Let's Say Alonso Takes One Year Sabatical........

Who gets the Renault seat(s)?

My guess* the team stays the same or HK goes to McLaren and Ralf drives the Renault.

Who gets the second McLaren seat?

My guess* either HK or there will be a trade for Nico.


*These are strictly guesses for discussion, Alonso's future is one well kept secret unlesss you believe Flavio.

 

If Alonso takes a Sabatical, than Fisi and Nelson Piquet Jr. at Renault and HK at McLaren with Lewis.

 

+1

 

+1

But the bigger story would be Alonso out of F1: Taking a sabbatical in today's fast paced F1 would be career suicide. MS' inputs to the team became less and less as the 07 season progressed. As Lauda quipped: "He wears those headsets so nobody asks him any questions because he couldn't answer them."

Even if Alonso had to go to the bottom of the food chain and drive for Tata, it'd still be better than sitting on the bench. But I'm sure he has a drive lined up for 08 soon.

 

Fisichella is not running for renault anymore,
he is trying the Force India today by the way..

The renault team would be HK / Piquet

 

Lauda talks too much

they won't have called him back if they think he's useless, right?

 

They called him back to test a car with no TC because he is one of the few experienced drivers in that. That was the only reason and purpose.

PS: I knew somebody would go there.

 

don't forget. he's presence there was also for Massa-factor

p/s : u guessed right

 

I think there are two key decisions to be made:

#1 How firm is Alonso about a one year deal? Will he capitulate for a longer term deal. If he insists on a one year deal then he will most probably sit out 2008 as it is not really worth it for the big teams. I am sure Force India would love to get him for a year to soak as much knowledge and improvement from a 2X WDC. But can they afford to pay for his services and will Alonso be willing to endure a season or two of zero wins and few points? Sounds doubtful. If he agrees to a 2-3 year deal, I am sure Toyota or Renault will easily get him

#2 Will McLaren be re-evaluating its equal cars for equal drivers strategy? Its current strategy has not clearly worked in 2007. High goals of fairness is well and good but in the end results count. Championships are what attract sponsorship to teams. Witness Williams - yes they have glorious history and a perception of everything above board and equality in decision making. But they are not getting the results and thus are struggling for sponsorship. Thus McLaren may try to do a Ferrari like strategy - give both drivers an equal chance for say the first half of the season, and then put all resources and support on the driver who is ahead for the championship. To do this, they need two drivers who are fast and can compete and yet collaborate. I think Kovaleinen will be a good choice here. If they decide to get into a long term relationship with Hamilton and give him a Schumacher like control over the team then they will get a slightly slower driver like Sutil to complement him.

 

Contracts in F1 have limited meaning. He could sign a multi year deal and leave the team after one. It's all a question of money. Just ask Button.

As said before, Alonso is technically a pay-driver: He brings more sponsor money to a team than he asks for as his salary. So even Tata could afford him (although I think they might be able to afford him regardless, sounds like they have deep pockets).

Alonso is waiting for Thursday's verdict. Who knows, we might hear about his 08 deal by this weekend.

 

The question is whether Alonso will continue to be a pay-driver if he is a back marker? No.

Peter

 

Depends on the contract with the sponsors. We don't know that.

 

2008 wish list:

Alonso stays home reads up on how to deal with mankind.

Kimi has had so much vodka and schnapps all winter that he actually -God forbid- starts talking (can you imagine) on second thought we may soon wish he hadn't....

weber gets his first win.

Bourdais gets some strong results.

Felipe makes Brazil very happy in October...

 

Andreas Tata? Did you mean Tatra? Or is Tata a new chassis named after a woman's breast?

Oh wait, is Tata the new guy with Force India? If he had a twin brother you could say "what a pair of Tatas". I am have run out of pain pills. Any one out there have any extras? :}

 

- Alonso signs with Ferrari for 09
- Kimi wins the title for Ferrari
- Mad Max steps down and gets replaced by Paul Stoddart
- Mercedes sacks Ron Dennis
- Michael Schumacher drives a FXX at Le Mans 24 hours
- Bernie and Tony announce the return of the USGP for 09

 

Tata is one of the companies that belong to the new owner of Force India. He used to be "only" a sponsor in F1 in the past and had Tata stickers on the cars. Ever since I use it as a nick name for Force India. It's childish, I know. Kinda like Phil for Felipe.

 

...TATA is a HUGE car manufacturer from India, they endorsed kartikeyan and they just sold their millionth car...

http://www.tatamotors.com/

...maybe he will find a place to land for a year, but I agree with Andreas on this...HE NEEDS A RIDE...no matter if his teammate is kartikeyan...

if he sits out for the year...maybe he can test for another team like Auguri?

 

+1000000

 

I don't know why Kartikeyan gets such a bad rap, he actually did ok at Jordan. He would have been far better in the Spyker than Yamomoto (sp?) this season.

 

Just one to be changed for me Lewis instead of Fred..

 

If Alonso takes a sabatical....

Kovalainen and Piquet at Renault

Ralf or De la Rosa or Paffet at McLaren

 

I think he already has a deal for 2009 so anything he does will be for one year only.

McLaren and Ferrari had identical strategies this year, they both allowed both drivers to race until one of them was out of contention. The difference is that McLaren had two drivers in contention all the way to the final race whereas Ferrari only had one. McLaren has always pursued the strategy of allowing both drivers to race until one of them is mathematically eliminated. They will not change that.

 

I think Alonshole has just some kind of option (still) for 09. Not a deal of any sort. And if this option gets exercised greatly depends on his performance in 08. We don't even know if there is an option, as everything so far is just speculation.
In other words- He's got squat!

About the wish lists. I would agree with Andreas, except for the Alonshole part. I don't want to see him anywhere near Ferrari. Actually I wish Ferrari keep their lineup and return the favor to Massa for what he has done for team.
It would also be cool as it would shut some people's mouths here who have no faith in Ferrari's current choice for drivers.

 

+10000

he just quit Williams as their test driver, and his agent said that there's other team looking for his services.

 

If Alonso takes a sabbatical, it would be one of the best Christmas presents I've gotten in a while.