http://www.spiegel.de/sport/formel1/0,1518,508592,00.html Bernie Ecclestone suggests that Ron Dennis will pay for Alonso next year but won't allow him to race for another team, with Rosberg to replace him. Alonso should then join Ferrari in 2009, with Massa leaving.
That's stupid. If Ron holds him by the balls with a contract, then Flavio will buy Alonso out. Honda did the same thing with Jenson. I doubt Ron would refuse the money considering this 100 million dollar fine.
Even though I Think Mclaren can ill afford it, It would do him good to sit it out for a year. The man with a kids mentality has lost alot of respect this year and he has only him self to blame .
Bernie's been talking a lot of nonsense lately. he's been saying that something like that he hope the championship will be decided with clashes on the track like the Senna-Prost era. he's high on something?
While it sounds strange, Blick reported a similar thing yesterday as well, mainly that Alonso might sit the year out. That would be really stupid however and I can't see how Zampano Ecclestone would allow to have a double (triple?) World Champion on the sidelines. It happened to Alain Prost, so it isn't out of the question. It would be a tremendous loss for F1 next year. Hope that isn't going to happen.
I would agree with that purely from a driving point of view, "But Its big mouth strikes again" if you were his boss what would you do.?
I'm not sure Dennis would want to go that route. He's got a big ego and his reputation has been dragged through the floor with the "spygate". Forcing FA to sit out the year would create very bad publicity on him specifically.
I would sell him to the highest bidder. That way some money for the fine can be recuperated, plus Rosberg/Williams wants some $$$ too. Forcing FA to sit out a year is also financially stupid to McLaren: He brings a bunch of sponsors and I bet they withdraw if he is not in the car. FA driving for Ferrari/Renault next year will have less of a negative influence on McLaren's title chances than having him sit out and not get any money. RD is no idiot and knows that. PS: I do like the 09 Massa for FA swap though.
"A man may fight for many things: his country, his principles, his friends, the glistening tear on the cheek of a golden child. But personally IMO you don,t mudwrestle with your own boss/team His problem with LH being his match and not being able to deal with it has been his downfall. .
I don't see him falling down anywhere. He might even end up trumping the golden boy and bagging the 3rd consecutive title. Matching Senna's record with his eyes on Prost's. If anything Lewis and his slime ball dad lost a lot of gloss this season. The boyish charm was nothing but a ruse. I said LH is the next Schumacher. I didn't realize that is also true for all the negative baggage that comes with that.
+1000 I can't stand someone who had become my favorite current driver and was going to resurrect McLaren, then the guy turns out to be a cheat (something he called MS) and tries to Blackmail McLaren.
That seems absolutely correct. I assume Alonso was aware when he signed the contract with McLaren that there would be no number one driver in the team and I wonder if he just assumed that Hamilton would be easy meat for him and started throwing the toys out the pram when he discovered that wasn't the case.
+1 Team orders kept Hamilton at bay in Melbourne. Same thing in Monaco. After that Lewis had enough and the team gave him equal status. That's when Alonso was starting to have a fit.
I respectfully disagree with you Andreas. Team orders had nothing to do with Monaco. Fernando drove a perfect race while Lewis crashed his car once and bounced off the armcos a couple of times during the race. Fernando complied with team orders at Silverstone where Lewis got the benefit of the preferential qualifying strategy and still did not do a good job. Fernando came unglued when his willingness to have equal status was thrown back in his face by Lewis who disobeyed those same team orders that he enjoyed at his home GP, and that was when all hell broke loose. In any case, Fernando will be driving next year and I think the odds are 50% at McLaren, 25% at Renault and 25% at Ferrari.
No problem with your view point. Mine (as probably yours) is just speculation. I would set the odds as follow: 0% McLaren, 66% Ferrari, 33% Renault. You might call that wishful thinking.