Personally I can't stand him and have heard many a horror stories from a Renault test team mechanic about him smashing things up if he was beaten. But on the flip side of it I think his ego is only as big as the other top line drivers, who simply do a better job of disguising it and love him or hate him, Alonso probably does have the extra one percent that puts him above everyone else. I think 2007 simply saw his ego take more than a battering than he could stand and it simply put him off his game. My only concern is that Renault have a history of NOT adapting initially to major aerodynamic changes, so 2010 might be more their year. But I'd like to be proved wrong.

and yeah' old pat's a star isn't he? but it's funny i always get the 'he doesn't quite fit in' feeling with him in Reanault. perhaps it's my distrust of Flavio's aggressive man management. but i think pat is definitely cut from the same cloth as Brawn...or visa versa.

spunky. Yeah' six tenths, i'd all but forgotten about that, jeez what a year of toeing and froing between egos that was. yeah' you're right and there's really no reason to believe otherwise is there? i mean like him or loathe him he's red hot isn't he and has that knack of being able to communicate what he feels in the cockpit to his engineers brilliantly. kinda old school infact. so why not mount a charge. the only stick in the mud might be another season with piquet as his rear gunner...'rear' being the operative word. saw him at testing last year at the 'stone' and where old jens and felipe and robert were nailing whatever corner i was standing on time after time he was just a blinking mess and bloomin aida he must've done two point three million laps that day and still couldn't get it all together in the correct order !

Shelby, the 18 was quick but fragile and failed so many crash tests that it was too far into the season to introduce, so there was a 17b, and the next year they skipped straight to the 19. Which was the 18 on steroids to get through tests. But it was still rubbish!

Renault... I hope so. I like hearing what Pat Symonds has to say but they only ever stick a mic under his his nose when the team does well. So it'd be nice for that reason alone. After all the moaning this year about lack of performance parity and a full development year of Alonso's apparent six tenths he carries around with him, they had better mount a charge! It'd also be good for the sport if they do as well.

Sorry my mistake, it was the 18 that never saw the light of day at a race

what you said infact spunky. i was typing at the same time. mp 4/19 thanks for that. do you reckon they'll put up a charge this year?

mp4/19

Adrian Newey had a tendency with mclaren and williams to cut it a bit close to the regs didn't he? Which was the mclaren that failed to appear one season, was it the 17/2? Maybe, maybe not but either way a car failing its safety testing is surely the designer(s) pushing the envelope as absolutely far as they possibly can within the parameters of the rules. which if i was a team owner i'd expect.

About the article... at least Renault are pushing the design envelope this time though. Lets hope they show up with a decent car this year and not have to make excuses all the while. Again.

m.e.jenner: Make sure you don't use that same dictionary that has "gullible" omitted from it, I'm guessing that is the one some people own.

I really must look up the meaning of the word 'ignore' !!

Hey Marion, look what we can do too! Blah, blah. Nonsense and drivel. Etc etc

touronroute in fairness to Brian I think he is commenting about fake Touron. Marion has copied your username subtly, using it to post nonsense, which you no doubt know about. But has clearly achieved exactly what the little prk was aiming for. To get people squabbling.

touronroute, you are just a bull sh-tter, you don't half come-up with some @#$% !
What is it ! my cat is bigger than your's.

GET A LIFE, YOU SOUND LIKE THAT TW-T MARION

BRIAN A, just for you, i am me, nobody else. I know, and have had more involvement in F1 than you will ever see in your life time.

Peru's contribution to the World, Michael Bentine. The only one funnier is MARION.

who is this marion? man with a girls name. bit strange to me. just like his comments.just go away. what a tube

Do you think that 'Marion', 'Touronroute' etc could actually be Bernie Ecclestone in disguise?

Lets face it, the shocking lack of knowledge of F1 is the first giveaway, the second is the poor grasp of the English language - something that hasn't yet reached Bernie's webbed-footed clan just yet in the South east.

Perhaps he is just trying to rile us F1 fans into commenting on the previous years' antics to drum up more business for next year and line his pockets with gold.

If the F1 community didn't have to pay so much money to the FIA then they would be able to race without these huge budgets. Therefore, the first cost cutting measure should be to get rid of Bernie & Max and their entourages.

Maybe he is just nuts?

either way, I wish he would just bugger off and leave F1 comments for the fans.

ps. Marnio from Peru - what has Peru ever given to the world of F1? Nada.
What has Peru ever given to the world apart from Paddington Bear? Not much else.

shut up!

White, blue, green any colour just go away.

Uh Marion ...... it's time for your big white pill .....