“He’s like a Rottweiler": Flavio Braitore uses a strange analogy to praise 2-time F1 champ Fernando Alonso

Rumors around two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso being a difficult driver to manage have been going around the paddock for years. The Spaniard has made some poor career decisions regarding his voice of teams, but there isn't any doubt around his talent. Alpine Boss Flavio Briatore recently came out and hailed Alonso, putting an end to the rumors.

Fernando Alonso arrived on the F1 scene when Michael Schumacher was dominating with Ferrari. Flavio Briatore took a long shot and signed the Spaniard on a management contract. Briatore worked closely with Alonso through his early years, putting him in Minardi before eventually signing him with Renault.

Formula 2 & Formula 3 2022 Prize Giving Ceremony - Source: Getty

Many questions were raised when Renault signed Fernando Alonso, but the Spaniard answered all those by ending Michael Schumacher and Ferrari's dominant reign and winning back-to-back championships in 2005 and 2006. However, things took a tumultuous turn with the 2007 move to McLaren, where Alonso fought rookie Lewis Hamilton for the title and the crashgate controversy surrounding Renault and Briatore in 2008.

Fernando Alonso's time at McLaren gave him a reputation for being a difficult driver to work with and manage. However, Flavio Briatore recently came out and rubbished those rumors, suggesting the Aston Martin driver is a team player and pushes the whole forward. He said, (via ESPN)

“Sometimes people put out in the news that Fernando was difficult to manage, but this is a lot of rubbish, really. I am completely upset whenever I hear this. Fernando is always a teammate. He's always making everyone work together. The demonstration is now at Aston Martin. The car is not competitive, but he's always there, pushing. Everyone knows what they need.”

“He's like a Rottweiler. He's there all the time. You go in one place and the Rottweiler bites you all the time. That's Fernando. That's how he wants to win,” he added

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Fernando Alonso is confident of Aston Martin’s success in the F1 championship; the question remains, when?

Ever since Canadian Billionaire Lawrence Stroll took over Force India (now Aston Martin), he's invested millions into the facilities and the personnel. The new state-of-the-art factory and wind tunnel became fully operational this year, with people like Adrian Newey, Dan Follows, Andy Cowell & Enrico Cardile joining the team.

Fernando Alonso is confident about Aston Martin’s success with the new regulations on the horizon, but cannot put a finger on how long it'll take the project to glue together. He said, (via Aston Martin’s official website)

“I hope so. I mean, I'm pretty convinced about that. The only thing is when. That's probably my only question mark from this project. In my case, driving in the last couple of years of my career, obviously, I want to taste the success of the Aston Martin project. But I know that everything takes a little bit of time to glue all the pieces together. And that’s my only question mark.

"Aston Martin Aramco fighting for and winning the World Championship is more or less guaranteed in the future. We have everything that is needed to fight for a World Championship,” added Alonso

The team struggled with data correlation in 2023 and 2024, and hence, the upgrades didn't really work for the team. However, 2025 has been better in that aspect as the upgrades have delivered what they promised, proving to be a positive sign going into 2026.