“It Hurt the Whole Team”- Former Renault Engineer Believes Fernando Alonso Has Corrected His Biggest Weakness

A week ago, Renault sent the F1 world into a tizzy by announcing the return of Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard returns to the team with whom he had his best years in F1 racing, winning the Drivers’ championship title twice, in 2005 and 2006.

The F1 legend is looking to partner the 24-year-old Frenchman, Esteban Ocon for the 2021 season.

The 38-year-old will bring to the French team a wealth of experience including a winning mentality. This comes as a sigh of relief for the team as well as his young teammate, as Renault plot to make their way back to winning ways.

Seemingly Alonso comes to the French team as the complete package. However, Renault’s former Executive Director of Engineering, Pat Symonds believes that the Alonso of old didn’t really care to understand too much about the team.

Pat Symonds claims that Fernando Alonso doubted Renault in 2005

Symonds was the latest guest to appear on the ‘Beyond The Grid‘ podcast. Speaking of one of Alonso’s only weaknesses, he said, “Arguably one of Fernando’s weaknesses, certainly in the time when he drove for us at Renault, was that he didn’t really understand the ‘team’ part of it.

“The fact that everyone was giving it their best, everyone was pushing just as hard as they could, and everyone wanted to win that championship.

“I think that Fernando sometimes felt that he was alone. There was the infamous incident in Japan in 2005 when he said, ‘The team’s not with me,’ even though we were just about to win the world championship.”

Symonds reflects on how that incident came as a tremendous blow to the entire team’s morale. He said, “It hurt a lot, it hurt the whole team. It was up to us, as the management of the team, particularly myself, to looking after the race team at the time, to try and build people’s spirits up.”

Nevertheless, Symonds believes that competing in the FIA Endurance Championship has helped Alonso understand the importance and functioning of a team.

Therefore, Renault is indeed in for a treat as they will be getting the best all-round version of Alonso. Now whether this version of Alonso can help them win the championship, who knows?

But it definitely looks like a step in the right direction.