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Did Mika ever officially "retire" from F1?

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If Alonso has signed I can see Ricciardo getting the Prost Ferrari treatment in 1991 depending on how much they will have to pay out Ricciardo's remaining contract. Even one or two races will be rather expensive.

Renault are going to be locked in a super tight midfield battle where every point matters to them financially. I can't imagine they would expect a nearly 40 year old Alonso to jump into an F1 car after nearly 2 seasons away and be more competitive than Ricciardo.

Renault is focusing on drivers when that's not where the issue lies. If you target the championship fight but you can't give a shot at the podium to Ricciardo or even Ocon, then your problem is not the driver.

Its Cyril Abiteboul we are talking about here.

This. And they're signing him for 2021 anyways so why not frustrate him sooner.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/RenaultF1Team/status/1280817655704719360[/tweet]

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Yes, and actually quite quickly - he 'decided' during the Monaco GP in 2002 and announced it in July of that year.

But this is fine, still time to come back next year and pick up his third championship

Not only that. They reached the top of the middle pack in 2018 and couldn't even keep that position, despite having perhaps the best duo of drivers in this group.

Well, its official.

I'll predict the following

1: He will be racing this year already.
2a: He wont see the end of his contract
or
2b: Alonso will be the end of Cyril

or the Red Bull 2018 treatment which is quite sad to see how good Ricciardo is and to be treated like a sort of undesired one

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Great news. Glad to have Alonso back, my favorite (current F1) driver besides Kimi.

Don't forget that he's already committed to this years Indy 500 which conflicts with the Spainish GP, the weekend of Aug 14-16. Other than that I don't believe he has any other commitments the rest of the season.

I wonder if we'll start to see Alonso at races in the team garage at some point this season, hovering over Ricciardo's shoulder A unique situation where an incoming driver isn't presently contracted to another team, he could start integrating himself into the team this year itself.

I was a little surprised to see him already in the team gear, before remembering that he is out of contract in F1.

I wouldn't be surprised if they let him loose in a 2017 car for some time, or even put him in on a Friday session. When they start doing that, that's when Ricciardo needs to worry.

Makes me wonder.....

2c: Alonso will be the end of Cyril. Alonso will be the next Cyril. (But Flavio is pulling the strings)

Interesting if all this is a Flavio long game to get himself back into F1....

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This article on the official Formula One site has a double quote that just leaves me confused.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.analysis-the-reasoning-behind-alonso-and-renaults-blockbuster-family-reunion.5GQUMoYqcXOWQu5ykVjd8x.html



The very next line in bold highlighting the quote.



Which fucking one is it? Did he pop by to say hi before Christmas and then get serious once Dan announced he was leaving? Or were they in discussions about him driving months before Dan announced he was leaving? It makes ALL the difference.

I think they just buggered up their quote, but if it is the latter, then the plot certainly thickens. They chased after Ocon and certainly rate him highly, so I wouldn't think they were covering their bases with him. Did they know that Dan was already questioning whether or not he was going to stay?

Dan's response that there was no one thing that made him change his mind and it came down to a coin flip is just horseshit. Was Alonso planting seeds of discontent and doubt in the minds of Renault and Ricciardo, while Dan was in lock down half a world away?

TL;DW: Talks started at Abu Dhabi 2019. He doesn't expect to drive this season, even in practice sessions but will attend some races to get a sense of the team.

So why didn't this happen? Or was that a joke?

Must have been a series of typos, surely?