Blackmail, Sabotage, Racism, Denial . The F1 Establishment and Fernando Alonso.

By Charles Oladeji.

When I heard another Bernie Eccleston biography titled ‘No Angel’ (the secret life of Bernie Ecclestone by Tom Bower) came out  last week,  I initially dismissed it as another Formula One narrative which would inevitably  state the obvious; Formula One is as complicated, controversial and corrupt as any big money making  business.

I procrastinated downloading it on kindle from Amazon, preferring to wait till the price dropped.

Besides, I assumed most  information on Bernie Eccleston’s leadership in F1 is old hat. We know his roots. We know people like the BRDC members may still be upset with him. We know how determined and ruthless he can be. We also know he revived F1, made it the extravaganza it is today by brokering international deals, and taking a hard line on contractual agreements. We know he’s fought numerous acrimonious battles along the way, and made numerous gaffes and  faux pas.  

What reviewers of the book didn’t expect in middle of all that dirt being dug  and mud slinging  was a direct splatter on Fernando Alonso; an individual I subjectively refer to as  ‘the F1 establishments favorite Driver’.

Bower’s new  book alleges during Alonso’s tumultuous time at McLaren he was prepared to thwart his teammate Lewis Hamilton by nefarious means. With this astounding revelation we’re  presented with an individual ready to blackmail his boss, and sabotage his team mate, on the way to the chequered flag.

Alonso’s threat to expose McLaren spying on Ferrari if he wasn’t made ‘Number One Driver’  has been common knowledge for sometime now, because he wasn’t made number one; and he went on to expose Mclaren anyway.   But informing on Mclaren wasn’t about ‘doing the right thing’, it was about Alonso not getting his way.

What’s surprised many, has been the additional information reveled in Tom Bower’s book on  Eccleston that he sought to get Ron Dennis the then Team Principal  to bend to his will.  He demand McLaren short fuel Hamilton during the Hungarian Grand Prix in August 2007.  This revelation has left many stunned.   There’s no concrete evidence to back this allegation up, but then again, there never is.  Furthermore, judging f Alonso from afar (as most of us can only do in reality) , one is  inclined to believe there has to be some truth in this allegation. Alonso has form.

During the 2008 ‘Crashgate’ scandal involving Nelsinho Piquet Jr. on orders from Flavio Briatore in Singapore,  Alonso denied knowing anything about the plot to see him win the race. Nelson Piquet Sr. was bold enough to suggest Alonso knew what was going on, since Alonso was de facto managing the Renault F1 team in 2008 due to favouritism. The same ‘favouritsm’ Alonso claimed McLaren were giving Lewis because he couldn’t  convince them to relegate Lewis to a supporting role.

Yet, 'The Establishment' chose to ignore his (Piquet Sr.) accusation directed at Alonso almost as if he was above reproach, but took down Briatore and Pat Symonds.  During last years’ team orders debacle, Alonso, also denied instigating or being aware of the infamous radio message ordering Massa to let him pass suggesting Massa was magnanimous,. But, Massa’s body language, and Alonso’s history with team mates tells of different. A recently released video of Alonso testing the new Ferrari F150th Italia  revels the dynamics of any team with Alonso involved. Watch Montezemolo treat Alonso like his most favoured son at the end of the video;  you get a brief glimpse of his team mate.

Then there’s racism. No one’s claiming Alonso’s ever made a racist comment; but, at the height of the battle between Alonso and Hamilton in 2007-08, racism by Alonso’s fans in Spain in particular was rife. Alonso is singularly capable of bringing the ugly underbelly of motorsport to the surface by being who he is, while the establishment continues to laud  his talent,  ‘tut-tuting’ the chaos he creates along the way.  

There seems to be a trend of underhand tactics with Alonso against team mates.  I remember last year someone questioning Alonso’s behaviour on the track during one of the BBC’s F1 Forums featuring  Murray Walker. Mr Walker, claimed Alonso’s behavior was understandable because amongst other things ‘he’s a Latin’. It’s not the first time this ‘Latin Theory’ has been used as a reason to excuse Alonso’s reprehensible behaviour. The Alonso apologist are already defending their man over these new accusations by denying it’s authenticity. Maybe they should check Tom Bower’s background as a writer first.

So there you have it, Alonso might get  fined or penalised here ond there, but the serious stuff that causes chaos around him is left for others to deal with while he denies everything.  We should all expect a casual denial from Alonso in the wake of these new allegations; besides if worse come to worse, the F1 establishment will pull out that tired ‘Latin Theory’ when they defend their favourite Driver....again.