h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The Italian FIA member wrote to Max about the unfairness of the FIA World Motorsport Council hearing. Max wrote back saying the matter would go to appeal. The letters are here:
http://www.fia.com/mediacentre/Press_Releases/FIA_Sport/2007/July/310707-01.html

Ron Dennis has now written to the Italian FIA member (full letter half way down the page):
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/61260


Meanwhile... Nelson Piquet Sr has lost his driving licence :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6924089.stm

Sebastien Bourdais has signed for Toro Rosso next year:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/61468

Silly Season is almost upon us. And there are really only a handful of drives that are up for grabs... Or are there...

The obvious ones:
Ralf will be out on his ear next year.
As maybe will Trulli, if Toyota have the bottle to get shot of two drivers at the same time.
Surely Renault will get shot of Fisi.

The questions:
Will Williams keep Wurz?
Will Prodrive actually turn up, and if so, will they run Pedro and Paffett?
Will Renault promote Piquet Jr to a race seat?


However...

The other questions:
Will Lewis or Fernando want to be in the same team next year?
And will they both be wanting proper No1 status?
So where will they go, do we suppose?


Alonso:
Surely he would've signed a 'multi-year contract' [RonSpeak] so I can't see it'd be easy to get shot of him unless he wants to go. Might he go back to Renault? Would McLaren return the favour from this year and let Fernando start early so he can get some testing in? And would the Renault be any good next year? Or would Ferrari want him? Would Fernando go there and again be up against another decent team-mate? Which Ferrari driver would be shown the door?

Hamilton:
He may well have a contract where McLaren have the option to get him a seat somewhere else (when he was announced, he was a relatively unknown quantity, and if the likes of DC had been right and Lewis had caved under the pressure I could've seen him going to Prodrive next year). If Alonso stays, what would McLaren do? Would Ferrari take Lewis? And again, who would be his team-mate there?


My money is on...
If Lewis wins the driver's championship this year, Ferdy will have no choice other than to go back to Renault. Then Fisi will be out, Heikki will stay and Piquet will be put somewhere like Williams. Williams will outsource Rosberg to Toyota and will ditch Wurz for Timo Glock who will have won this year's GP2 by then. Lewis can stay at McLaren, and be teamed up with someone harmless like Pedro De La Rosa. Paffett can still go to Prodrive, but will most likely have to stay in DTM because Prodrive will still be a figment of Dave Richard's imagination.


Long shot...
If Ferdy wins the championship, I reckon he'll retire.


Any other ideas folks?

Paff

I heard that Fisi was out on his ear anyway

I'm surprised the other teams aren't queuing at the door with all this internal strife and McLaren, he could have his pic of drives, winning the championship or not

I heard the Williams drivers are confirmed for next year - with a big step up in car performance, they're both keen to stay.

Lewis will be at McLaren next year, no question. He's McLaren to the core for the foreseeable future. Dominant over his team-mate and in a top car, why would he move?

McLaren will keep Alonso if they can. He may have been outshone this year, but he's still one of the best drivers in F1. Alonso's in a no-win situation though - if he stays, he's likely to continue to be second-best to Hamilton, if he leaves Hamilton drove him away. I guess he'll stay, even if only because there's no decent drive for him to go to.

No change at Fiat either. The top 2 teams have the best 4 drivers.

Gif

>>Alonso's in a no-win situation though<<

Which is why I reckon he'll retire.

You might have something there. I don't think Alonso would ever go to Ferrari but I could see him going back to Renault - if he doesn't retire, of course...

Renault's conceivable - but I have trouble seeing him going from one of the top 2 teams to the 4th team. Plus it would be blatant that he couldn't compete with Hamilton. I think his only option is to stick it out and try to improve.

I hope he does stay - for my money, McLaren have 2 of the top 3 drivers in F1.

Gif

We're all assuming Lewis is going to beat Fernando. My money is still on Alonso winning the championship, although the odds are a bit long at the moment.

Also don't forget that last year Renault were top team and it was McLaren who were having an off day. The year before that Ferrari were nowhere. So maybe Renault can be back on the pace next year?

Teams go up and down. Renault engined cars won the 92, 93, 95, 96 and 97 world championships. In 1995 the top 4 drivers, Schumacher, Hill, Coulthard and Herbert were all driving Renaults. Ferrari have yo-yod up and down the table more times than Williams so just because a team's not performing to their expected standard doesn't mean that they won't do well next year.

True - but it's a hell of a lot easier to move down the grid than it is to move up it.

Gif

Ominously, the FIA says it has 'new evidence' in the McLaren spy scandal, and has changed the appeal hearing to a full FIA meeting.

No word on what this new evidence is as yet.

Gif

Curiouser and curiouser... http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=40534

In case anyone's living on Mars and hasn't heard, the FIA verdict on the McLaren spy scandal is in.

McLaren have been disqualified from this year's championship - effectively handing the Constructors' title to Ferrari in the courtroom - and hit with a $100,000,000 fine

Speaking as a confirmed Ferrari non-fan, I have to say that the evidence against McLaren as presented by the WMSC seems overwhelming:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/62348

I would, however, say that the penalty seems excessive (I was expecting around a 20-point penalty or a £20,000,000 fine at most). It also seems bizarre to penalise the team rather than Alonso, given that Alonso, Diniz and Coughlan are the only individuals directly implicated.

Gif

It turns out that the mole within McLaren who alerted the FIA to the existence of the emails that have just cost the team $100,000,000 plus the constructors championship was not Fernando Alonso after all. In fact it was - Ron Dennis!

I have to say I didn't see that one coming!

Gif

Sorry, Alonso, de la Rosa and Coughlan.

Gif

Kudos for his integrity.

I hope that counts in mitigation at the appeal.

According to this report, it was Ron Dennis who blabbed to the FIA... but only because Alsono had threatened to do it if he wasn't given number 1 driver status at McLaren. Obviously Ron wasn't going to give him top billing, so he called his bluff.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/6996172.stm

I couldn't believe that when you told me! I think Ron did the right thing though, even if it has cost his team a hell of a lot. It looks like McLaren do like to treat their drivers as equals after all! I've totally changed my opinion of Alonso thanks to his antics this season. I thought he was a decent bloke. Obviously not.

HI guys
sorry to change teh subjuct a litte.
(i have herd far to much about 'spygate' 'Ferrarigate' Stepnygate' or whatever 'gate' they have been calling it this week at work!)


bit of sad news here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/6997270.stm