By role
August 5 2003

Spanish press is reporting an argument between Renault F1 driver Fernando Alonso and his boss, Flavio Briatore, after the German GP. Some say Fernando is not happy with the strategy the team has chosen for him on several races this season. In Monaco he wanted to go for a one-stop strategy while in Canada, he thought a different strategy than the rest of the field was responsible of him finishing 4th even after setting the fastest lap of the race.

On Hockenheim, Alonso felt that the team should have let him overtake Trulli after the first pit stop. During 12 laps he was behind the Italian and reportedly was on the radio asking the team to be granted permission to overtake Trulli.

He then made a mistake and was overtaken by Michael Schumacher:

“I was so close to Trulli that I lost the aerodynamics of the car and went off.” He said after the race.

However, the Spanish press is speculating that the real reason may have been his argument with the team on the radio as telemetry showed that he was more than 1.5 seconds away of Trulli at the moment of his trip to the gravel.

At the end of the RACE there was a meeting between the technical team, Pat Symonds and Fernando Alonso were they looked at the times. After one and a half hours the meeting was adjourned and everybody declared they were happy for the podium.

However, Alonso declared for the media:

“There were no team orders because they are not allowed. After the first stop I was faster than him, but by no overtaking Trulli I think my race was not brilliantn since we lost key time with the head of the race, we were going 2nd and 3rd on the race and at the end if it wasn’t for the puncture of Schumcaher we would have ended 4th or 5th.” He said.

“I am not upset, but it is true that this has been a missed chance, as I even led the race. I am happy even if you do not see it. The car goes well and we still have chances to look for another podium position. The tracks that better suit me are Hungaroring and Suzuka.” He concluded.

Jarno avoided any kind of differences with his teammate:

“Fernando’s car was going better than mine at the end of the race, but I think he would not have overtaken me. We are friends, we work together to get a winning car that is giving us many satisfactions.” Said the Italian after his first podium with Renault.