Alonso and Ferrari: in it together

For a man who had just lost the world championship, Fernando Alonso seemed unusually happy after the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Then again, he knew his McLaren nightmare was over after a bizarre season of controversy, spy scandals and a catastrophic breakdown in the relationship between team and driver.

He could perhaps afford to take a perverse delight in Kimi Raikkonen taking the crown for Ferrari. He could be sure his time would come again.

Alonso had won the drivers' championship in the previous two seasons and, at 26, the future was bright, especially with Michael Schumacher out of the reckoning. The idea of a Ferrari future was already rattling around in his head even if he had to take a short-term step backwards by returning to Renault.

Almost six years on and still Alonso is still 'only' a two-time world champion. There have been two near-misses but generally he has been cast as the outsider. Over the past three-and-a-half years, he has watched Sebastian Vettel rack up one...two...three and soon perhaps even four titles.

Life in F1 has not exactly worked out as Alonso expected since that day at Interlagos.

Alonso's last world championship came back in 2006 with Renault © LAT

Alonso turned 32 on the Monday following the Hungarian GP. Far from his desired present of a title-winning car, his big gift was a public dressing down from Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo.

The relationship between Alonso and Ferrari has become tense and you can't blame the Spaniard for becoming frustrated. But both sides, deep down, must realise their best chance of future success is with each other.

While Alonso's tentative flirtation with Red Bull reveals his dissatisfaction, a move to Milton Keynes is hardly likely while Vettel remains there.

He can't exactly go back to McLaren and several other team bosses are understandably wary of the baggage Alonso carries with him, primarily his determination that things be done his way.

There is a running joke in the paddock that it is Alonso, not Stefano Domenicali, who is team principal at Ferrari. It is this sense of entitlement the recent public rebuke was perhaps designed to prick.

It would be wrong to portray Alonso as the innocent victim in this. He has played a part in backing himself into this corner where there is no sure-fire title-winning alternative to Ferrari in the medium-term.

But he is worthy of tremendous admiration given his qualities behind the wheel and it would be unsatisfying to watch him bow out of grand prix racing without joining Ayrton Senna, Jack Brabham, Nelson Piquet and Niki Lauda in the triple champions club.

If that is to happen, it has to be with Ferrari. The question is, can the Scuderia up its game?

Alonso's acrimonious year with McLaren has limited his options © XPB

Inevitably, there is a quick-fix mentality demanding very complex problems be resolved instantly. After all, the argument goes, Ferrari has tremendous resources so it must deliver.

It is not that simple because there is a huge amount of lag in the system and the task is akin to turning a juggernaut around.

Ferrari's struggles are rooted in its dominance in the first decade of the 21st century. It poured its resources into track testing and the empirical model of parts development.

For example, if you try 100 parts and 20 per cent of the yield a positive outcome, that is great provided you can get through enough bits and pieces. But when you can't test, your strike rate needs to be many times better than one in five. The bottom line is, you need to know exactly why things are working, not simply that they do. This is where Adrian Newey's Red Bull has excelled.

Other teams, either by necessity or through prescience, invested in 'dry' technologies to improve their strike rate with new parts. Since in-season testing was banned, Ferrari has been playing catch-up. So it comes as no surprise to see too many upgrades not delivering the goods over the past couple of years.

In the background, things are happening. The windtunnel correlation problems were diagnosed early last year. The tunnel itself is still not up and running - which was always going to be the case. So realistically, 2013 was always likely to be another season of treading water.

The arrival of James Allison is encouraging. But he cannot snap his fingers and create an instant turnaround. His partnership with Pat Fry is promising as both bring different skill sets to the table and the optimistic view of the future is that Allison will bolster the process Fry has undertaken.

Far from his replacement, he could become a key ally for Fry, who has not always found Ferrari willing to embrace the technical changes he knows need to be made.

At 32, Alonso can't afford to waste much more time pursuing a third crown © LAT

Which brings us back to Alonso. It would be wrong to characterise him as on the brink of retirement. After all, at 32 he can easily keep going for five or more years, provided the will is there. But he is no longer in his mid-20s with the F1 world at his feet. Things change too quickly for that to be the case.

If Ferrari cannot dramatically turn around its fortunes this year - and there is no reason why it should - that will be a seventh season without a title.

And if the Ferrari engine isn't strong enough to take the title next year, it could take even longer to get back into a winning position even if the chassis side is improved.

Alonso is a calm character, but also a forceful one. He is driven by a burning desire to become a triple world champion and will be all too aware of the ever-increasing volume of the ticking clock that is now a quiet presence in the background.

He is relentless behind the wheel in a race situation when he is content, but if dissatisfied for any reason he has a history of getting ragged. There have been a few glimpses of that this year and, more than anything, it will be in the cockpit that we will get the clearest idea of how confident the Spaniard is in Ferrari's prospects.

But it will also be fascinating to see how Alonso conducts himself at Spa this weekend. He has a well-honed ability to communicate exactly what he thinks about a situation without ever explicitly saying something that could get him in trouble. Perhaps that skill will come in handy over the coming days.

Superficially, his message is likely to be positive and conciliatory, toeing the party line laid out by Domenicali yesterday. But Alonso will have only one agenda on his mind - pushing the team in the direction he believes is necessary to give him that third title.

Alonso once had all the time in the world. But he can't afford to waste much more of it.

He and Ferrari are in it together.