Montezemolo: Alonso not a team player like Michael or Niki

Leading Ferrari during this period was charismatic Luca di Montezemolo who had offered the Spaniard refuge from a Renault team in disarray and with the disastrous 2007 McLaren episode still fresh in everyone's memory.

At the time Alonso saw himself as a Ferrarista for life but, in the end, what promised so much did not deliver a title as the might of Red Bull at the time was insurmountable. History shows they came desperately close to nabbing the F1 title, but as they say: no cigar.

Prior to Alonso's arrival at Maranello, Montezemolo had presided over Ferrari's first golden era with Niki Lauda in the seventies, then two decades later he was instrumental in building the team that delivered the glorious Michael Schumacher along with Jean Todt, Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne et al.

Then, in 2007, Schumacher was replaced by Kimi Raikkonen who went on to take the team's final drivers' title and along with Felipe Massa helped them to their last constructors' triumph in 2008. The team have not won a top-flight championship since then.

At the end of 2009, Raikkonen was paid a hefty sum by the Scuderia to depart F1 and in 2010 the Alonso era began at number four Via Abetone Inferiore.

Speaking on Beyond The Grid podcast, Montezemolo recalled the time, "He was Alonso, not Alonso-Ferrari. When he wins, he’s happy. When he doesn’t win, it’s the problem of the team, he’s unhappy.

“In other words, he’s less close to the team than Michael and Niki, particularly in the difficult moments. To be close to the team in the good moments is easy.

“In terms of performance, Fernando was very good. For me, Alonso is with Hamilton and Vettel and in the race, he’s very close to Michael. In the race, Alonso was and is a fantastic driver. He lost the championship [in 2010 and 2012] not for his mistakes.

“If he won one championship, today we are talking about something different. We are talking that Alonso, despite many years he didn’t have the best car, he was able to win the championship. Alonso is very strong,” insisted the former Ferrari president.

The final year - 2013 - at the Scuderia was packed with polemics, to the point that most at Maranello were happy to see Alonso leave the building and head off to McLaren.

But it might have been a totally different story had the Reds not messed up his title chances when they were all but in the bag.