What can Alonso expect in 2010?
Fernando Alonso moves from his Renault safe house to Ferrari this season and arrives finding it a little different to when he signed for the them a year or so ago. 2009 wasn’t kind to Ferrari and Alonso must be hoping that changes this year.
Partnering the Brazilian Felipe Massa who is quick and has pushed all his team mates hard Alonso won’t be left to relax. Massa had been building himself up to be the number 1 at the Italian team over the last couple years with losing out by just a point to Lewis Hamilton in 2008 and having the upper hand over Kimi Raikkonen until his accident last year. So Massa will want to come back strong and assert himself as much as Alonso wants to do the same at his new team.
Alonso will also have to content with all the other drivers on the track, Ferrari are unlikely to be out on their own fast when compared to all the others and so he’s going to have Michael Schumacher, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton all vying for victories with Ferrari. Some of the other teams like Toro Rosso and Sauber have also shown a turn of speed in the testing so far so if you’re not out front third, fourth, fifth and more will be hotly contested. It’s not going to be an easy year out there.
The absolute minimum he’ll be aiming for a race wins and he’ll be hoping for the title, but what can he do if the Ferrari isn’t all he hoped it was. He’s burnt his McLaren bridges, Mercedes have Michael Schumacher and Red Bull are very settled. He’s at Ferrari for the long term whether it works out or not – we’ll have to wait for another few weeks to see if he’s going to get what he wants.
Popularity: 13%
