Fernando Alonso and Formula 1's Worst Career Moves
By moving from Ferrari to McLaren, Fernando Alonso might have made a terrible career move. If he has, he'll be in good company—Formula One history is filled with tales of drivers who ended up at the wrong team at the wrong time.
The most recent standout example is, unfortunately, Alonso himself. The Spaniard, considered one of the greatest drivers of his generation, had the misfortune to arrive at Ferrari in 2010 just as the Red Bull juggernaut was starting to roll.
The Scuderia, constructors' champions eight times in the previous 11 years, failed for five years in a row to build a car worthy of the title. Alonso somehow challenged for the drivers' championship twice, but these close calls were in spite of his car, not because of it.
After five years and just 11 wins with the Italian squad, Alonso had had enough and decided to gamble on a switch to McLaren for 2015.
One year later, it appears to have been the wrong call—McLaren, struggling with their terrible new Honda power unit, finished ninth in the 2015 championship, and Alonso scored points on just two occasions. A return to race-winning form in 2016 looks unlikely.
Ferrari, meanwhile, are experiencing something of a resurgence. They won three races last season and look the team most likely to threaten Mercedes' dominance in the season ahead.
But there are no guarantees in F1, and it's too early to say whether Alonso's McLaren move was a good or bad decision. If Honda can find the right solutions in a timely fashion, fans of the future may remember it as one of the best in the sport's history—worthy of inclusion on our list of great moves.
Or it could turn out to be what current evidence—if we put our gut feelings aside—suggests: a bad one, worthy of inclusion on the list that follows.
Here, we look back at five drivers—all of them active in the 17 years since McLaren last won the constructors' championship—who made career moves that, even if they looked reasonable at the time, turned out very badly indeed.
Jean Alesi: Tyrrell to Ferrari in 1991
1 of 5
Jean Alesi is remembered as one of the great unfulfilled talents of the past 30 years. The Frenchman retired at the end of the 2001 season after a 13-year career in which he stood on the podium 32 times but won just a single race.
Had he made a different decision in 1990, his name may instead be associated with multiple world titles.
Alesi made his F1 debut for Tyrrell midway through the 1989 season. He was fourth on his debut and doubled up for the rest of the year, driving in both F1 and Formula 3000 and winning the championship in the latter.
Ken Tyrrell always had an eye for talent, and the young Alesi was signed up as a full-time F1 driver for 1990. At the first race of the season, he qualified fourth and finished second after a brilliant duel with Ayrton Senna. Though he only scored points on two further occasions that year—including a second-place finish at Monaco—Alesi was in huge demand ahead of the 1991 season.
He signed a contract with Williams to race for them, but as the Williams website recounts, Ferrari were also keen. Faced with what would later be looked back on as a career-defining choice, Alesi—the son of Italian parents—opted for the Scuderia.
Whatever part childhood dreams played, it made sense from a racing perspective as well. Ferrari had built a very strong car in 1990 and Alain Prost had challenged for the title; Williams, though also race-winners that year, were only fourth in the constructors' championship.
But over the five years that followed, Ferrari didn't produce a single good car, and Alesi won just one race—the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix. In the same period, Williams became the sport's dominant force.
The 1991 FW14 got out of the blocks slowly, but it was the best car on the grid by the end of the year, and the 1992 and 1993 challengers were both title-winning machines—had he joined the team in 1991, those titles might have been won by Alesi.
Even in 1994 and 1995, when Michael Schumacher and Benetton led the way, Williams won multiple races.
Alesi left Ferrari when Schumacher joined in 1996, and he arrived at Benetton just as their decline began. Drives with midfield teams took him to the end of 2001, and he retired at the age of 37 with just a single grand prix victory to his name.
Had he joined Williams in 1991, his memories would be very different.
Damon Hill: Williams to Arrows in 1997
2 of 5
Damon Hill's early career didn't mark him out as a future world champion, but following the death of Williams team-mate Ayrton Senna in 1994, he rose to lead a devastated team. His hard work was rewarded in 1996, when he became the first son of a world champion to also claim the crown.
Father Graham defended both his titles with the teams he won them for—BRM in 1962 and Lotus in 1968—but Damon wouldn't have that opportunity, because Williams had already decided to replace him from 1997 onward with young German Heinz-Harald Frentzen.
Motorsport magazine's Alex Harmer recalls this decision had been made based on Hill's poor performances in 1995, not his better display in 1996—but whatever the reasoning, the Brit needed a new team.
Per the Independent's report, Hill only became aware he was being replaced at the end of August—by then, most of the better teams had already filled their seats. With few options on the table, he declined Jordan's offer and joined Tom Walkinshaw's Arrows team, in what grandprix.com called "one of the most surprising F1 moves in recent years."
This writer, at the time a young Damon Hill fan, was as perplexed and stunned as the rest of the F1 world. Walkinson talked a good game, but Arrows—in their Footwork guise—had scored just one point in 1996.
As 1997 got under way, it became clear Hill wasn't going to have a good season. He qualified 20th for the first race and failed to start after his car broke down on the formation lap; eight rounds in, Hill had only finished three races and was yet to score a point.
Things got a little better as the year wore on, and Hill narrowly missed out on what would have been a brilliant victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix when his car developed a problem in the closing laps.
But overall, 1997 was a disaster, and it will be remembered as one of the worst title defenses in F1 history. Jordan, the team he rejected, didn't set the world on fire—but they did at least manage a handful of podiums despite running two inexperienced drivers.
Hill accepted the Irish team's offer in 1998 and added a final victory to his tally at the Belgian Grand Prix, but his interest in F1 was rapidly deteriorating. He retired at the end of 1999 after being outclassed by Frentzen—who was himself, by then, a Williams reject.
Jacques Villeneuve: Williams to BAR in 1999
3 of 5
Jacques Villeneuve's F1 career was similar to the life of literary character Benjamin Button.
Whereas a typical driver might build up to a championship-winning car after several years in the midfield, Villeneuve made his debut driving the best car on the grid, then spent the rest of his career going backwards through the field.
After coming second in the standings behind Williams team-mate Damon Hill in 1996, Villeneuve took the 1997 title after a final-race showdown with Ferrari's Michael Schumacher. He looked set for a long and glittering career—the sort his father, the legendary Gilles Villeneuve, should have had.
But following a less-successful 1998 season, in which McLaren and Ferrari rose to become the dominant teams, Villeneuve decided to move on. He signed up to join manager Craig Pollock's fledgling British American Racing team, an outfit that would be shaped around him—but Villeneuve later revealed this wasn't his only option.
Speaking to Auto Hebdo (h/t Planet F1) in February 2016, he claimed: "I actually received an offer from McLaren. Adrian Newey had called me to ask me not to sign with BAR and to join him instead."
However, Villeneuve was sufficiently taken in by the BAR project. Speaking in 1998 after he was announced as a driver for 1999, he said (h/t Jos and Max Verstappen's website):
"I have told every journalist who covers F1 racing in recent weeks that I would go with a team that would allow me to compete at the front of the grid. I know from experience that Adrian [Reynard] and his people can produce a very competitive package, and I am very comfortable with the new Supertec Sport engine. Most importantly, I am very happy to be back with Craig, Adrian and Rick [Gorne] on what is shaping up to be the team of the future. We all share the same philosophy of racing.
"
The reality was somewhat different to the hype. The "team of the future" failed to score a single point in 1999; in five years with BAR, Villeneuve managed just two podiums, 15 points finishes and a grand total of 39 world championship points.
The Canadian's career, and to an extent his reputation, never recovered. He was dropped by BAR at the end of 2003, drove three races for Renault at the end of 2004 and signed with Sauber for 2005 and 2006.
The Swiss team looked to have a bright future after they were bought by BMW, but Villeneuve was booted out in favour of Robert Kubica midway through the 2006 season—and a career that started with a bang ended with barely a whimper.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Mark Webber: Jaguar to Williams in 2005
4 of 5
Mark Webber's F1 story began all the way back in 2002, but it wasn't until 2009 that he won his first grand prix. This 129-race barren streak remains the longest wait for a first race win in F1 history—but his career could have taken off far earlier had he taken a different path in 2005.
The Australian impressed in his debut season with Minardi then moved to Jaguar for 2003. Another tidy year saw him already being linked to top drives, with Autosport reporting Renault—the team run by his manager, Flavio Briatore—were considering taking up an option on his services for 2005.
Williams were also interested, and Webber had a decision to make as he neared the end of 2004. He opted to join the English team, and speaking to the Guardian's Donald McRae in 2013, he revealed this was the only decision of his career that he regretted.
"[The only thing I would change] would be to have gone to Renault rather than Williams [in 2005]. Renault hadn't won a race but soon after that they ran it. They were like the Red Bull of the time. I would've been winning earlier and had Fernando [Alonso] as a team-mate. So I had to rebuild myself and that took a bit of juice out of me.
"
At the time it looked like a coin-toss decision—both Williams and Renault had been fairly strong in the years up to and including 2004 and both looked good bets for the future. But 2005 marked the start of a decline for Williams as their relationship with BMW fell apart; Renault, meanwhile, became title-contenders.
At Renault, Webber probably wouldn't have won the world championship in either 2005 or 2006—he wouldn't have beaten Alonso. But the Australian would certainly have won races and scored far more podiums than the one he achieved for Williams.
Webber did eventually make the right call when he joined Red Bull in 2007, and the final years of his career were far more fruitful than those at the start.
He retired at the end of 2013 having won nine races and scored more than 1,000 world championship points. His was a fine career—but it might have been that little bit better.
Timo Glock: Toyota to Manor/Virgin in 2010
5 of 5
Timo Glock made his F1 debut at the age of 22 in 2004, when he replaced Jordan's Giorgio Pantano for four races. Three years and a GP2 title later, he returned to the sport as a full-time driver for Toyota in 2008.
The German did well in his two seasons with the Japanese team, taking three podium finishes, but they were pulling out at the end of 2009. Glock needed a new team, and there were a few offers on his table.
Toward the end of October, Bild (h/t GP Update) reported a deal for Glock to join Renault was "95 per cent perfect." However, there remained question marks over the French team's future, so Glock opted instead for a drive with a team he knew would definitely be on the grid—new boys Manor.
Speaking after signing the contract, Glock said (h/t Crash.net):
"I had several options for 2010, some of them with more established teams. Every driver has the same overall objective—to win the world championship one day—but the way I want to succeed is to be part of the process of building a team and to play a key role in developing the car. This is why the opportunity with Manor Grand Prix is so exciting for me.
"
Soon after Glock signed with Manor, BBC Sport revealed the future of the Renault team had been secured and they would race on under new ownership. The 2010 car wasn't a spectacular success, but they did at least score three podiums on their way to fifth in the constructors' championship.
Manor, who had changed their name to Virgin Racing ahead of the 2010 season, failed to score a single point. The car wasn't even close to being good enough, and no great improvements were made in 2011 or 2012.
After three pointless years, Glock had a contract to continue with the team, now called Marussia, into 2013. However, they were experiencing significant financial difficulties—and Glock put their future ahead of his own.
Per Autoweek, he allowed Marussia to cancel his contract in order to secure the services of a paying driver—ensuring they could continue in F1. But his own time in the sport was over, and he has raced in DTM ever since.
Had Glock gone to Renault in 2010, he might still be on the grid today.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
