Fernando Alonso admits to his team’s mistake
There an old adage that people shouldn’t cry over spilled milk. After all, what’s done is done. Right?
In the case of milk, it’s completely understandable. However, when it pertains to the Formula One Grand Prix Drivers’ Championship title, well that’s another story entirely.
And the tragic protagonist of the 2010 Grand Prix season is none other than Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, the former frontrunner for the coveted prize. Before the Abu Dhabi race, which took place on Sunday November 14, many regarded him as the veritable shoe-in
for the prize. While their faith proved misplaced, there was a certain logic to their thinking.
Although Red Bull fielded the most innovative car of all the F1 teams, racing enthusiasts looking beyond the make and model and serial number of the engines, saw in Fernando Alonso, a champion driver behind the wheel.
Indeed, suffering from a series of disappointing finishes during the first half of the season, the Spaniard roared back from a 47 point deficit to finish first in the standings after the Korean Grand Prix. It seemed the Ferrari driver had the initiative,
the energy, and the drive going into the final race of the season.
However, it was a single decision on the 14th lap of the Yas Marina circuit of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that irrevocably reversed his fortunes. Responding to Mark Webber’s stop two laps earlier, Ferrari decided to pit their driver.
At the time, Alonso who was in fourth place and needed to stay there in order to secure the championship. Wanting to stay ahead of the ambitious Webber, who trailed Alonso by eight points, Ferrari decided to call him in.
While this was a sound strategic decision at the time, Ferrari failed to account for Nico Rosenberg and Vitaly Petrov, who had stopped under safety car conditions on lap one. Consequently, the Spaniard re-joined ahead of Webber but was stuck behind Rosberg
and Petrov, and eventually finished seventh.
In the aftermath of the race, while Alonso freely admitted that Ferrari’s decision was a mistake with devastating consequences, he readily acknowledges that the nature of hindsight is always 20/20
"It's a sad feeling, but there is nothing we can do now," Alonso said. "The race didn't go as we wanted. Webber stopped very early. We decided to cover Webber. That was maybe not the right thing, but it's always very easy to see the strategy after the
race."
Alonso added that he wasn't in a position to over-rule the team's decision to pit him because he didn't have the information or the time to make the call from the cockpit.
"I didn't have time to think," he said. " Webber was gaining time so for us it was a choice that we had to make, either decide to pit and stay in front of [him], or not stop and he gets in front of us.”
Although visibly frustrated after the race, Alonso, who has had time to cool down, said that despite the disappointing finish in Abu Dhabi, he and his team had some remarkable successes. The Ferrari driver vowed to come back stronger in the 2011 and take
back the championship, which many believe, rightfully belonged to him this season.
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