Formula 1 news

2008 grid opened until Fernando decides what to do…Posted on: September 25, 2007

What to expect from Asian races and the final round in Brazil?

The championship is still opened to four drivers, even though the chances are bigger within the McLaren paddock. But what’s really getting the media’s attention right now is how the driver’s market would be changed in case Fernando Alonso really leaves the british team.

Rumours have been pointing to a possible move from the spanish to Ferrari, where he would substitute the brazilian driver Felipe Massa. That’d be a great way to open brazilian GP week, sending the brazilian driver to a smaller team… But back to the real thing, what really catches the attention in this rumour is that Ferrari sounds like the only team where he could actually move to, and keep being competitive. Another alternative would be BMW, but their seats are already with Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica. Fernando’s last boss, Mr. Briatore assumed he’d love to have his ’son’ back at the french team, but would Fernando have any chance to fight for a title at Renault?

Anyways, the french team has been postponing their 2008 line-up, that was almost confirmed in middle-season for Fisichella and Nels. Fisichella?! Well, the rumours here in Brazil say Nels wouldn’t accept a race seat beside Heikki. Not that we really care about him but… Nels already said he won’t start at a small team. Call it arrogance or whatever you feel like, but it’s his mind.

In case Fernando doesn’t accept a call back at Renault and really takes Ferrari seat (notice that a trade Fernando / Kimi was never even mentioned), Felipe would have to find a seat somewhere else, and do a Barrichello. Most tips point to Toyota, where they’re really willing to fire Ralf. No more Schumachers in F1!

Other competitor’s list for the same seat include japanese Sato, and BMW’s test driver Timo Glock, that’d then leave the Hinwill/München based team w/o a third driver now that Vettel moved to STR and was confirmed there for 2008. Another place where Timo has been seen lately is Williams, where Nico seems to have found a place to live at, but Wurz just can’t be that confident at same thing, despite his lucky 3rd place at Canada.

A simplier solution would be Fernando simply staying at McLaren but will he handle the situation with lewis for one more year? Worst. Will he handle it in case Lewis wins the WDC?!

What to learn from McLaren? Lesson One.Posted on: September 7, 2007

“Do you know that I’ve found out how Ferrari is able to get its tires to work to perfection? Nigel Stepney told Mike Coughlan.”

With those words Pedro de La Rose just put McLaren in a real bad situation. These sentences were reportedly found on an email he wrote World Champion Fernando Alonso, which will be used from now on as part of process against the british-german Team. In case it’s proved that the drivers also knew about the ‘dossie’ and that it was actually used to improve their cars, the team could not only be banned from this season but also from the next one.

 Personally I don’t see it happening. But would this be able to put FIA’s reputation in danger?

If there’s a lesson to be learned, it’s obviously that you should always clean your email box. It’s something ‘basic’. As Fernando’s reply to Pedro’s email, “I don’t believe it.”

Does Ralf has a future in Formula One?Posted on: September 4, 2007

In case he doesn’t, Hans Werner Aufrecht, the chairman of DTM organising body ITR, told the ’sid’ agency that DTM needs people like Ralf. “I’m convinced that, with a competitive car at his disposal, Ralf could play a important role,” he said, and added, “He would be a good fit with us.”

Ralf’s manager, Hans Mahr, commented on the possibility, saying they ” won’t be so arrongant as to say that the DTm is uninteresting to us”. Is that a yes?

Ralf’s contract with Toyota will be over at the end of the season, and it seems it won’t be renewed. The japanese team has been rumoured to be ‘in talks’ with japanese Takuma Sato, and BMW’s test driver Timo Glock.

There are not many race seats left in the 2008 grid, and even small teams have been denying interest on Michael’s younger brother. The last deny came from dutch team Spyker, that had an ‘insider’ telling german magazine Sport Bild that even thought they don’t have a second driver for the next season, “it will not be Ralf Schumacher.”

While many try to guess what Ralf’s gonna do from the end of the season on, the most experienced german F1 driver just wants to think about the next race.

“I’m looking forward to this weekend and hopefully we can show the potential of our car by fighting for more points,” he reportedly said.