F1's Alonso wants McLaren back on track

Defending Formula One world drivers champion Spain's Fernado Alonso signs autographs behind his McLaren team garage in Melbourne, Australia, Wednesday, March 14, 2007. Sunday's race kicks off the 2007 Formula One season. (AP Photo/Oliver Multhaup)

By Salvatore Zanca, Associated Press Writer | March 14, 2007

After winning for Renault in 2004 and 2005, Alonso will be driving for McLaren when the season starts Sunday in Melbourne. The team with eight titles and 11 drivers' world championships was winless in 2006 for the first time since 1996, after taking 10 races in 2005 -- two more than Renault.

Alonso knows it might take a little time. But he will bring the prestigious No. 1 on his car, signifying him as champion, to McLaren. The last time there was a No. 1 car for McLaren was in 2000, the year after Mika Hakkinen won the title.

"The 2006 season for McLaren was not so good," Alonso said earlier this week. But he added that testing went well this winter, with the McLaren cars driven by him and another newcomer, Lewis Hamilton, generally right behind the Ferraris.

"You have to clarify things and put the car on the track and see if all the information you have from the engine and everything is optimistic for 2007, and we can be competitive and we can fight with the top teams again," the Spaniard said. "The beginning has been very good, and now it is up to us to keep it up."

McLaren is the only team in 2007 with two new drivers. Team boss Ron Dennis describes it as a "breath of fresh air," saying Alonso and Hamilton bring new motivation to everyone in the organization.

The team lost Kimi Raikkonen to Ferrari and Juan Pablo Montoya to NASCAR.

Hamilton, a 21-year-old Englishman who is the sport's first black driver, has won the GP2 and F3 championships the last two years.

Alonso knows there is more than just the car and drivers involved in creating a winning team.

"You need to be lucky," he said. "You need to develop the car every race and improve and beat the competitors."

Alonso had plenty of success at Renault, and some luck when Michael Schumacher was challenging him at the end of last season. They were tied entering the last two races, but Schumacher's Ferrari blew an engine in Japan and punctured a tire in Brazil.

After a string of "youngest-ever" records, Alonso goes after a 50-year-record set by the one of the sport's greats.

Only Juan Manuel Fangio has won three straight titles while changing teams, doing it with Maserati, Mercedes and Ferrari in 1954 to 1957 while winning four straight. Schumacher won five straight between 2000 and 2004 on his way to seven titles, but all were for Ferrari.

Schumacher won world titles in 1994 and 1995 for Benetton, but dropped to third when he switched to Ferrari in 1996.

Alonso, who turns 26 in July, will try to better Schumacher once again. He already has in becoming the youngest driver to take a pole position, win a race and take one and two titles in Formula One.

There's a very short list of three-time champions in Formula One: Jack Brabham, Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna, Jackie Stewart, Fangio, Alain Prost and, of course, Schumacher.

But this could be the year of the return of Ferrari. Raikkonen and Felipe Massa will contend for the top spot for the team -- Ferrari has said it will allow open competition between its two drivers this season, something it didn't have while Schumacher was around.

Alonso's former Renault team has a new Finn, Heikki Kovalainen, and veteran Giancarlo Fisichella, who won the Australian Grand Prix last year. Fisichella didn't win another race last season and is eager to show what he can do without Alonso around.