Ask Gary: Is Alonso poison to teams?

Is Fernando Alonso's career effectively over?

@_ossie95, via Twitter



I don't think so. Fernando joined Ferrari to win world championships and that hasn't happened for various reasons, but his talent and aggression are still very much in place and I don't think anyone can blame him for losing that touch of motivation recently.


In today's Formula 1 the driver is far too reliant on the performance of the car. If you look at 2013 and '14, the Mercedes drivers are the same talented individuals they were before, it's just the equipment that they had to work with this year was much better.


Alonso doesn't have faith in Ferrari stepping forward so he needs to move on and hope.


Do you get the sense that Alonso is like poison to the dynamics of a team, as some are saying?

Richard Durishin, via Twitter



Fernando Alonso is not poison to any team - he is a very talented driver with two world championships under his belt and he simply wants results.

When he is in an F1 car he works as hard as, if not harder than, most other drivers and he expects the team to do the same.


We have seen heroic drives from him on many occasions, and the team he has been driving for has appreciated it - because it has known that the equipment at his disposal was not capable of what he had just done with it.

Just go back to 2012 - the car was a real dog yet he brought Ferrari results that it could only dream about.

Do you like the idea of F1 varying its race format - reversed grids, different length races, qualifying races or something like this?

Richard Blake, via email



There are many things that can be done to Formula 1 but for me the most important is to recognise what is wrong with it and then fix that. Most people will have a different opinion and in reality that is why nothing ever seems to happen.


I want to see a full grid of 26 cars and for a minimum of 10 of those cars to start a race with a competitive chance of winning. It's now about coming up with a race format that will achieve that.



The format we have now doesn't really breed exciting racing. We have the fastest car on pole position and for some reason we expect to see an exciting race - can anyone tell me why?

The fastest car with the fastest driver in it should just disappear into the distance. Oh yes, that is what happens, so the format achieves what it is supposed to.



Reversed grids with the championship leader starting at the back would give us competitive racing all through the field.

Some days he would get through to the front and others he wouldn't, but I am sure overall it would give us a more rounded champion because he would not only have to be quick and decisive, he would also have to handle the traffic.

Any driver I have known that has been forced to start at the back and has come through to score big points has always remembered that race more than the ones he led and won from the front.



Two shorter races would mean that the mid-race dragged-out bit would disappear.

I'm sure a lot of viewers watch the beginning of the race and if it's a cliffhanger they continue. But more often than not I'm sure they wander away and come back for the end.



So from my point of view a complete change of format to a combination of both of the above would end up far more exciting and challenging than what we have now - but then, as I said at the beginning, everyone has their own opinion.


Why were the new nose configurations only brought in for F1 and not GP2/GP3?

@keelingover, via Twitter



That's the million-dollar question and I don't understand it either.

When you consider that the drivers in GP3 and GP2 are the guys that are less experienced, then if this change of nose height is for safety it should be brought in across the board.

I am sure someone out there will say it is for financial reasons but safety should be the prime mover.

All of that said, I don't actually agree that the 2014 F1 nose is safer - we just haven't had a car go underneath another one on the grid yet.



What could F1 learn from the WEC, if anything?

Ryan O'Brne, via Twitter



I think any series can learn from another. WEC is very good at just getting on and doing things and not really shouting too much about it. The manufacturers seem to take it as their challenge.

The one thing you do need to consider is that the WEC is made up of many classes, and if the regulations that the LMP1 cars run to were across the board - as in F1 - then many of the small teams would disappear.

That is what is happening to F1 right now so perhaps the first thing that F1 could learn from WEC is how to get a grid full of cars that are affordable to different levels of team income.



What do you think about Formula E? Do you like the format?

@SantosTB08, via Twitter


I want to see hard racing from start to finish and I don't think Formula E gives us that.

I'm sure it's a spectacle and as long as the paying public support it then that is what it will always be. It's also a good retirement home for out-of-work F1 drivers!


In my opinion we have far too many different formulas, every man and his dog seems to want to create their own series.


What I think is required is a rationalisation of all the one-make formulas.

From a driver's point of view, where do you go to show your real talent?

From an engineer's point of view, you can change springs all day long but when are you going to learn about revising suspension geometries or aerodynamic developments and configuration?

In a one-make formula you just can't do these things.



Do you think we will see more engine manufacturers in the current V6-hybrid era?

Markus Arnsten, via Facebook



Hopefully, yes, but I think a few of them will be waiting to see how Honda performs.

To get the first engine to the track is a huge investment for any company so you need to be fairly committed to going all the way.

If Honda comes in and is competitive then I think others will look at it as achievable over a short term.


The most important thing for any company that is looking at getting involved is that F1 shows leadership and regulation stability, and over the past couple of years this has not happened.

As the teams get more vocal it seems to be getting worse.


Next year is a big one for Mercedes. When you consider that what it had for 2014 was left by the hard work and vision of Ross Brawn, it will not be an easy act to follow.



Also, when you are at the top of the ladder there are not many steps left to take, so developments are not as easy to come by.

That said, Mercedes started 2014 with about 0.7 seconds on the field and it ended it more or less in the same position, so that shows the team is in control of what it's doing.



I think Mercedes will still be at the front but the competition will be tougher.

Red Bull and Williams don't need to find much and the pressure on Mercedes will change from being a planned development direction to a reactive development direction - that is when you see who can think outside the box.