Special Report: Alonso has a history of bad decisions- Will McLaren be different?

By Charlie Bennett

After months of intense speculation Fernando Alonso looks to be on his way back to McLaren, the team he so bitterly fell out with in 2007.

But the popular Spaniard has a bad history in making big career moves, and there is a strong chance that this decision will also lead to disappointment.

On the contrary Sebastian Vettel, who will be Alonso’s replacement at Ferrari, doesn't seem like the type to make bad calls.

He is seeing his current Red Bull team disintegrate around him with important personnel, who have helped make Red Bull a dominant force, leaving left, right and centre.

Sebastian Vettel

He is ‘jumping ship’, as they say, before it sinks.

It is unlikely that Red Bull will cease winning races and competing for championships. But their period of domination is over.

In Ferrari he sees an exciting project, and will hope to emulate his hero Michael Schumacher, who transformed the sport’s most famous team into a winning machine. At 27, Vettel has time on his hands to do the same.

But one team who the German was not prepared to sign for was McLaren, Alonso's expected new team.

Despite having the best engine McLaren languish down in sixth in the Constructors Standings, showing how far behind they are with every other area of their car. McLaren are getting rid of Mercedes engines. Next year may be even worse than this.

Engines are playing a big part in the new Formula 1. Honda is, at least, 12 months behind the rest.

At Ferrari, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Leading designer James Allison will finally get the chance to have a big impact, while a new management regime is in place. At Ferrari, there are signs that a bright future is being built.

True, that future won’t be here next year and Alonso, at 33, can’t wait around like Vettel. His decision is understandable, but he risks looking a fool again.

Alonso’s history of bad calls started in 2007. Then, he spectacularly fell out with team boss Ron Dennis. He left at the end of that year and relinquished a title winning car in 2008.

Lewis Hamilton has victory

Lewis Hamilton stumbled over the line that year. Had Alonso been his team-mate, as opposed to Heikki Kovalainen, he would surely have been a three-time champion.

Instead, he was embroiled in a massive legal storm. It was said he played a huge part in McLaren being illegally caught with private Ferrari documents. They were charged $100 million, a world record fine in sport.

It goes without saying that Alonso’s relationship with Dennis is still broken. Frenchman Eric Boullier will act as mediator during their new partnership.

It is understood they have had ‘clear the air talks’. Boullier will have his work cut out to stop these two becoming toxic again. The bad blood will not be washed away. It is purely a marriage of convenience.

After leaving McLaren at the end of 2007, Alonso was offered a chance at Red Bull. They were very keen to sign him. But Red Bull was not the force they are now.

Indeed, they were seen as the party boys of the grid. They were not a team to be taken too seriously. Alonso said no.

Since then, Red Bull has won four consecutive drivers and constructors’ championships, while Alonso has won none. He must regret that move.

Fernando Alonso

Instead he joined Renault. The team he won his two World Championships with, in 2005 and 2006. On the face of it, it looked a smart move. But he managed just two race wins. Alonso didn't foresee Renault being in a state of regression.

In 2010, he joined Ferrari only to discover that they, too, were in a process of regression. Not in any of the five seasons he has been with the team have they produced a potential title winning car.

And now, just as Ferrari does something about it Alonso has jumped ship. Had it been to Red Bull in a swap with Vettel, or Mercedes to break up the fractious Hamilton/Rosberg partnership then a move would make complete sense.

But to a team who are struggling more than Ferrari and are dropping their biggest asset to take a huge risk?

It doesn’t make sense.

Fernando Alonso McLaren MP4-22 (2007)

Hamilton’s contract with Mercedes comes to an end in 2016. A Hamilton/Rosberg partnership is unlikely to last beyond then. Surely a year with Ferrari, before joining Mercedes makes more sense.

Or, if staying at Ferrari isn’t possible, a sabbatical?

However, what cannot be underestimated is that Alonso is desperate. He is desperate for the third world crown his talents richly deserve and, at 33, time is running out.

But there is a consistent feeling that, like before, the greatest driver in the world has made another big mistake. McLaren is not the answer.

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