Former Ferrari President Luca Di Montezemolo has described former driver Fernando Alonso as lacking in the area of being a team player when compared to previous drivers at the Italian team.
Alonso joined the Scuderia in 2010 and immediately hit the ground running with a victory in the opening race in Bahrain. He went on to win ten further races during his five-year stint with the team before leaving for McLaren-Honda at the end of the 2014 season under acrimonious circumstances.
The Spaniard fought for two titles in 2010 and 2012 against Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, but narrowly lost out on both occasions. The former president doesn't lay the blame on Alonso for those losses, instead praising him on his strengths as a driver comparing him with Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and Vettel, who now races for Ferrari.
Speaking to Formula 1's official podcast, 'Beyond The Grid' podcast, Di Montezemolo mentioned Alonso was happy when he was winning, but when he wasn't, he laid the blame at the teams' door, showing his connection with the Italian outfit was not like that of former drivers like Michael Schumacher and Niki Lauda.
“He was Alonso, not Alonso-Ferrari,” said Di Montezemolo. “When he wins, he’s happy. When he doesn’t win, it’s the problem of the team, he’s unhappy.
“In other words, he’s less close to the team than Michael and Niki, particularly in the difficult moments. To be close to the team in the good moments is easy.
“In terms of performance, Fernando was very good. For me, Alonso is with Hamilton and Vettel and in the race, he’s very close to Michael. In the race, Alonso was and is a fantastic driver. He lost the championship [in 2010 and 2012] not for his mistakes.
“If he won one championship, today we are talking about something different. We are talking that Alonso, despite many years he didn’t have the best car, he was able to win the championship. Alonso is very strong.”
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