By role
September 27 2004

Fernando Alonso has talked briefly with the Spanish press about Trulli’s exit of Renault F1 and the team decision to place Villeneuve on the Renault R24 for the remaining 3 races. The Spaniard believes Villeneuve was the best option to try beat BAR Honda on the Championship. Talking to the Spanish press the Spaniard said that he was surprised to see the departure of his former teammate Jarno Trulli:

“I was surprised (for the change), but Formula 1 is like that. If you do well everyone supports you, if you do badly they kick you out, and that’s what happened to Trulli. The team objective is trying to score points with both cars in the remaining three races in order to finish second on the Constructor’s Championship, and thinking about it, maybe they have chosen the best driver.” Alonso said.

Alonso argued that he does not feel any extra pressure for having a World Champion as teammate:

“No, there is no extra pressure, to finish ahead or behind in a session is not significant. Since I drove on the Nissan Championship all my teammates have been kicked out, and that has never happened to me, so I do not think I have to be worried because Villeneuve is going to be at the next three races.” He concluded.

On the other hand, McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa believes Renault will have a tough chance to regain second place on the WCC:

"I think is not good for a team to change the driver with only 3 races remaining because you loose all the continuity achieved during the year". He said on his web page. "Jacques Villeneuve will need 2 or 3 races to get used to the car and the tam and I believe Renault will loose the second place on the Championship."