multi21

Much to the dismay of A. Wayne, McLaren doesn't have to do anything "special" to Alonso's car. This witch hunt that McLaren is sabatoging Alonso's car is a built in excuse when he loses the WC.

Hamilton is ahead by 4 points. The only cars that can beat him is the other McLaren and the Ferraris. He needs to be conservative and finish near the top. The only thing he can't afford is another DNF.

McLaren doesn't dare do anything stupid with Alonso's car unless they want the $100,000,000 fine earlier this year to look like pocket change.

ltc

I believe the FIA 'observer' has the authority to scrutineer any aspesct of the car and its preparation, both pre and post race.
The team will have to sufficiently answer any question he/she asks and Charlie Whiting will be consulted as required.
There are lots of FIA officials (observers) if you like scurrying about in the pits during a race weekend, this one just has a very public and focused job to do.

As for FA saying it's not necessary, McLaren can simply ask the Spanish Motorsports FIA delegate to rescind his request and voila! the obsever will be removed.
Of course, there is NO way FA is going to do that, nor is McLaren....they want to make sure FA has NOTHING to whine about when/if he loses.....but he's going to sing anyways, so on with the show.

multi21

If he takes out LH, it will be harder to sing with Ron Dennis' hands around his throat.

A.Wayne

FA has nothing to gain in taking LH out and he will not , LH has nothing to gain in doing so also , this is all speculation from most MS fans who have come to expect this kind of Behavior from their Champion ......

A.Wayne

THe FIA scrutinizer was at RD request , not Alonso.....

ltc

IIRC, wasn't it the head of the Spanish Motorsports governing body who requested the special FIA observer and RD simply agreed?

ltc

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/formulaone/40937/

At the apparent request of the Spanish motorsport federation, the FIA will assign an official exclusively to oversee the treatment dispensed by McLaren to both its drivers during the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix.

Teammates Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso will enter the decisive race separated by just four points, and amidst insinuations from the Spaniard that he was deliberately sabotaged by the squad in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix – Alonso was a significantly 0.7sec slower than Hamilton, and his front tires were later found to have been overinflated.

"Yes, it's true that the FIA will have a steward making sure that nothing wrong happens to Fernando, especially in qualifying, which is where there have been more complaints or strange situations in the last few Grands Prix," Spanish motorsport federation boss Carlos Garcia told his country’s AS newspaper.

"On October 3 I had a meeting with Max Mosley where I showed my concern over the situation that Fernando is going through, which is no secret, and he reassured me.

"Honestly I think the treatment in this final race of the season will be the same, and that there will be equality for both drivers,” he continued.

"It couldn't be any other way because it's what common sense calls for, as there is a Ferrari driver behind and the British team have to fight against the red cars, not against their drivers. Fernando must be calm."

A.Wayne

That statement by speed is dis informative and misleading ..

No the head of the Spanish federation voiced his concerns to MAX about fair play at Mclaren , on approach , the FIA , reminding RD of Max's warning of further fines if this is not so. RD was the one who suggested for them to place observers...... this was accepted by the Spanish Motorsports governing body and the FIA.....

M758

Guys with a 4 point gap McLaren can actuall favor Alonso and still win the WDC for Hamilton.

4pts Lets see

Alonso = 10 win
Hamilton = 8 2nd place
Kimi = 6 3rd place

Hamilton wins it all. So really slowing down Alonso won't help. You need to have Hamilton right behind Alonso and infront of Kimi. Focus on beating Kimi and Hamilton wins.

A.Wayne

By Jonathan Noble and Biranit Goren Thursday, October 18th 2007, 14:44 GMT

Kimi RaikkonenKimi Raikkonen arrives at Interlagos for the season finale as the underdog in Formula One's first three-way championship battle in 21 years, yet the Finn appears as cool as always ahead of Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix.

The Ferrari driver, who trails title leader Lewis Hamilton by seven points - and reigning champion Fernando Alonso by three, seems happy at the Italian team.

There are no complaints about his treatment, not even over the fact that were it not for mechanical failures, Raikkonen would surely have had the title wrapped up by now.

And he isn't even overly concerned about whether or not his teammate Felipe Massa will help him in Sunday's race to improve his chances of winning the championship.

Autosport.com caught up with Raikkonen at the Shell-arranged media meeting at the Transamerica to hear his thoughts on the final round of the year - and beyond.

Q: Would you say you are adopting a cautious approach to this weekend?

Kimi Raikkonen: "I don't know. We don't have much to lose and I think we will treat it more like a normal race. Maybe we will need to do something during the race, but we won't do anything crazy because it probably won't work out.

"But it is difficult to say before the race. We need to look at how it goes tomorrow and then try to make the best plan that we can think of."

Q: If you win the championship, will it be a big surprise for you?

Raikkonen: "I don't know about a surprise. But for sure we have not been in the best position at some points this year, we had some problems and we dropped out of the points. So we were quite far away.

"We caught up again a little bit, but for sure we need a bit of good luck also on Sunday to try to win it. To win it would not be a surprise, but it would be very nice."

Q: How did you celebrate your birthday yesterday?

Raikkonen: "Nothing really. It was just a normal day, we just went to eat. That was all."

Q: Was there any present from the team?

Raikkonen: "I haven't seen them yet, I am staying in a different hotel to them. Maybe I get something, maybe not. It is not such an important thing when you are getting older. More or less when you are ten years old, you are more excited."

Q: Felipe Massa has just extended his deal at Ferrari. What is your reaction to that, and what about your own future at Ferrari?

Raikkonen: "Actually it is nothing really to do with me. He made a new contract and that is fine for me. I have a contract for two years too, I am happy with that and I need to decide after that what I want to do. If I want to race, or not. I am not worried about my future at all."

Q: What is your assessment of the season?

Raikkonen: "My season has been okay. When you come to a new team it can be a bit difficult sometimes, and it is not so easy as if you have been at a team for many years - then you know exactly what is going on, what is going to happen. So I am pretty happy of course, but we could have had a better season.

"But I think the problems we had as a team, we had a little bit difficulty sometimes with reliability and that has been hurting us more than anything else.

"Otherwise I am very happy with the team, very happy to work with the people, they are nice people to work with and we have a very good relationship. So that is the main thing and I am sure it is much easier to go for next year and be even stronger as a team."

Q: What has your relationship with Felipe been like? And what do you think about the possibility of him helping you this weekend?

Raikkonen: "I think we have a good relationship together. We always push each other. That is normal between teammates. We have a very fair and clean relationship between the two of us.

"I don't know what is going to happen in the race this weekend, it depends on so many different things, but the main thing is that as a team we are going to try and do the best result we can and try to be one and two."

Q: This has been your first year at Ferrari and you have mentioned the reliability problems. But coming here you have the best chance you have ever had to win the championship, so how does that feel?

Raikkonen: "Like I said, we had a few problems but it is part of the racing. I know everybody is pushing hard to get rid of the problems. No one wants to see those things but unfortunately that is part of the racing for all the teams. We found out the problems, we fixed them and we haven't had any more.

"We learn always from the mistakes and this year is I think, okay. We are still in the championship but we are not in as strong a position as we would be without the problems, but we can still hopefully do it. We are going to try at least, and it has been a good first year like I said.

"We are still in the championship. I am pretty happy, even with the difficulties we had. We showed we can come back and fight for wins at every race."

Q: Your main rivals have all had difficulties and incidents this year. Why do you think you have stayed away from problems this season?

Raikkonen: "I don't know really. Okay, they had some accidents and other things happened. I have only two times technical problems, it is nothing I can really change. Nobody liked that those things happened. It is part of the racing and unfortunately it happened.

"Like I said before, without those we would be in a better position but at least something went wrong to the other cars also. They have had a very good car this year but they have also had their problems which helped a little bit for us. I don't think it is anything to do with my driving style, I have just been unlucky."

Q: If Fernando Alonso leaves McLaren at the end of the year, will it make next year's battle easier?

Raikkonen: "I don't think it is going to change anything for next year, if he goes or not. Nobody knows, maybe he knows himself. But I am not really interested and it doesn't change anything for me.

"For me it doesn't make any difference if he stays there or goes somewhere else. I think the championship will be difficult anyhow, every year there is always good guys in different teams. Different teams can make better cars for next year and you never know.

"Next year will be completely different without the traction control, without the engine braking and all those things, so I think it will be nice to see. It can be a completely different story.

"We need to just finish this season and work hard for next year, see who goes where, and then decide what happens."

Nano

I think they all focus on beating eachother. Obviously no one has any advantage in taking out the other drivers. Anyone who suggest there will be animosity between Hamilton and Alonso at the start has failed at arduous F1 TV watching. The issue is that no one will want to concede an inch to the other, and everyone will be 101% into the first series of corners. The pressure on the drivers will be extreme at the start, and the ingredients are there for mistakes and catastrophic consequences. It's not like in a middle of the season race, where if you lose a corner you tell yourself you can always make it up later in the race/season... you lose a corner here, you might have lost the WDC... Hamilton leading, according to most will be the one under the most pressure and the one who might have the most issues dealing with pressure. Alonso has more experience, has nothing to lose, and is playing catch up. ICEMAN apparently does not understand the mundane concept of "pressure", has even less to lose, and can't wait for the race to finish to go get drunk.

Hamilton needs to win, concentrating on just finishing the race might be a poor strategy. If he comes third, and Alonso wins, he has lost the WDC.

Same thing in qualies... they will all be pushing to get front row, mistakes could happen there as well.

A.Wayne

Interlargos has new pavement for this 07 GP , a much smoother surface , claims where made this was done to aide Ferrari, who has strugggled over less than smooth surfaces .
My pick would be
Crowd Favorite for race win : Felipe Massa
Crowd Favorite for WDC win Fernanado Alonso

The reality , It will be difficult for LH to lose his first WDC, but he did just that in china, Strange things can and will happen, as Bad Karma can be a Bitch, with the happenings this season Team Mclaren is CURRENTLY bathed in bad Karma ........

INTERLARGOS

fuenfer

McLaren Mercedes to Drop Fernando Alonso:

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5...TyZfUyhnqxUZpA

mitch236

A meaningless article but I agree that Alonso has to go. He is percieved as a whistle blower and the fact that Hamilton appears to have it all leaves no room for Alonso at Mac. To Renault he goes. Back to Flav, his greatest supporter. But who will be his teammate?

ked

no shock, but interesting timing.
does it increase the potential for FA to take out Ham in order to win it all?
or vice versa...?
the dynamic does make Kimi's chances a slightly lesser long-shot.
will FA's next teamate insist on having an FIA official inside the team to assure equal treatment...
or will he be paid handsomely to play Robin to FA's Batman?