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4.11.07
Watching the podium presentations at the Brazilian Grand Prix, you couldn’t help but notice that the biggest smile wasn’t on the face of the new World Champion but the man who had just lost this title after two years – Alonso. The reason for Fernando’s pleasure could have been that his upstart rookie team mate and odds-on favorite for the title had ‘fallen at the last’. Alternatively he might have been delighted that the season was over or at the thought of never having to sit in a McLaren car or work with Ron Dennis again – who knows? Last week saw the inevitable parting of the ways for Alonso and McLaren and one thing we do know is that as long as Alonso’s drive for next season remains unsettled, all other bets are off. Current rumours have Alonso going to Red Bull, Toyota, BMW, Honda, Renault, Williams and even Ferrari. Suddenly guys like Barrichello and Trulli who thought they had a contract for next season are now at risk of being turfed out because Clause 528 sub-clause 13.xyz states that ‘in the event of the Driver not achieving a grid placing between 8 and 10 when there is an ‘r’ in the month the Team reserves the right to boot him out at the end of the season’. For some time now the rumour mill has claimed that Alonso will be in a Ferrari next year. This has continued despite the news that Felipe Massa has been signed up for another two seasons until 2010. In the last couple of days Luca di Montezemolo has said that he ‘wouldn’t swap his drivers for anyone’ pointing out that this year one of them has won more races and the other more pole positions than anybody else. Yet on the other hand he also recently praised Alonso to the skies! It has to be said that, contrary to driver behavior at McLaren, whilst neither driver has deferred to the other or accepted a ‘number two’ role Massa and Raikkonen have worked together and ultimately delivered the goods. On the basis that ‘ don’t fix what ain’t busted’ Ferrari would be crazy to change drivers – especially trading Massa for Alonso. When Fernando first became disillusioned with life at Mclaren he made the claim that it was his input that had honed the new car – the team hadn’t won a race in 2006 – into a race winner. ‘No, no, no’ claimed Hamilton he had done his bit too, but when the details of the ‘spying’ thing came out, with Alonso and De La Rosa wanting to try out Ferrari-type things in testing, Hamilton claimed he knew nothing about it. This lends credence to Fernando’s claim of having made the McLaren into a silk purse and it would follow that if Alonso leaves McLaren they will surely miss his development work as indeed Renault have this year. Renault have made an offer and must be desperate to get him back and it does seem to be his spiritual home, but there are already three guys after two seats – Fisichella, Kovalainen and Piquet – so somebody’s got to go, most likely Kovalainen to McLaren and Fisichella to the Job Centre. However it is said that he only wants a one year deal to keep his options open and understandably Renault aren't keen. How they must be ruing Renault boss Carlos Ghosn creating doubt about their long term commitment to the sport a couple of years ago.... Would Alonso go anywhere else? Toyota – got an empty seat and the cash but look a million miles away from winning a race, plus there are management and F1 cultural problems, BMW – also got the cash and are not far off winning races. Honda – won a race once, unlikely to do it again for a while but lots of money! Red Bull – they may seem a way off from winning a race, but Dietrich Mateschitz has never flinched from putting his hand in his pocket. Their Adrian Newey designed car has increased steadily in competitiveness throughout the year and this week rumours abound that Ross Brawn will be going there to sort out the organisational side. And who would be going to McLaren? Kovalainen in a swap with Alonso? Button in the hope of finally being in the right team at the right time? Or possibly Nico Rosberg although his Dad’s thought to be not too keen in case he doesn’t shape up too well against Hamilton. Hamilton himself has said that it'll be one of the two youngsters above or another one - Adrian Sutil. Whatever happens we can only hope that a few members of the ‘over the hill mob’ are shown the door and we get a few more hard chargers like Hamilton and Vettel from GP2 who have really spiced things up this year.
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