http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=41226

Now a decent driver that dosen't act like a spoiled brat can take his place. He will probaly go back to Falvio, so who will be favourite to race alongside LH?

I guess Heikki Kovalainen. I wait next season to see 2 Finns are there in ceremony of prize-giving.

I wait next season to see 2 Finns are there in ceremony of prize-giving.

??

Renault wait to hear from Alonso

By Michele Lostia and Biranit Goren Saturday, November 3rd 2007, 14:39 GMT

Renault have made Fernando Alonso an offer to return to the squad with which he won the 2005 and 2006 world titles, team chief Flavio Briatore confirmed.

"Let's see what happens from here to Tuesday," the Italian told Gazzetta dello Sport. "I have presented a project for the future to Fernando. If his desires coincide with ours, it can happen."

Briatore has confirmed speculations that Alonso and Renault disagree on the length of the Spaniard's contract, as he seeks to sign for just one season - leaving him free for 2009.

"I know how much he can still give Renault, but an agreement for one year would have no sense with an outlook projected for a period of time," Briatore added.

The Spanish driver ended his troubled season-long relationship with McLaren on Friday, creating an unusual situation of a lively drivers market this late in the year.

So far, Alonso has been linked with Renault, Williams, Toyota and most recently with Red Bull Racing. And Dietrich Mateschitz, Red Bull owner, would not rule any option out.

"Let's see how things go," he told the newspaper. "[David] Coulthard and [Mark] Webber are 100% our drivers for 2008. But there's nothing certain in F1, only things that are very probable."

Alonso's former teammate at Renault Jarno Trulli revealed Alonso has been in touch with Toyota, giving credence to some rumours that Alonso has asked Toyota to hire former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn.

"I was immediately informed by phone of the split between Alonso and McLaren," Trulli said. "I know he has spoken to Toyota and has asked for more technicians: it would be great by me..."

would be great if they could somehow work out a deal to get Webber in the McLaren. put him in a decent car, see what he is made of, but can't see it happening. Although, the rumour is Alonso to Red Bull for a year, would make sense to shove the experienced Coulthard in the McLaren to help Hamilton out, or put Webber in as a 2nd driver.

Let's be realistic: Marc Webber shouldnt even be in the F1. Ok, maybe he should be in the F1 considering the pilots driving for the worse teams, but come on, Webber at McLaren?

Not going to happen of course, they dont spent millions of dollars building and stealing secrets from other teams to give a car to someone who can't drive it, and Webber obviously cant.

Next year will be like this:

-Kimi will be Champion again

-Massa will be 3rd

-Hamilton will be a distant 2nd, he will never recover from the big fk up in the last race this year, and a guy that does the mistakes he did doesnt have the competence to be a champion. Every time there will be a more important race, he will choke.

-Alonso will win a race or two, but due to the limitations of Renault will not have a chance to win the championship.

I would of course love to see Massa up there but I dont think he has what it takes to win it all. He will win 2, 3 races and that's it.

I dont know what's you guys problem with Alonso. As it became obvious during the year and pretty explicit by Ron Dennis' faux-pas in China ("we were racing against Alonso"), there WAS a determination in the team to help Hamilton and harm Alonso. Me thinks this is supreme disrespect to a 2 time world champion that despite having entire team against him, managed to almost win it all for the 3rd time in a row.

If anyone here was a 2 time world champion and could handle being treated as a 2nd rate pilot because the owner of the team wants the rookie that he manages the carrer to be a champion, then congratulations, you are probably the next da1a¡ 1ama.

Alonso has every right to be pissed, and McLaren hopefully will suck a horse's dik by 1)stealing secrets from Ferrari 2)treating a world champion the way it did.

HC, Alonso came across as a crybaby for at least a couple years now. Maybe it's his Latin blood that irks many, I don't know.

But as things heated up within McLaren and it became obvious that Dennis is a piece of work also, Alonso gained a lot more respect in my book. If the story's true that Alonso made statements to Dennis tantamount to blackmail, well then, that just shows that Alonso is not only a first rate arsehole, but that he has cojones the size of Texas. I like him.

But I like the Iceman more. I agree, he'll win it again next year.

Hamilton got too big for his breeches. I hope next year he shuts the fuq up.

Massa is a damn good driver, but can get a little emotional. The support role is the perfect position for him. Ferrari (Luca di Montezemolo) extending his contract another 3 years just prior to the Brazilian GP was a brilliant, BRILLIANT move.

I'd like to see Kubica get a few more points next year.

^ That's a pretty good fkng post right there dude.

The fact Alonso stood up to his bosses pissed up a bunch of people that think the little spanish boy should stay in his place, which he didnt. Brilliant.

The thing is: he is a crybaby, but a two times world champion at that (with a second rate car) and no one can take that away from him.

I agree with your take on Massa and the Ferrari team are very very seasoned, experienced and competent people. Great team, and the british thief stealing from them proves it all.

Massa is to Kimi what Barrichello was to Schummi, and that's good enough for him.

But you never know, he got there young enough to still put up a fight with Kimi. Let's see how it goes next year.

Next year will be interesting.

mat wrote:

I wait next season to see 2 Finns are there in ceremony of prize-giving.

??

Herald Tribune:
STUTTGART, Germany: Lewis Hamilton believes three drivers are in contention to be his new teammate at McLaren-Mercedes for the next Formula One season. At season-ending celebrations for Mercedes, the British driver said the race was between Nico Rosberg of Williams, Spyker's Adrian Sutil and Renault driver Heikki Kovalainen.

Iceman (Räikkönen), Rosberg and Kovalainen are Finnish. Now we wait world championship in ice-hockey and next season 1st AND 2nd or 3rd prize in F1

Not going to happen of course, they dont spent millions of dollars building and stealing secrets from other teams to give a car to someone who can't drive it, and Webber obviously cant.

whoa! Webber is a good driver, he has made some shitty decisions in terms of where to drive, that is all. He gets the most out of his car.

Wouldn't it be great to have a "control" car that everyone takes for 3 laps around a circuit and see who the fastest is. People like Webber, Sutil, Davidson would love it as they would get to show their speed, but people like Alonso would squash the idea because it would show that 90% of their speed is the car.

Webber is fast, consistently outpaces Coulthard (he is old but still a top driver), he just needs something underneath him.

mat wrote:... Webber is a good driver, he has made some shitty decisions in terms of where to drive...

Hahahahaha! Classic!

mat wrote:would be great if they could somehow work out a deal to get Webber in the McLaren. put him in a decent car, see what he is made of, but can't see it happening. Although, the rumour is Alonso to Red Bull for a year, would make sense to shove the experienced Coulthard in the McLaren to help Hamilton out, or put Webber in as a 2nd driver.

Thanks for the laugh. You cant fault your ability to dream though.

Neither of those scenarios have any chance of happening.

Webber is very smart actually. He made a massive name for himself in the year where it was single lap qualifying. He would run on zero fuel, gear the car for a huge qualifying session, and qualify way above where he was supposed to at Jaguar.

Then his race strategy was fcuked, never getting points and always finishing well below his race qualifying spot and never passing anyone, but no one noticed and he made a good career after it.

But he is a good driver. But he never really beat Heidfeld and that hurt his rankings.

Yucca wrote:

mat wrote:

I wait next season to see 2 Finns are there in ceremony of prize-giving.

??

Herald Tribune:
STUTTGART, Germany: Lewis Hamilton believes three drivers are in contention to be his new teammate at McLaren-Mercedes for the next Formula One season. At season-ending celebrations for Mercedes, the British driver said the race was between Nico Rosberg of Williams, Spyker's Adrian Sutil and Renault driver Heikki Kovalainen.

Iceman (Räikkönen), Rosberg and Kovalainen are Finnish. Now we wait world championship in ice-hockey and next season 1st AND 2nd or 3rd prize in F1

I thought Rosberg was German. Weird.

It woud be great to see him in top car as i rate him in the top four drivers. But I also used to rate Massa as top and thought he would win this year. But he really stuffed it up at the beginning of the season. And now he seems content with #2 which I never admire in a driver.

Alonso got screwed at Mclaren. But he is a whiner, he said the same things at Renault (that the team was against him) when he wasn't getting his way. And when he got released from the contract he backtracked and said it was all untrue.

But when was the last winner who wasn't an egomaniac. I guess Kimi isn't. I am still not sure how he won this year. I thought he was done a long time ago. Never rated him highly but he is exactly what a top driver is now, boring and relies 100% on race strategy and passing in the pits.

If they got rid of pit stops kimi would never win.

mat wrote:

Wouldn't it be great to have a "control" car that everyone takes for 3 laps around a circuit and see who the fastest is. People like Webber, Sutil, Davidson would love it as they would get to show their speed, but people like Alonso would squash the idea because it would show that 90% of their speed is the car.
.

That's a brilliant idea actually.

I dont think Alonso would disappoint though, he won two championships without the best car. He

Credit where credit is due please.

Rosberg is german, funnily enough.....


German tabloids have Michael Schumacher as a favourite for filling up the empty seat next to Hamilton

hc wrote:

mat wrote:

Wouldn't it be great to have a "control" car that everyone takes for 3 laps around a circuit and see who the fastest is. People like Webber, Sutil, Davidson would love it as they would get to show their speed, but people like Alonso would squash the idea because it would show that 90% of their speed is the car.
.

That's a brilliant idea actually.

I dont think Alonso would disappoint though, he won two championships without the best car. He

Credit where credit is due please.

Alonso was 2xWDC and a wink away from 3 in a row. No one gets that without being good. Just ask Massa, Hamilton, Kimi, Coulthard, Ralf, Montoya, Button (2003) or anyone else who drove the top car and didn't do anything in it.

How about this.

You run that control car scenario in the off season, in a series of events over a couple of weeks.

Then the drivers go into a draft and get to pick in the order they place:

1. The team they want to drive for
2. Some other benefits

Then that would be cool.

SirFiddler wrote:Rosberg is german, funnily enough.....


German tabloids have Michael Schumacher as a favourite for filling up the empty seat next to Hamilton

Actually Nico Rosberg got two citizenship (passports) Finnish and German. His Father is Finnish Keke Rosberg and his mother is German.

In Finnish press he is Finn and in German media he is German

Anyway he speaks much better German than Finnish and English is the language he most uses.

Hmmm good to know. I didnt actually know that before.

It would be great to see him racing hamilton but you can be assured what they are likely looking for is someone who is experienced, can set up a car and won't challenge Hamilton in anyway shape or form.

Alonso first gripe was how Hamilton was stealing his set ups. I would suggest Button but we all know he is hopeless at setting up a car and providing good information to the engineers.

Tulli might be good actually. He has shown to be a lot better than Ralf.

Hard to think who would be a good teammate. They might just go with Sutil but then he challenge Hamilton pretty well in G2.

Rosberg would be ideal, but i really dont think they want anyone challenging hamilton after the last year.

My quess is that:
Next year there is Mika Häkkinen as technical adviser and Hamilton and Kovalainen as a drivers. Ferrari will have true competitor and the F1 circus will be thrilling.

did anyone ever bother again with the f1 manager mat set up ? lost the link the password but would still like to know who won it

Here are the final scores from The Shanghai league.

1 (Held position) Dazzman Racing 2689
2 (Held position) Villeneuve's Groove 1357
3 (Held position) YogaGirl 1001
4 (Held position) Giddyup 659
5 (Held position) LBFMs 419
6 (Held position) FlavsF1 354
7 (Held position) The Walrus' Biatches! 342
8 (Held position) Oh no 296
9 (Held position) Flash's Failures 244
10 (Held position) PuxiFetish Racing Team 40

oh yah, that. congrats dazza

^Thanks I will spray the beer later, Surprised myself there coming 158th overall, pity I couldn't do the same in the MotoGP Fantasy league, 3rd from bottom I think..

Holy Sh1t , 40 points... hahahahahaha

^

PuxiFetish Racing Team

Haha should have guessed who that was in the first place.