Extreme Makeover: Alonso Edition

There was one question everyone wanted to ask Fernando Alonso in Valencia this week - what's the story with the severe new haircut?

Not surprisingly, the cynics had already suggested it was done to appease Ron Dennis' desire for neatness and uniformity, which contrasts so starkly with Flavio Briatore's preference for a more colourful, shaggy approach.

"It was not a McLaren decision," smiled Fernando. "It was completely my decision. I wanted to cut my hair last year, but I'm so superstitious, and I didn't want to cut my power."

It might have been a personal choice, but the new image was somehow symbolic of the start of this latest chapter in Fernando's career. And it was rather nice of Ron and new sponsor Vodafone to lay on the best possible welcome party in Valencia as they showcased the new silver and red Alonso front of the Spanish fans who had grown so accustomed to cheering for a man in blue and yellow.

Some 13 months have passed since Fernando was announced as a McLaren driver, but only in the last couple of weeks has he really got into overdrive with his new employer. Prior to Monday's event he had been on team duty more or less non-stop since the start of the year and on Wednesday the serious stuff really began when he took his first laps in the new MP4-22.

It's already very apparent that this is a marriage made in heaven, and that both parties are even happier than they might have expected when the deal was done. Perhaps the long lead-time has contributed to the current euphoria, as it has given both sides plenty of time to consider what might have happened had they taken an alternative path. Both have no doubt come to the conclusion that they got their decisions, and their timing, just right.

Fernando Alonso drives the McLaren on the streets of Valencia © LAT

Not counting the brief Nigel Mansell debacle, the only other world champion Ron Dennis has brought to McLaren was Niki Lauda, and he did pretty well. Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna (and for that matter Juan Pablo Montoya) had shown championship-chasing form elsewhere, and just needed the circumstances to be right. Mika Hakkinen and Kimi Raikkonen had done their apprenticeships and shown some potential, but to some degrees they were gambles. Stealing Fernando away from Renault looks like a no-brainer.

To understand Fernando's side of the arrangement you have to go back to October-December 2005, when he was romanced and won over by Dennis. Raikkonen had just pushed Alonso hard for the title and McLaren clearly had the quicker (but less reliable) car for much of that season.

In Fernando's mind there were doubts about the long-term commitment of both Renault and Flavio Briatore, and there was no reason to assume that Renault's 2005 form would automatically carry into the V8 era. One assumes that there was also a significant financial incentive to move on, one that he believed that Renault couldn't match.

Quitting the team that had given him his break was a big decision, but as in any walk of life leaving the nest and taking on the next challenge can be extremely appealing, however comfortable you might be. Sometimes a driver can feel that he's taken a little for granted, perhaps because everyone he works with has known him since he was a wide-eyed novice. Go somewhere else as a proven champion, and you are perceived in a very different way.

It all makes sense, but at the time the news was a shock. It's easy to forget that we used to view Fernando as much a part of the Renault fabric as Lewis Hamilton is at McLaren right now.

Alonso's move does of course have uncanny parallels with Michael Schumacher's switch to Ferrari. That switch also came on the back of two world championships after five years in the Briatore camp. If you're talking challenges, you could argue that the Scuderia was in a much worse state back then than McLaren is in now, but then again Ferrari did win a race in '95, something that McLaren failed to do in '06.

At Valencia Fernando really was like a kid in a candy store, and there was a lot of talk about high levels of motivation on both sides. McLaren is gradually discovering a driver who is very different from his immediate predecessors, and takes more of an active interest in everything that is going on than anyone they've had since Senna. His personality, which made him adored by all at Renault, is doing the rest.

Fernando Alonso flees from spectators during a test session at Valencia © XPB/LAT

"I call it 'new McLaren' because with all the new sponsors and everything it feels like a new team," said Fernando on Monday. "And all the people are so excited about this new year, this new project, after not having success in the past, they feel that this is the year to come back.

"I feel confident. I feel more confident even than last year at the beginning of the season. We changed from V10 to V8, I was in Renault, I was thinking what's going to happen this year with the V8? This year with McLaren I'm not thinking what is going to happen with the new team, I think it will be OK with the new team.

"With the team I've been working 10 days in a row basically in January, and it feels very good. The atmosphere in the team has really impressed me, how they focus on winning.

"It's probably the nicest car I've had in my hands, but we need it to be quick, not nice, so we'll see. I think all the information we have now from the wind tunnel and the engine side, it's so good, it's maybe too good to be real! So we need to put the car on the track and see what exactly is the performance of this year's car."

Fernando discovered that when he ran the MP4-22 on Wednesday, and crucially he had a good reference point. Getting him into the old car on the last day of 2006 testing was a huge coup for McLaren. It gave driver and team a chance to get to know each other a month earlier than expected. Sitting in the cockpit and getting down to business with the engineers is worth more than weeks of talking.

"Neither Martin (Whitmarsh) nor I was involved in the process," said Ron Dennis. "I saw this always as a contractual issue between Renault and Fernando, and he asked Renault to be released. Obviously Flavio discussed it with his colleagues and they agreed to release him, and we facilitated him to drive the car for a day, under very clear guidelines. Obviously no branding, and what we said both then and now was very limited.

"No one at any stage asked for money, and there was no money paid. Where that came from, I don't know. There was never the issue. In the end this was a matter between Fernando and Renault. It was almost at the end of the year, they were very comfortable to do it, and we were delighted that it happened."

If that's the case, the free release was one of the best bargains Dennis has ever had. "I think it was an invaluable experience," he added. "It gave us a very clear confirmation of where we were on the interface of the tyre and the car, which was very important. He made some observations; it would be totally inappropriate to make any comment about comparisons, he just came out of the test very excited."

Fernando Alonso tests the McLaren MP4-22 Mercedes © XPB/LAT

Fernando himself plays down the value of that day in the grand scheme of things, but nevertheless admits that having a go in the old car did have some specific benefits.

"I learned not so much I think," he said when I asked him about it this week. "It was a one-day test, and the team was similar to what I used to. The best thing of that test was the tyre situation, having less grip in the tyres. Not changing your driving approach but having less grip makes the car a little more difficult. It's good because if not I was testing the new car now in January, and maybe I was thinking that it was the car, that lack of grip, so it was good to have a comparison between last year and this year's car."

Details like cockpit comfort preferences and familiarity with the car's controls were certainly useful. One very specific reason for getting him into the car early was to get a handle - no pun intended - on Fernando's very specific driving style. His aggressive turn-in worked at Renault, but clearly there were concerns that it might be an issue and require some major set-up changes. That bonus month gave the team an extra chance to tweak the new car to suit him, but it seems that there were no real dramas.

"I feel OK, I feel comfortable with everything so far," said Fernando. "In the test I ran with Pedro's set-up from the previous day, and I had no difficulties, so that was good news for us, because we don't need to change too many things.

"For sure I will need to adapt a little bit, and the car needs to adapt a little bit. This is normal. It's not because it's a new team. If I stayed at Renault, I needed to adapt myself a little bit to the tyres and the car also a little bit to the demands of the tyres, so there were no surprises. Everything was according to plan, and nothing to worry about at the moment."

Martin Whitmarsh concedes that it was a relief to all concerned that the driving style issue was not a problem. "I think Fernando has a distinctive driving style by comparison with his colleagues in F1 - clearly a pretty effective one - and there was a thought inevitably to what extent does he tune that to Renault, or was the Renault being tuned to him," said Whitmarsh. "It was a much lesser issue, virtually no issue at all, when we put him in the car with next year's tyres. It was a very confidence-boosting day for him and the team."

Second test driver Gary Paffett agrees that the matter was overplayed and said: "Fernando's style, if you looked at every race last year, wasn't always the same. I think the reason he did it in some places was to get around problems that they had with the front of their car. Rather than it being the way Fernando drives, it was the way Fernando had to drive to make that car competitive. I think that however way Fernando will drive the car it's going to be quick, I don't think there are going to be major changes to affect our development process."

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso © XPB/LAT

One specific benefit that Fernando brings is that this year's McLaren has more of a rearward weight bias, and that is what Alonso has been used to at Renault. Whitmarsh admits that as time passes there will be lots of areas where the Spaniard's accumulated knowledge will be valuable.

"However much you try to do everything the best possible way, it's useful having someone who is astute and intelligent with the credibility of Fernando to come and say why are you doing that, why are you doing this," said the McLaren Chief Operating Officer.

"It's early days yet. There are mixed emotions. You'd like him to come on board and say, 'This is perfect, I can't improve upon it.' I'll be pleased when he finds - which he will do - things that he can contribute to. And I think there's every sign that he will."

Interestingly Alonso himself insists that despite his inexperience Lewis Hamilton will also play a role in determining what direction McLaren takes.

"Lewis will I think be a help for the team," he noted this week. "In a way he has no experience, so we can think that maybe he's not helping the team, at least at the beginning of the season. But I think completely the opposite. I think because he's young and quick he can give us some fresh ideas into the team, and some fresh air, that maybe we need. Because sometimes F1 teams get stuck in some of the ideas, traditions, things like that, and I think we can get something from Lewis.

"We will be doing teamwork a lot. I think it's one of the things that are changing in McLaren a lot this year. They're really focusing on the team, on getting both drivers the same conditions, and between us we'll work together to improve the car. I think Lewis will have a very good opportunity because between all of us, we can improve.

"I will learn things from him, because as I said sometimes it's fantastic to change your ideas, and he will learn a lot from everybody in the team as well. I feel really, really optimistic with this relationship."

Fernando Alonso suffers teething problems on the new McLaren © XPB/LAT

It's clear that McLaren insiders feel the team has created a championship-winning package, but the ever-cautious Fernando is reserving judgement for now.

"There are always top teams like Ferrari, Renault, Honda that will be fighting for sure," he said. "And maybe surprises, like maybe Toyota are quick this year, or BMW. Who knows? But at the end of the year there will be only two of these teams fighting for the championship, and hopefully McLaren will be one of them."

Inevitably we're going to hear a lot of talk of comparisons between Alonso and Raikkonen this year. The world is waiting to see how the winter shuffle plays out, and if any McLaren folk have already made judgements, they're not about to say anything publicly.

But there is one intriguing aspect that hasn't really been touched upon.

Last year Jean Todt and Ross Brawn made it crystal clear that Kimi had always been their target as Michael's successor, and Fernando had never entered the equation. If Alonso needed any further motivation to become the first man since Fangio to win consecutive titles with different teams, that curious snub will surely be it.