A.Wayne

Yeah i know what you mean. You shouldn't be so hard on RD , He did what he had to do , i mean 2 championships in 15 years , the guy needed help ....

A.Wayne

Rumors , Rumors, Rumors of war.....

www.f1-live.com

Red Bull Racing is still in the running to secure the services of Fernando Alonso in 2008, according to reports on Thursday.

Timo Glock's near-confirmed seat at Toyota has effectively ended speculation that the Japanese team could welcome the Spaniard, who recently split with McLaren after a single acrimonious season.

Williams, meanwhile, announced its driver line-up on Wednesday, leading some observers to surmise that Renault - pooling an impressive band of sponsors in anticipation of the news - is now the only real option for double world champion Alonso next year.

But according to the Spanish daily newspaper Diario As, the 26-year-old's manager Luis Garcia Abad on Wednesday met in Madrid with Red Bull magnate Dietrich Mateschitz and also Gerhard Berger, the Toro Rosso co-owner.
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Mark Webber and David Coulthard have contracts to stay at Red Bull Racing next year, while the Berger co-owned junior team announced that it intends to field Sebastian Vettel alongside multiple Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais in 2008.

Rumour has it that Bourdais could be asked to spend one final season in the United States so that Coulthard can switch to Toro Rosso, thus vacating a seat at the senior team for Alonso.

Larry Herman

Ooooooh, Webber and Alonso. Now THAT would be interesting. I guess that then we would finally get a true measure of where Webber slots in, talent-wise.

Ray S

I don't count him out at all. He is clearly one of the top drivers in F1.

I just don't care for all the whining.

A.Wayne

Webber is a good driver , better than most of the overrated daddy drivers floating around F1 recently and not being German will not pick up a top drive , but he is good friends with Alonso , who is now hated by RD, the British and some listers , liked by Ferrari , renault , Toyota, and just about everyone else....

multi21

Or conversely how Alonso slots in -- talent wise. Having Hamilton as a teammate exposed Alonso. His other teammate Fisi was less than stellar.

Flying Finn

I was thinking the same thing, I'm also very interested to see if Hamilton gets a good team mate next year (i.e. Rosberg or Kovalainen) how he reacks up against his next team mate. Should have an advantage (equipment wise since he will be #1) but still it will be interesting to see.

mitch236

While I am impressed with both Kovalainen and Rosberg, I don't think they are any better than Alonso. I hate to say it but I think Hamilton did extremely well this year. I don't think he showed Alonso's weakness but showed his own strength. Next year will be a different story.

To make things very interesting in F1, they should have to run one race per weekend in the GP-2 cars. Maybe only 10 or so laps.

A.Wayne

LOL, Rosberg and Heiki as good as Alonso , they are par for the course , not comparable to Alonso... We know that Rosberg is slower than Webber and does not get on with Hamilton , so scratch him from the Mclaren list , Heiki is quite possibly as good as Rosberg , but Hammy is way better than both by a long shot but he is still no Alonso.
08 will be proof positive of how much Alonso helped Mclaren and Hamilton , if the end of season results haven't already convinced you of that ....

Nano

Hamilton did indeed extremely well... When he had nothing to lose and everything to prove. At then end of the season, when he had everything to lose and nothing to prove and just had to drive conservatively to secure the WDC, he failed appallingly.

Next year will be proof positive of a lot of things... How Hamilton does against his teammate, clear #1 for hamilton or same 2007 soup? How Alonso does without Hamilton? Hamilton without Alonso? Mclaren without Alonso? New team with Alonso? etc...

multi21

I think your underestimating Rosberg. He has grown into a good driver. I'm not ready to declare he's great, but he did spectacular things with the Williams. The only way to gauge what he can do is to put him in a front line car, sadly that will not be with McLaren or Ferrari or BMW in 2008.

MJSpeed

Nico comfirmed with Williams for 2008...

Like I said back on October 17, 2007 when discussing Alonso's 2008 choices...

A.Wayne

Yep , he needs a one Yr deal , to make this happen :
www.itv.com
Strong rumours out of Spain suggest that Alonso has a pre-contract agreement with Ferrari in his pocket for 2009, though the Scuderia's president Luca di Montezemolo appeared to scupper that last weekend by suggesting he already had the best drivers in the world in Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa.

And though no-one in the paddock, other than perhaps Massa and his manager Nicolas Todt, seriously believes Massa is a better driver than Alonso, confirmation of a new three-year contract means the Brazilian's position is publicly secure, at least for now.

Perhaps more interesting is Raikkonen's admission at Ferrari's end-of-season Mugello bash last week that he does not plan to be in F1 for the long haul, and that he is not yet thinking about extending his contract.

Flying Finn

Heikki beat Schumi, Loeb etc. in equal equipment and in equipment that was much more familiar to the competitor (against Schumi with Ferrari 360 and against Loed in a Rally car) and Heikki's times at Renault (when Alonso was still there) were same as Alonso's, he can do better than what you guys think, past year was his 1st in F1.

But that was was not my point, I was thinking more how it would be interesting if he was pretty much equal or even faster than Hamilton, where would that put Alonso? I'm not sure about you, but I would like to see Heikki in McLaren and see what his times are.

ltc

http://www.f1i.com/content/view/8887/1/

Nov.21 (GMM) Spanish telco Telefonica has reportedly pulled out of a multi-million dollar super-fund designed to woo Fernando Alonso back to Renault in 2008. The country's biggest newspaper, El Pais, reports that the company - earlier linked with the $90 million super-fund via the mobile brand Movistar - no longer has any intention of re-entering the sport. Telefonica withdrew as a major Renault sponsor at the end of last year, when Alonso switched from the French team to McLaren. The British newspaper The Independent also reports that Telefonica has gone cold on formula one, adding that the company "is lukewarm about both (Flavio) Briatore and Alonso". The Spanish newspaper Diario AS, meanwhile, reports on Wednesday that Briatore, the Renault boss, has installed a new deadline of Thursday for Alonso to decide to agree a deal for next year.

http://www.f1i.com/content/view/8883/1/

Nov.20 (GMM) Negotiations between Fernando Alonso and Renault about 2008 have reached a deadlock, reports from Spain and Italy on Tuesday said. The Spanish sports daily Marca claims that while team boss Flavio Briatore is happy to accept Alonso's demands for a one-year contract, Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn is refusing to budge on the offer of a minimally three-year stay. It is rumoured that Alonso wants a one year deal because he has already agreed to switch to Ferrari in 2009; a scenario that might understandably be unattractive to Renault chiefs. The wire service Agenzia Giornalistica Italia (AGI) quotes Ghosn as confirming: "It's three years or nothing."

and

http://www.f1i.com/content/view/8892/1/

Nov.22 (GMM) Fernando Alonso is still yet to decide which formula one team to drive for in 2008, his manager said. Luis Garcia Abad, also a Spaniard, told the BBC: "He will decide when he knows the best option for his future." Alonso, 26, is currently holidaying and training in an unknown Spanish location, after negotiating a split with McLaren following an acrimonious season in 2007. The private Spanish television network Telecinco on Wednesday reported that a new meeting between Alonso's representatives and Renault did not go well, after Carlos Ghosn said the French marque would only accept a three-year commitment. "I do not know anything about Fernando, nothing new," team boss Flavio Briatore told a reporter for the Spanish daily Marca in a London restaurant on Wednesday, as his imposed Thursday deadline looms. Other media sources insist that Toyota and Red Bull, which reportedly hosted Alonso at its Milton Keynes headquarters recently, are still in the running to woo the double world champion for 2008.

Nice to see someone holding his little feet to the fire.....so he can't run away after a year if everything isn't exactly as he thinks it should be.