Despite being the subject of media speculation throughout the season, Fernando Alonso has put an end to the uncertainty over his position at Ferrari by committing himself to the team for the foreseeable future; but the Scuderia must now give him the tools to fight at the front.

Alonso's contract is set to expire at the end of the 2016 and he has indicated that he has no desire to leave the team despite Ferrari struggling to produce a competitive car in recent years. Combined with the fact that McLaren has made no secret of its desire to lure the Spaniard back to Woking, the Tifosi have rightly been concerned about the future of their beloved team.

It has been another turbulent year at Maranello in a season where there were initially reasons for optimism at the start of the campaign. The return of a rejuvenated Kimi Raikkonen to partner Alonso resulted in the Italian outfit having arguably the strongest driver pairing on the grid but the Finn's second spell has failed to live up to expectations.

Despite being behind the wheel of a struggling Ferrari, Alonso has underlined his ability as a driver and his importance within the team with a string of impressive performances. The Spaniard has featured on the podium twice this year with a third place finish in China that came shortly after the team parted company with former team principal Stefano Domenicali, as well as a second place finish in Hungary.

One of the positives of the F14 T has been its reliability. The Italian Grand Prix being the first race where a Ferrari was forced to retire through a mechanical problem this year and also the first time that Alonso failed to finish a race due to a failure with his since he joined the Scuderia in 2010. However, while the car has proven to be robust on the track, Ferrari needs consistency away from the circuit if it is to challenge the frontrunners next season.

Losing Alonso to another team doesn't bear thinking about for Ferrari. It has won just 12 times in the last five years - 11 victories coming from Alonso with five in 2010 alone - which is simply is not good enough for a team that has aspirations to fight at the front every season.

In order to for the Prancing Horse to lead the pack once again, it is crucial that it keeps Alonso at the helm. The 33-year-old brings the perfect blend of experience and raw speed to a team that is relying on its drivers to go above and beyond the call of duty in a car that is simply not as quick as its rivals. However Fernando is not getting any younger and is well aware that time is running out if he is add a third drivers' championship to his name.

Alonso currently occupies fifth place in the drivers' standings, collecting almost three times the amount of points for Ferrari than his teammate in the process. Ferrari will be optimistic that it can fend off the threat of Williams for third place in the championship but it is Alonso's contribution that will determine whether or not it will be able to do so.

While some may question whether or not Ferrari will be able to get back to winning ways in the near future it is important it has a dependable driver capable of exerting the maximum from the car during this barren spell - and Alonso delivers just that.

Andy Alston

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by petes, 11/09/2014 23:43

"@Paul C I'll take your post sentence by sentence.....
1. Pinnacle team of F1 only in terms of the huge suck on Bernie's tit. Not that I'm against the suck, per se - after all if he was stupid enough, Ferrari just don't seem to have the results to justify the pinnacle word.
2 & 3. No argument there.
4. Sure......as witnessed by the now thankfully departed Luca's, recent forlorn bleating.
5. And let's not overlook the 'special' treatment they received in turn from said tire company with extra special 'Ferrari only' tires that no other team got to use."

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2. Posted by macca_boy, 11/09/2014 4:20

"I usually don't post comments on sites, but there has been so much buzz about Alonso lately that I feel I have to express my opinion as the loyal F1 fan I have been for more than 25 years and on a serious site like Pitpass, which I have also followed for a long time.

There is no denying in Alonso's sheer speed, tremendous consistency and overall outstanding capability behind the wheel. The best all around driver of the last few years in terms of talent? Yeah, I would say so. The best of all times? Please, no way!

All that being said, there is also no denying in the fact that there has not
been a more selfish driver in F1 for the last several decades than him. Sure, some will claim that "all successful drivers need to be ruthless, have big egos and think about only themselves". Alonso though outdoes them all, easily.

If you look at his career, he has quickly turned his back at every single team he has driven for. Putting Minardi aside, at Renault he only was happy (and the team
happy with him) for the first
couple of years, and especially as the title fell into his hands in 2005 thanks to McLaren's horrible reliability. He would not finish that season without already showing signs of his true character, and just a few months after clinching the title
he would turn his back on none other than Briattore, his protege, to go to McLaren (Ron Dennis should have realized Briattore was going to get back at him for that, although that's a separate book all in itself). He would then spend 2006 constantly whinning and complaining of solitude and injustices while his team did nothing but giving him a car that delivered his second title.

He then arrived at McLaren and, dear God, I have never seen such despicable behaviour from a driver ever before or since (or a sportsman in general). Some people
like to blame Dennis for what happened. I am sure he bore some of the responsibility. But, what Alonso did was simply outrageous, dishonest and ruthless. In fact, you could even claim it could have been illegal since he blackmailed his team principal (with information that, by the way, he had been receiving from the competition himself).

One can only remember the wide smile he had at Spa after McLaren had been expelled and fined, or the cynical way in which he told Peter Windsor in an interview that McLaren did not deserve to win the drivers title (leaving Windsor and the other journalists around simply shocked). Of course there was also Hungary, where he showed that he could be more ruthless, calculating and cynical than Schumacher (a tall order!) while just the previous season he had been the most vociferous attacker against the German after Rascasse-gate.

And to put the icing on the cake, there were the despicable tactics of Sao Paulo and Mosley playing along his game. How can we forget his once again gigantic smile after the race ended and Hamilton had not won the championship? Any other driver would have been deeply dissappointed on missing the title by a single point. Him? No, he was just happy Hamilton did not get it and Dennis got spanked. That was the showing of his personal revenge against a team that has always had the philosophy of not designatinf a number one driver.

Then of course he went back to his protege and we had crash-gate. To believe he had no knowledge or nothing to do with that, especially after witnessing his true being the year before, is to be blind or stupid. How can we forget his answer when confronted by the media requesting he delinquished that race win due to what had happened?

And then, his tormented marriage with Ferrari, a team that, back in 2005 he had accused of being one of "the teams that cheat" on the same press conference where BAR's 2 race ban was being discussed. That comment ensured Todt would never welcome Alonso at Ferrari, which ended up being a point of contention a few years later when Montezemolo wanted Schumacher out and Todt was pushing for Raikkonen instead.

When Alonso found himself with a Renault team on the brink of dissapearing and no opened doors at any other big team thanks to his tarnished reputation from spygate and crashgate he was suddenly full
of praise of Ferrari. With Todt out
of the way, he got what he wanted.

Or, did he? Because, his raw talent aside, it has been very clear that after the 2010 season finale his honeymoon was over. Yes, he has put horrendous cars in spots where they did not belong, and he's had chances of wining champiomships with far inferior equipment thanks to his consistency, but he has also been unhappy and constantly looking for a way out. A way that, deservedly, he has not found.

All the theatrical antics of hugs and words of admiration between Montezemolo and Alonso since 2011 have been nothing more than that.
It is well known that they can't stand each other, and this has to do with the fact that Montezemolo knows Alonso has been trying to turn his back on Ferrari for a long time. A contract has never been so binding in recent F1 history than his, and Luca made sure of that as a punishment.

These "assurances" that he has made, in the past and recently, are only one of his usual antics of being two faced. He tells the media he is happy, trusts the team and wants to extend his contract, while also paying very conspicuous visits to Red Bull's motorhome to beg Horner to hire him (Hamilton, by the way, did the same before signing for MB).

This is why Montezemolo very publicly rebuked Alonso several times. This is also why Domenicalli brought Kimi back, as a tactic to show Alonso he was very wrong in thinking he was indispensable. Luca does not like Kimi, but he had been so sick of Alonso's attitude that he went along with the plan. In the end, I am sure one big reason why Domenically threw the towel was because he was fed up with Alonso.

Just ask members of every team Alonso has driven for if he was a loved figure, and the answer will be no. Respected? Yes. Admired? Yes. Loved? No.

Why? Simply because he is highly disruptive. Alonso is never happy, never satisfied, and he never really thinks about the team until his own ambitions are satisfied. As ruthless as Schumacher was on track, outside the car he was a true leader for Ferrari. Like him or not (and I didn't), he had the ability of rallying the team around him. He never criticized them publicly (except maybe on a few rare occasions). Remember his reaction in Suzuka 2006 after his engine blew up? Do you think Alonso would have reacted the same way? Try watching a reply of when Alonso got out of his car at
the last race in 2010 to get an idea :)

The truth is, now with Montezemolo gone and with potential major changes at Ferrari, the last they need is a disruptive figure. Alonso is a great driver but he is not a leader.
Nor is he a great car developer (that, honestly, is a myth in this era where the engineers and wind tunnels do everything). He is selfish, egocentric, two faced and indecipherable (like Aldo Costa stated).

Why Horner, or Dennis (especially him), or Frank would want him in their teams is beyond me.

Such a great talent, and such a waste at the same time."

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3. Posted by Paul C, 10/09/2014 3:19

"Fernando stays with Ferrari because it is the pinnacle team of F1. Ferrari has to stay with Fernando because he is one of a few drivers who will and can flog a car beyond it's limits without losing control. Until Kimi gets his attitudes under control and does the same, Alonso is the lead driver of the team. Another aspect of this is that Ferrari is more testing dependent than the other top F1 teams. Being the tire testing team for F1 during the Bridgestone era gave Ferrari the mileage to make the cars work."

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4. Posted by nealio, 09/09/2014 17:23

"Such a tragedy that Fernando hasn't had a competitive car since joining Ferrari, a waste of his talent and I'm amazed that he continues to race so hard, never giving up while knowing that victory is a near impossibility."

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Alonso's assurances give Ferrari stability when it needs it most

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