You're a team player now, Fernando

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has spoke of his fears over signing Fernando Alonso as he had doubts over his willingness to work as a team.

Alonso, who is replacing Kimi Raikonnen for the 2010 season, had a turbulent time at McLaren when he partnered Lewis Hamilton and appeared to be constantly at loggerheads with either Hamilton or the then McLaren chief Ron Dennis and left the team at the end of the season.

Di Montezemolo said:

“We have been watching him since 2007. He is an extremely talented driver, quick and good at working with a team, while being totally focused on winning. I spoke about [his doubts] with [Stefano]Domenicali maybe 1,000 times – not 100, 1,000 times – and I spoke with Alonso.

“I told him: ‘If you come to drive for us, you drive for a team, you drive for a group, you don’t drive for yourself. If you want a team, then you do your own team, fantastic, like John Surtees .

“In Ferrari we want to put you in the best condition to win. If not, we will never hire you.”

At McLaren, the relationship between Hamilton and Alonso hit boiling point during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Alonso came in for his pit stop but appeared to wait in the pit box for an extra five of six seconds.

As a result, Lewis Hamilton was unable to get back around the track in time to start a new flying lap before the session ended.  Alonso was moved five places down the grid after the stewards looked into the incident.

Here’s a video clip of the pit stop fiasco.

My thoughts:

Although I totally agree that Alonso is one of the best drivers on the grid, I have never felt the same about him after this display of total petulance. The way he handled himself at McLaren left a lot to be desired. Actually, seeing this clip makes me really angry again. It will be interesting to see how the two drivers get on next years, as I’m expecting them to be closely matched.

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