Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Ferrari stint earned me more respect - Alonso

Fernando Alonso says his time at Ferrari earned him more respect from people in the F1 paddock.

The Spaniard took back-to-back championships with Renault in 2005 and 2006 but a switch to McLaren the following year resulted in a major falling out and a swift return to Renault. Joining Ferrari in 2010, Alonso missed out on the championship at the final race in his first season in Maranello and again in 2012, but he says producing consistent performances in less competitive cars boosted his standing.

"In reality, after my time at Ferrari, I get more respect in the paddock and in Formula 1 than ever before," Alonso told Spanish publication AS. "I've won two championships and I was world champion but I had a long career in me and when I won those titles it has to be said the Renault was very good in my first year compared to the McLaren in terms of reliability.

"In the second, the Michelins were superior to the Bridgestone. People always talk about the reasons behind those two titles but I've been in F1 for 16 years now and there are fewer discussions now.

"People respect me a lot more now thanks to so many races and performances week in and week out. Sometimes you win, sometimes you don't."

However, Alonso believes he will not be regarded as one of the greatest drivers ever without more titles.

"No, I don't think so. [Gilles] Villeneuve is one of the greatest Ferrari drivers of all time... but for the media it's important to win titles, it's the same philosphy as in football. Winning titles... but that's another thing."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.