mitch236

I got that, but it seems to be added to alot of posts. Does it have some inside meaning that I'm not getting?

Sean F

It's from the ad that's on the page. When you cut and paste the copy it captures click here for some reason. The site must be designed in France.

ltc

Paging Dr. Wayne, paging Dr. A. Wayne....you're needed to answer this question....stat.....

A.Wayne

By Michele Lostia and Jonathan Noble Wednesday, October 17th 2007, 18:10 GMT

Fernando Alonso is wrong to believe that McLaren have done anything to try and hinder his title challenge this year, claims three times world champion Nelson Piquet.

Alonso has hinted at recent races that he may not have had complete equality of treatment with teammate Lewis Hamilton this year.

Piquet thinks such claims are misplaced, although he believes that Alonso's outspoken remarks may be aimed more at destabilising Hamilton than pleading for more help from his team.

"I don't think the suspicions of sabotage claimed by Alonso are real," Piquet told Italian magazine Autosprint. "But race after race the situation has degenerated.

"Up to the Belgian Grand Prix it was under control, but in Japan and China a verbal fight has started between Hamilton, Alonso and Ron Dennis that has no precedent in Formula One."

He added: "I don't think there is a conspiracy against Alonso. He's bitter, but with nothing to lose he's understood that the more confusion and nervousness there is on the track and in the garage, the more this situation can play into his hands.

"His objective was to psychologically destabilise Hamilton, as I used to do with (Nigel) Mansell by saying his wife was ugly and he was dumb...

"But he doesn't seem to have managed to do that with Hamilton, while with Dennis their relationship seems irremediably compromised to me.

"At the beginning of the season Hamilton had nothing to lose, and behaved that way. But maybe even he didn't think the team would have put him in the same position as Alonso."

Piquet has doubts that Alonso departing McLaren is actually in the team's best interests, and said he was surprised Hamilton has said he wants the Spaniard out of the team.

"Are we sure Ron Dennis wants Alonso to leave?" asked Piquet. "Maybe it's better to still have him in McLaren and carry on arguing with him, rather than having him against you on another car.

"Why would they want to let him go? Just because he doesn't get on with Hamilton? It seems too simplistic to me."

When asked whether it was normal that Hamilton should say he wants Alonso to leave the team, Piquet said: "No, it's not. No driver should behave that way with his teammate, much less when it's a rookie against a world champion."

tman

It's Kimis birthday today, happy birthday my fellow Finn.
Now would it not be the best birthday present ever to win the WC.
I'm starting to feel more and more like that Alonso and the FNG will take
eachother out of the race. Go Kimi. I need another drink!

A.Wayne

what is FNG................

tman

effing new guy!

Nano

I'm jealous of Finns

chris walrod

Another race prediction?

Looks like heads are gonna roll.

fuenfer

Why does McLaren have an FIA observer in their garages for this weekend? An interesting point raised by an Autosport article wonders why there were no FIA observers in the Ferrari garage after Austria 2002, etc. Why is McLaren required to give their drivers absolute equal treatment while Ferrari can flagrantly favor one driver?

ltc

IIRC, the head of the Spanish Motorsports Federation, representing Spain to the FIA, ASKED that one be assigned and Max agreed.

George from MD

I want to see Hamilton win just to see Alonso's temper tantrum. The Onion couldn't have come up with a better farce than Alonso's whining and an FIA observer....Bill France would've crucified the son of a b*tch before he put an observer in the pits.

And I started the year as an Alonso fan....

chris walrod

What I dont understand is an 'observer' will not know or recognize anything since performance hindering measures can be so minute, like that of a software upload to the car. Does 'observer' know the McLaren software language?

Because, its Ferrari -- apparently they dont have to follow ALL of the rules, or even open their pitlane email

A.Wayne

It was part of the rat Fink deal given by the FIA to FA , because he gave evidence against Mclaren, if not , he would have lost his super license.
The FIA scrutinizers is to make sure RD will not retaliate and pull a J.Bond move against FA for doing so. Quite unnecessary , as we all know RD is a stand up kind of a guy and is not the type to hold a grudge

The FIA interfered with the team @ Hungary to LH's benefit, i did'nt hear any out cry back then , so why would it be a big deal now .......

A.Wayne

By Jonathan Noble and Matt Beer Thursday, October 18th 2007, 13:58 GMT

Fernando Alonso says he sees no reason for an FIA official to be present in the McLaren garage during the title-deciding Brazilian Grand Prix weekend.

The FIA announced last week said it would appoint an official to ensure that the team treated both Alonso and Lewis Hamilton equally after the Spanish motorsport federation had expressed concerns about alleged favouritism at McLaren.

Alonso had hit out at his team in China after he only qualified fourth on the grid, six tenths of a second slower than Hamilton.

But in the press conference at Interlagos, the Spaniard played down the Shanghai situation and said he saw no requirement for the FIA presence.

"I don't agree with that decision but it is not up to us," Alonso replied when asked if he was comforted by the FIA's decision.

"I think if they decide to do that it is okay but I think we don't need anything like that in the garage.

"In China I think I was disappointed with qualifying performance and I felt (it was a) very strange result after Q1 and Q2, after being close to fighting for pole for Q3, but I realised tyre pressures were too high and this can happen in qualifying. It was coincidence and a bit of bad luck."

He also insisted that his personal relationship with Hamilton was fine, and that the tension between them was a press invention.

"They have been saying many, many things about us but they were not true," Alonso said. "We never had problems with each other, we are fighting on track but outside the track we had very good relationship from day one."

Hamilton backed up Alonso's stance.

"I think it is as good as ever," he said when asked about their relationship. "I think we have got on quite well this year despite what the media have said. They have always tried to put a big gap between us but they have not succeeded, we continue to do our job."

Alonso added that it was inevitable that his relationship with Hamilton would become less relaxed during the course of a GP weekend.

"I think when you see us together it is only on Saturday afternoon at the 'meet the team' press conference, and there it is just after qualifying so we are focused on race, strategy and result of qualifying so it is maybe not a very relaxed moment," he said.

He also suggested that the media had read too much into McLaren boss Ron Dennis's use of the phrase "we were racing Fernando" when referring to Hamilton's strategy in the Chinese GP.

"I was surprised, but I think it is difficult to see what is true, what is just normal words that you say after the race and if you take in a different way you can make some problems," Alonso said. "I don't see anything strange, I was surprised but not really worried."

Hamilton had criticised Alonso's driving at the Belgian GP after the two McLarens touched at the first corner, but said he was confident that the title would not be decided by an incident between them.

"I think we are professional racing drivers, you look out for yourself but we don't want to crash with any of the drivers," he said.

"Neither of us want to crash, we just want to finish the race. Entering the first corner you go in there with a clean mind about leading or gaining a place, but without taking too many risks. From our experience we know what is too much or too little, I don't think we have any problems."