those in charge i.e. ron dennis, martin whitmarsh etc.
5. 

   Jere (@jerejj)
   9th July 2020, 7:55

   I share the same sentiment as the COTD.
6. 

   Paul Duggan
   9th July 2020, 9:05

   With Alonso it’s not so much that his career choices have been questionable. It’s the opportunities that have been lost (McLaren 2008) and the doors that have never been open to him (Mercedes, Red Bull) because of his personality issues.
   You can’t objectively say that he made a mistake going to Ferrari but the fact that going back to McLaren when he walked out of Maranello was basically his only option was purely his own fault.
   And no-one has offered him a competitive drive since. So an absence of good choices available because he is what he is.
   1. 

      Esploratore (@esploratore)
      10th July 2020, 13:51

      Agree with this.
7. 

   Brownerboy (@brownerboy)
   9th July 2020, 10:07

   I agree with Keith’s tweet, was great being able to watch the track action without it cutting and zooming to some random celebrity standing at the back of the garage with the “I have no idea why I am here” look.
8. 

   Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
   9th July 2020, 10:25

   Then he got the McLaren-Honda deal. Who honestly thought that could go that wrong?

   Regarding the McLaren – Honda deal, anyone who thought McLaren-Honda were going to win the World Constructors’ Championship in 2015 was dreaming, and if they thought they’d win just a few races they were dreaming, and if they thought they’d get a few podiums they were dreaming. And expecting things to be dramatically different in 2016 or 2017 was unlikely. Getting to a race winning level would take a lot of time, effort and commitment. The impression I had gotten was McLaren had decided they knew better than Honda how much space an engine needed,and that was before they’d seen the engine, so it was inevitable Honda were going to struggle.
9. 

   Tango (@tango)
   9th July 2020, 10:30

   I think the argument has already been made that Alonso has transformed good deals into dumbster fires. He missed out on strong McLaren cars 08 to 12 because of 2007, he missed out on the small ferrari revivals (I still believe he could have been champion had he been in Vettel’s car) and McLaren Honda might have carried on without his exploits and you can only imagine what a McLaren revival with the additional Honda money, a now ok engine could have been (McLaren would still be a factory team, and a rich one at that). I’m actually afraid of what he could do to the least successful factory team still in f1….

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