London As a lover of magic tricks and sleight of hand, Fernando Alonso should be just the man to conjure up something special at Ferrari this season.
The 28-year-old Spaniard arrives at the Italian glamour team ready to write a passionate new chapter in his Formula One career, with obvious parallels to the debut of Michael Schumacher 15 years earlier.
Then, as now, Ferrari were acquiring a driver at the peak of his powers who had won two world championships as undisputed number one at a sometimes controversial team run by Italian Flavio Briatore.
Schumacher, who went on to become the most successful champion in Ferrari's history with seven titles and 91 race wins, had triumphed with Benetton while Alonso won with their successors Renault.
There are also obvious differences between the two, not least the fact that Alonso -- who beat the German to the championship in 2005 and 2006 -- is a Latin with a fluent command of Italian.
Schumacher, who will be making his comeback with Mercedes at the age of 41, was worshipped by the 'tifosi', the loyal Ferrari fans, for his absolute dominance but his Teutonic reserve always created a barrier.
With Alonso, the love-in has started already as he prepares to take on Schumacher -- in one of the compelling storylines of the season ahead -- with the Maranello team that was once the German's second family.
"I've felt comfortable from my first day," the Spaniard said back in January. "The team has welcomed me like a family. Ferrari, I think, is something unique in Formula One."
Latin Family
He made similar comments this week to Spanish reporters, highlighting the sense of being part of one big Latin family.
"They are relaxed and more Latin in everything," said the passionate Real Madrid fan. "People run, shout, they improvise more, have ideas about everything.
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"Maranello is also incredible for any driver, all the history..." added Alonso, who said in October that he wanted to see out his career at Ferrari. "I was more nervous when I got into a Minardi for the first time.
"The day I first drove a Ferrari was another fiesta for me. I felt proud and it was more a day to enjoy than of nervousness."
Behind all the cosiness, however, lurk some hard realities -- not least the fact that the last Latin driver to win a title with Ferrari was Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio in 1956.
Alonso's Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa, a driver who got the better of 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen for most of the past two seasons, has no intention of settling into a subservient role.
Massa, returning from the life-threatening head injuries he suffered at last year's Hungarian Grand Prix, is also a well-entrenched and much-loved member of the Ferrari family.
If the Brazilian picks up where he left off, Massa will be the toughest team mate Alonso has had since the champion paired up disastrously for one season with then-rookie Lewis Hamilton at McLaren in 2007.
Single Point
Headlines suggesting that Alonso could be Ferrari's saviour after a poor 2009 season will be brushed aside by a man who missed out on the championship by a single point to Hamilton the previous year.
"He has won the world championship twice and it's always good to have good drivers in a good team," Massa told F1 Racing magazine's March edition.
"But, to be honest, me and Michael were doing a great job in 2006 and me and Kimi did the same for three years after that. Now we have a different driver, but I would say that he's at a similar level to us really.
"To be honest, everybody in Formula One is beatable. And Fernando is definitely beatable too."
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Massa will need to show that he has fully recovered from his accident but Alonso, the first Spaniard to race for Ferrari since Alfonso de Portago in 1957, has work to do as well.
The Oviedo-born driver's last two seasons at Renault, excluding the Japanese Grand Prix win in 2008 that followed a Singapore win subsequently tainted with a race-fixing controversy, hardly set the world on fire.
At McLaren he had been beaten by Hamilton and then he found himself in an uncompetitive car at Renault. The 2010 Ferrari, on the basis of pre-season testing, promises to be the pick of the field and he must make the most of it.
"As of today, this is the best car I've ever had," he said in testing at Jerez last month.
"We are very optimistic. If I were in a different team I would be looking at Ferrari because everything is going really well."
Schumacher had to wait five years at Ferrari, then a sleeping giant, before he could capture his third title in 2000. Alonso will be expected to deliver somewhat sooner.
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