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?!
