A few word of advice for Alonso
John Surtees Weblog - 13 June 2007
What a superb race Lewis Hamilton had in Canada: the build up in practice, pole position and then what appeared to be a faultless race despite the course car interventions.
I have to say, I was not surprised as here we have a talented young man who has served a long apprenticeship in racing, is cool, calm and collected...but above all a real competitor.
The Canadian Grand Prix will also remain in my mind as the race in which so many of his competitors - and some of the pit operations - looked amateurish in the extreme. Some of the mistake being made on the track were certainly not appropriate for this level of racing.
My heart stopped for a moment when Kubica was involved in that horrendous accident. The fact that he came out of it virtually unscathed (thank goodness) is testimony to what has been achieved by the teams technically in creating such immensely strong safety cells within the chassis.
I don’t often feel sorry for Ron Dennis but when I read the reports of Alonso’s utterances regarding Hamilton being favoured within the team I could well appreciate that he could have done without it, particularly having a major Spanish sponsor.
I have always had a high regard for Alonso I was surprised at his utterances last year when he criticised his Renault team for not giving him enough support and I am surprised at his latest outburst. To my mind it shows a wweakness and cannot help his cause at all.
In some way he may be experiencing still a little problem in coming together with a car with very different handling characteristics to the Renault with which he grew up and the change to Bridgestone tyres.
Whereas Lewis Hamilton came together with the car in its development stages and has no preconceptions, Alonso has much more experience, on track knowledge of circuits, and a good team behind him - so he should just concentrate on harnessing all the little things that all this experience has given him in order to meet the real challenge that is Hamilton.
Remember that the first rule in any team is that you will have to beat your team mate.
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