The Hindu : Sport : Alonso looks to put McLaren on top

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Alonso looks to put McLaren on top

The defending champion is chasing 50-year record

MOVING FORCE: Fernando Alonso, snapped at a promotional event, holds the key to McLaren's fortunes as the new Formula One season roars ahead on Sunday. — Photo: AFP

Melbourne: Looking for his third consecutive Formula One drivers' title, Fernando Alonso will be trying to turn things around for a McLaren team that failed to win a race in 2006.

Alonso, the 2004 and 2005 champion with Renault, knows it might take a little time. But he will bring the prestigious No.1 to his car, signifying him as champion. The last time there was a No. 1 car for McLaren was in 2000, the year after Mika Hakkinen won the title.

"The 2006 season for McLaren was not so good," Alonso said this week. But he added that testing went well this winter, with the McLaren cars driven by him and another newcomer, Lewis Hamilton, generally right behind the Ferraris.

"You have to clarify things and put the car on the track and see if all the information you have from the engine and everything is optimistic for 2007, and we can be competitive and we can fight with the top teams again," the Spaniard said. "The beginning has been very good, and now it is up to us to keep it up."

A team in transition

McLaren is the only team in 2007 with two new drivers. Team boss Ron Dennis described it as a "breath of fresh air," saying Alonso and Hamilton brought new motivation to everyone in the organisation.

The team lost Kimi Raikkonen to Ferrari and Juan Pablo Montoya to NASCAR.

Hamilton, a 21-year-old Englishman who is the sport's first black driver, won the GP2 and F3 championships for the last two years running.

Alonso knows there is more than just the car and drivers involved in creating a winning team.

"You need to be lucky," he said. "You need to develop the car every race and improve and beat the competitors."

Alonso had plenty of success at Renault, and some luck when Michael Schumacher was challenging him at the end of last season.

They were tied entering the last two races, but Schumacher's Ferrari blew an engine in Japan and punctured a tyre in Brazil.

After a string of "youngest-ever" records, Alonso is going after a 50-year-record set by one of the sport's greats.

Only Juan Manuel Fangio has won three straight titles while changing teams, doing it with Maserati, Mercedes and Ferrari from 1954 to 1957, while winning four straight. Schumacher won five straight from 2000 to 2004 on his way to seven titles, but all were with Ferrari.

Schumacher won world titles in 1994 and 1995 for Benetton, but dropped to third when he switched to Ferrari in 1996.

Alonso, who turns 26 in July, will try to better Schumacher once again. He already has become the youngest driver to take a pole position, win a race and take two titles in Formula One.

There's a very short list of three-time champions in Formula One, comprising of Jack Brabham, Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna, Jackie Stewart, Fangio, Alain Prost and, of course, Schumacher.

But this could be the year that witnesses the return of Ferrari. Raikkonen and Felipe Massa will contend for the top spot in the team — Ferrari has said it will allow open competition between its two drivers this season, something it didn't have while Schumacher was around.

Renault has a line up of a new Finn, Heikki Kovalainen, and veteran Giancarlo Fisichella, who won the Australian Grand Prix last year. Fisichella didn't win another race last season and is eager to show what he can do without Alonso around. — AP

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