Felipe Massa accuses Fernando Alonso of 'splitting' Ferrari during his stint with the team

Former Ferrari driver Felipe Massa accused Fernando Alonso of splitting the team during their time as teammates at the Italian outfit.

The duo were teammates at the Prancing Horse from 2010-2013, with the two-time world champion holding a significant advantage over the Brazilian driver. Massa even sacrificed a few races of his own to support the Spanish driver in his quest for title runs in 2010 and 2012.

While appearing on the Track Limits podcast, Massa stated that Alonso's unending desire for more power would disrupt the team dynamic. He said:

“He was not what he was telling me. He was not what he was telling the team. He was always a typical way of working, using his power. He has a lot of power and he was trying to get the power he had to do everything on his side. And I think that was splitting the team in the middle."

Massa added:

“So this was not really great the way he was working, but he’s like that, you know? And I think the only problem with splitting the team in the middle was not good for the team."

Fernando Alonso speaks on his 'respectful' dynamic with Alpine

Fernando Alonso stated that he did not wish harm on the Alpine F1 team when he left them at the beginning of the 2023 season for Aston Martin after racing for them in 2021 and 2022.

Speaking with GQ, Fernando Alonso said:

“I have a lot of respect for Alpine. It’s the team [as Renault] that gave me my two world championships, so it’ll always be in my heart, I will never wish anything bad to [them]. It’s true that whenever you change team there is always this thing inside, where you look at your lap times and position and immediately you look to those of your ex-team."

Alonso added:

"If they’re behind you, there’s always a bit of relief that you made the right decision. Ideally, I would have Aston Martin winning and Alpine second. Fighting for podiums would be the best.”

The Spanish driver has infamously had fractious relationships with his former teammates and teams, perhaps owing to his demand for perfection week in and week out.

The two-time world champion is not one to mince his words while criticizing his own team whenever they have lacked performance over a race weekend.