What does Alonso lack to be champion at Ferrari? His former track engineer agrees

Andrea Stella He has been in the Formula 1 paddock for many years and has seen all the colours. He is now the leader of McLaren, living in the moment of highest responsibility in his entire career. But before arriving at Woking he also experienced the highest demand at Ferrari as a track engineer. Fernando Alonso. With the Asturian he experienced a lot of joy but a lot of suffering as he was left with honey on his lips fighting for the title on two occasions.

“If I could go back in time, maybe the first thing I would choose would be to win the championship with Ferrari,” the Italian explained on the F1 podcast. Beyond the Grid. It is impossible to forget how he tried to comfort Alonso in Abu Dhabi 2010 after losing the title, which led to the last event with a bad strategy by the Maranello man.

“We are certainly close to being successful in Fernando’s first year at Ferrari, which is very different from how Michael (Schumacher) begins his journey. He won three races in 1996 thanks to his sheer talent rather than the car’s competitiveness. I think Michael’s journey is a real journey. Ross came in, Rory Byrne came in, James Allison came in… So There are many continuations on that journey, we continue to identify what we need to add and build it brick by brick. “I think that was something we missed with Fernando.”

There is nothing like Fernando

Alonso has two World Cups under his belt but the feeling lingers after two decades at the Great Circus that he should have another because of his performance. In fact, he is eight points away from winning three more titles. Because of this, Stella believes that the Spanish driver has a combination of qualities that no one else has.

“When we talk about being the most complete, I really think of Alonso. Basically, Fernando has no weakness. I think it makes it unique. He’s not the best at many things, but he’s very strong at all of them,” he concluded.