F1 2007

[Cort Haus]

Those rear tyres in full

[LordShiva]

7 points

[Zoid]

Re: Those rear tyres in full

Originally posted by Cort Haus

indeed. No wonder he couldn't steer...

[Thorgal]

Originally posted by Cort Haus
Well, I didn't remember reading anything from Alonso that contradicted that claim. However, even if one disbelieve Ron Dennis on that item, the other points made above still stand.

In fact Fernando talks a lot about how Ron's lies about him.
He's already said that Macca promised him no No 1 status to him and he always accepted it. The said it precisely in an interview last weekend:
http://f1.informativos.telecinco.es/f1_1381.htm (spanish)

About your other point it can be reduced to the chicken and the egg thingy. What was first Alonso being relegatted in the team because his critics or Alonso critics becuase the was being relegated?

Alonso manager said yesterday: "The truth about what's been happening will eventually come out. You guys will be AMAZED...". Well maybe yes maybe not, but i would wait until Alonso bounds with McLaren end and everybody can speak freely before making any assumption.

[Zoid]

Boohoo...

Alonso expects McLaren to play fair
Sunday, 07, October, 2007, 16:15

Fernando Alonso believes McLaren will give him the same opportunity to win the world championship in Brazil as team-mate Lewis Hamilton, despite the breakdown in his relationship with the team over recent weeks.

Alonso reignited his title hopes by finishing second in the Chinese Grand Prix after erstwhile race leader Hamilton slithered into retirement on worn-out tyres.

He now trails the British rookie by just four points heading into the season finale at Interlagos, and can secure a third successive championship if he wins with Hamilton finishing third or lower.

Alonso admits Sunday’s events have given him another chance but is fully aware that he still faces an uphill task to surmount Hamilton’s lead.

“Today I’m happy with the result of the race because I’ve been very, very lucky with the retirement of Lewis,” he told ITV Sport’s Louise Goodman.

“For a championship chance I think it’s still very difficult to recover four points in a normal race.

“We know how difficult it will be.

“I will be very optimistic for Brazil, but knowing it will be difficult.”

The already strained relationship between Alonso and McLaren boss Ron Dennis has been further inflamed in Shanghai.

In Thursday’s pre-event press conference, Alonso refused to discount the possibility that the team might play favourites or deliberately disadvantage the out-of-favour Spaniard to ensure the title ended up with Hamilton.

Dennis, in turn, expressed his disappointment that Alonso should countenance such a suggestion rather than restating the team’s commitment to equality.

Then, after Hamilton took pole position on Saturday and he qualified only fourth, Alonso reacted angrily and again criticised McLaren and Dennis in the media.

He was in more diplomatic mood on Sunday afternoon, although he did not resile from his earlier comments.

He admitted he was still concerned about whether he had the team’s full backing – but acknowledged that he would be given equal equipment.

“I think that is still a worry, no doubt, but at the end of the day I think both cars are the same and with the same performance, so it’s up to me to do a little bit better,” he said.

“But for sure it’s not easy with the relationship with the team has with me.”

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=41003&PO=41003

[Zoid]

Silly season is starting early this year...

OCTOBER 11, 2007
Letters of intent

If the German media is correct and Fernando Alonso has signed a letter of intent to drive for Renault in 2008 then he is likely to be in breach of his McLaren contract and unless he has a very good argument as to why he can walk away, would thus have to bash open his piggy-bank and pay the Woking team for the two years that remain on his contract. Despite his constant public support for Alonso, there is no doubt that Ron Dennis is a man who would be forgiven for feeling a certain amount of antipathy towards the Spaniard after their exchange of views in Hungary. The full details of that conversation have never be revealed but it certainly included a threat to report McLaren to the FIA with regard to e-mails that Alonso had in his computer - which were up to that point unknown to the team. Dennis said that Alonso later retracted his threat and apologised but the two men have not talked since then and one wonders what else might have been said in that conversation that have caused such a chill to pass through the team, which despite its outer coolness is usually a pretty warm place.

Alonso is committed until the end of 2009 and the team has built a package of sponsorship around him with the likes of Vodafone and Banco Santander. If Alonso walks there will be collateral damage for McLaren. Legally-speaking Alonso cannot just join another team because McLaren would then be able to challenge that deal with the Contract Recognition Board and if this body ruled in McLaren's favour - which it would because it considers only the contracts it has, not the arguments around them - Alonso could be made to sit on the bench in 2008 if he does not want to race for McLaren.

In other words, if there is to be a settlement someone is going to have to pay to get Fernando out of McLaren. The reality is that Alonso is unlikely to be able to afford that himself - as he was not a big earner at Renault before he moved to McLaren - and he would thus be relying on Renault to pay that for him - and that does not sound like the kind of thing that Renault boss Carlos Ghosn is going to sanction because he wants cost-effective F1 rather than the bills for purchasing stars. It is possible that Flavio Briatore might find a sponsor to pay for it but at that kind of money it would require a lot of space on the car. The others that could do it (Toyota) may not be very attractive to Alonso or think they are not ready to take him (BMW).

Fernando might like to be fired but there would need to be suitable grounds for a dismissal and McLaren cannot afford to do that before the end of the World Championship lest the watchdogs from the FIA come busting through the door, claiming that the team is manipulating the World Championship. But firing Fernando does not make much sense for McLaren because if there is an opportunity to offset any collateral damage from his departure it would be logical for the team to take it.

http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns19759.html

[LordShiva]

Lewis Hamilton has escaped punishment for breaking Formula One's tyre rules in practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The 22-year-old Briton, who is on the verge of becoming the first rookie champion in the history of the sport, and the youngest too, was investigated by the FIA race stewards for using two sets of intermediate tyres in a wet opening session.

Under Formula One rules, drivers are only allowed to use one set.

[Zoid]

Well he didn't escape punishment as such, he was fined €15000 and had to hand in the second pair of wets to FIA...

[Thorgal]

2005 at Monaco...

Toyota driver Ralf Schumacher has received a time penalty for the second time in three events after a tyre mix-up in Thursday practice at Monaco ahead of this weekend's Grand Prix...

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2005/5/3028.html

[Krill]

Hamilton should have been penalised on time if that is the precedent...along with the others.

[LordShiva]

Massa Hamilton Kimi Alonso

[Zoid]

The race tomorrow will be very exciting to say the least. Let's just hope it doesn't end up in a god-awful mess in the first corner.... :desire:

[LordShiva]

Hamilton and Massa take each other out, and then Kubica overtakes Alonso for 2nd on teh final lap

[Cort Haus]

Just as well they didn't give Alonso the wrong tyres instead of Hamilton, or it could be see as a deliberate attempt to push him down the order had a grid penalty been applied.

[Ninot]

QUITE the race