Alonso and Renault: A new adventure begins

The double world champion Fernando Alonso started working this week with the Renault team. The Spaniard officially joined the Enstone-based team on January 1st. The reason being, he was contracted to McLaren-Mercedes until December 31st.

Alonso has therefore returned to the team that made him a two-time world champion (in 2005 and 2006) after just one season with the British team.

The Iberian is therefore very interested in the development of the Renault R28, a car that should bring Renault back to the podiums. The team was only able to finish one race on the podium with Heikki Kovalainen, who stepped in for Alonso when he left for McLaren.

Alonso will be back on track in two weeks in Jerez for the first private tests of the year. From January 14 to 16, he will be testing in the south of Spain with only a Renault R27. But, a week later, he will do his first full laps in the R28 in Valencia.

Reactions in the F1 world are piling up: The Spanish daily, El Pais, describes 2007 as the horrible year for Fernando Alonso.

The British commentator and former F1 driver Martin Brundle points out the behavior of the 26-year-old man, revealing to ITV that he has lost, over the past year, some respect and his will to win compared to his titles in 2005 and 2006: « I almost idolized Fernando Alonso after 2005 and 2006, » he said.

Brundle therefore claims that Alonso’s behavior disappointed him because instead of stepping up a gear as Michael Schumacher would have done, he attempted to slow down Lewis Hamilton, his teammate but probably his greatest rival.

He finally states that Alonso has always had a difficult character, and that Flavio Briatore managed this character in the best possible way, whereas Ron Dennis for McLaren was incapable. This is probably, in the end, the reason why the Spaniard is back at Renault. Let’s see how it will work this time, concluded Brundle.