McClaren announce Fernando Alonso to leave team.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12433_2842921,00.html
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12433_2842921,00.html
The F1 Thread 2008 Season
- Thread starter RedNome
- Start date
Shocking
Good riddance to the whining git
Bring him to Ferrari I say
I never saw this thread and posted it in the old one but I'll post it in here now, with a bit extra...
It will be interesting to see not only where he goes but who comes into McLaren.... Will they go for another younger type or head for some experience to support Hamilton or as a safe bet? They may even promote their test driver as he was fighting for the place with Hamilton the year before...
Ferrari already have their drivers under contract (Massa re-signing recently and it would be very unlikely they would get rid of Raikkonen unless he moves back to McLaren which I doubt!). Renault is a big possibility and maybe BMW will take this chance to make that step up - they have had probably the best car after McLaren and Ferrari.
Maybe they had different words on the inside but at least there wasn't any of that 'bitchiness' in the media that we have seen this season.
It will be interesting to see not only where he goes but who comes into McLaren.... Will they go for another younger type or head for some experience to support Hamilton or as a safe bet? They may even promote their test driver as he was fighting for the place with Hamilton the year before...
Ferrari already have their drivers under contract (Massa re-signing recently and it would be very unlikely they would get rid of Raikkonen unless he moves back to McLaren which I doubt!). Renault is a big possibility and maybe BMW will take this chance to make that step up - they have had probably the best car after McLaren and Ferrari.
Alonso offered return to Renault
-----
Hamilton earmarks McLaren targets
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7076762.stm
-----
Hamilton earmarks McLaren targets
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7076956.stm
New spying scandal as Renault found with confidential McLaren documents.
Renault have been summoned before Formula One's governing body to answer a charge of possessing confidential McLaren technical information.
McLaren were fined $100m (£47.5m) and thrown out of the constructors' championship after being found guilty on a similar charge in September.
Renault are to appear before the FIA world motorsport council on 6 December.
The information included "the layout and critical dimensions of the McLaren F1 car", an FIA statement said.
The FIA made the announcement on the day it emerged that its inspectors had visited McLaren as part of their investigation to ensure no Ferrari ideas would be on the 2008 McLaren car.
An FIA statement said Renault were accused of "unauthorised possession" between September 2006 and October 2007 "of documents and confidential information belonging to McLaren".
That, it added, included "but [was] not limited to, the layout and critical dimensions of the McLaren F1 car, together with details of the McLaren fuelling system, gear assembly, oil cooling system, hydraulic control system and a novel suspension component used by the 2006 and 2007 McLaren F1 cars."
The charges levelled against Renault - the first hints of which emerged in September around the time of McLaren's punishment - are remarkably similar to those McLaren faced.
FIA president Max Mosley said at the time that the accusations against Renault revolved around an employee who had left McLaren to join Renault and taken the information with him.
A Renault spokesman told BBC Sport: "Ever since the matter was brought to our attention, we have acted with complete transparency towards McLaren and the FIA and we will continue to do so."
A McLaren spokeswoman said the team would not be commenting on the matter.
Renault won the Formula One drivers' and constructors' titles in 2005 and 2006, but failed to win a race in 2007 following the departure of world champion Fernando Alonso to McLaren.
The Spaniard is now tipped for a return to the team where he enjoyed his greatest success, although Red Bull are also in the frame to sign him.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7085098.stm
What next?
Going to be interesting to see how Renault explain their way out of this one.
Renault have been summoned before Formula One's governing body to answer a charge of possessing confidential McLaren technical information.
McLaren were fined $100m (£47.5m) and thrown out of the constructors' championship after being found guilty on a similar charge in September.
Renault are to appear before the FIA world motorsport council on 6 December.
The information included "the layout and critical dimensions of the McLaren F1 car", an FIA statement said.
The FIA made the announcement on the day it emerged that its inspectors had visited McLaren as part of their investigation to ensure no Ferrari ideas would be on the 2008 McLaren car.
An FIA statement said Renault were accused of "unauthorised possession" between September 2006 and October 2007 "of documents and confidential information belonging to McLaren".
That, it added, included "but [was] not limited to, the layout and critical dimensions of the McLaren F1 car, together with details of the McLaren fuelling system, gear assembly, oil cooling system, hydraulic control system and a novel suspension component used by the 2006 and 2007 McLaren F1 cars."
The charges levelled against Renault - the first hints of which emerged in September around the time of McLaren's punishment - are remarkably similar to those McLaren faced.
FIA president Max Mosley said at the time that the accusations against Renault revolved around an employee who had left McLaren to join Renault and taken the information with him.
A Renault spokesman told BBC Sport: "Ever since the matter was brought to our attention, we have acted with complete transparency towards McLaren and the FIA and we will continue to do so."
A McLaren spokeswoman said the team would not be commenting on the matter.
Renault won the Formula One drivers' and constructors' titles in 2005 and 2006, but failed to win a race in 2007 following the departure of world champion Fernando Alonso to McLaren.
The Spaniard is now tipped for a return to the team where he enjoyed his greatest success, although Red Bull are also in the frame to sign him.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7085098.stm
What next?
Going to be interesting to see how Renault explain their way out of this one.
Every single team do it. They've all got spies in the other big teams and they've all got their hands on information they shouldn't have.
McLaren were just unlucky enough to be caught with the information. Now they've punished them, they're going to be looking a lot harder at everyone else, too. And they WILL find it elsewhere.
McLaren were just unlucky enough to be caught with the information. Now they've punished them, they're going to be looking a lot harder at everyone else, too. And they WILL find it elsewhere.
The FIA have made a rod for their own backs with the punishment handed down to McLaren though, and the supposed fine margain between the £100m fine and their exclusion from an entire season.
If they are seen to be unduely lenient with Renault in this instance, well, McLaren aren't jsut going to sit there and do nothing are they? Turn into a right mess and detract away from next season it could drag on so long. A right bloody mess in the works here basically.
If they are seen to be unduely lenient with Renault in this instance, well, McLaren aren't jsut going to sit there and do nothing are they? Turn into a right mess and detract away from next season it could drag on so long. A right bloody mess in the works here basically.
This is different.....taking photos of other cars while they're on track and gathering information on a cars behaviour and characteristics is spying and its legal.Every single team does this.
Actually having complete secret dossiers illegally obtained from a rival team and using it is completely different and highly illegal.
Alonso will end up back at Renault.
I don't see him going to Red Bull.
Kovallainen or Bruno Spengler will get the McLaren drive.
Fisichella will finally be put out to pasture with Ralf and I wish Barrichello,
I don't see him going to Red Bull.
Kovallainen or Bruno Spengler will get the McLaren drive.
Fisichella will finally be put out to pasture with Ralf and I wish Barrichello,
ferrari = fia = cnuts
agreed
Interesting season ahead. And good to know there's at least one race scheduled in the north americas.
But what kind of a home will Renault be for him next season? If they are found guilty, who knows what state they will be in after what you would imagine will be severee sanctions, are handed down.
bunch of bullocks, the FIA is weak and should have thrown Hamilton and Alonso out of the driver's championship too. this was admited by Mosley in an interview
the fact is that McLaren possessed some information that gave them tremendous advantage which they shouldn't have had. other Michelin runners struggled except McLaren.
Renault's case should not be taken on an equal plane because they did not cause any big damage to the formula 1 outcome as compared with the degree that McLaren had
So Renault stole McClaren data eh? Which means they effectively stole Ferrari data?
At least when McClaren did it, they build a car better than the one they were copying off! Heads need to roll if last seasons car was the best they could come up with even with another teams information!
FIA have done themselves up the behind on this one, they set a daft precident and will now have to follow it every time something like this happens. Which will surely be very often
Just wait until it comes out that Ferrari stole Spyker information...
At least when McClaren did it, they build a car better than the one they were copying off! Heads need to roll if last seasons car was the best they could come up with even with another teams information!
FIA have done themselves up the behind on this one, they set a daft precident and will now have to follow it every time something like this happens. Which will surely be very often
Just wait until it comes out that Ferrari stole Spyker information...
They know every team especially the big ones have specially designated members of the team to spy on the rival teams.
I think what these charges are about if the actual team has used certain data/ideas to their advantage which can actually be proved.
The thing is though a lot of these teams will adapt their ideas around their existing ideas so in affect it will be different - which is probably why Ron Dennis always claimed they had never done anything wrong.
Anyway this is just messing everything up in what could have been a new dawn for F1 after Schumacher leaving and the possibility of a number of drivers fighting for the championship.
Next season may just be even better with the new rules like no driver aids (traction control) being introduced.
Hopefully anyway...
I think what these charges are about if the actual team has used certain data/ideas to their advantage which can actually be proved.
The thing is though a lot of these teams will adapt their ideas around their existing ideas so in affect it will be different - which is probably why Ron Dennis always claimed they had never done anything wrong.
Anyway this is just messing everything up in what could have been a new dawn for F1 after Schumacher leaving and the possibility of a number of drivers fighting for the championship.
Next season may just be even better with the new rules like no driver aids (traction control) being introduced.
Hopefully anyway...
team player = will not complain if Hamilton is favoured.
Fixed it for you.
I really hope McLaren cocks it up for another season
Brawn charged with reviving Honda
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7090180.stm
The struggling Honda team have secured a major coup by appointing former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn as their new team principal.
The Englishman, 52, was confirmed in his new role on Monday, with Nick Fry continuing as chief executive.
Brawn was the technical mastermind behind Ferrari's unprecedented success in the first half of this decade.
Brawn said: "The opportunity to help the team to realise its potential represents a fantastic new challenge."
Brawn will be expected to turn Honda from underachievers into a major force.
"The team has already done a great job of giving due consideration to its future and has spent a good deal of time putting in place both people and first class engineering resources to achieve its ambitions," he said.
Fry described Brawn's appointment as "a very satisfying conclusion to the process of refreshing and revitalising a strong and determined team.
"His experience of winning world championships in F1 will be crucial as we seek to put Honda back into championship contention," he added.
It is Brawn's first role as team principal, but few inside F1 will doubt he will be a success in the position - as long as Honda's management in Japan allow him free reign to run the team.
Brawn joins at the end of the worst season in Honda's modern history.
The team produced one of the most uncompetitive cars on the grid this season, with Jenson Button managing only six points and the veteran former Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello failing to score any at all.
That was despite Button giving the team their first win of the modern era in Hungary in 2006.
Brawn joining the team will be a huge reassurance to Button, who said at the weekend he would not tolerate another season of underachievement.
"The car was a complete dog, and I'm just not interested in racing like this any more," Button said.
"I'd love to win the title with Honda but I've got to start winning, and if I don't then I have to be ruthless."
However, Brawn will not be able to turn the team around overnight.
Next year's Honda car has already been designed, and he will be focusing his initial efforts on reorganising the team to ensure it is competitive in 2009.
Nevertheless, it is to be expected that his impact will begin to be felt as the 2008 season progresses.
Brawn is hugely highly rated in F1, where he became synonymous with Michael Schumacher.
The two were together at Benetton in the early 1990s, winning back-to-back world titles in 1994 and 1995, before both moved to Ferrari in 1996.
Their arrival marked a dramatic upturn in the Italian team's fortunes, turning them into world beaters after years in the doldrums.
Schumacher finally ended Ferrari's 21-year run without a drivers' title in 2000, the first of five championships in a row.
Brawn took a sabbatical from F1 following Schumacher's retirement at the end of 2006, and has been in demand by Red Bull and Toyota as well as Honda.
Fry is rumoured to have been chasing Brawn since last spring, but Ferrari had first call on his services.
Brawn began talks with his former team in the summer but he was unable to agree a deal to become their team principal.
Now those negotiations have failed, he has decided to take on a challenge that will be at least the equal of that he undertook at Ferrari - and Honda will hope he is able to have a similar effect on them.
Honda announced that Shuhei Nakamoto, whose controversial appointment as senior technical director led to the departure of the respected Geoff Willis in 2006, will move to a new role.
Nakajima will become deputy managing director (technical), reporting to Brawn, and charged with ensuring the F1 team "gains maximum benefit from Honda's research and development operation in Tochigi [in Japan]".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7090180.stm
The struggling Honda team have secured a major coup by appointing former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn as their new team principal.
The Englishman, 52, was confirmed in his new role on Monday, with Nick Fry continuing as chief executive.
Brawn was the technical mastermind behind Ferrari's unprecedented success in the first half of this decade.
Brawn said: "The opportunity to help the team to realise its potential represents a fantastic new challenge."
Brawn will be expected to turn Honda from underachievers into a major force.
"The team has already done a great job of giving due consideration to its future and has spent a good deal of time putting in place both people and first class engineering resources to achieve its ambitions," he said.
Fry described Brawn's appointment as "a very satisfying conclusion to the process of refreshing and revitalising a strong and determined team.
"His experience of winning world championships in F1 will be crucial as we seek to put Honda back into championship contention," he added.
It is Brawn's first role as team principal, but few inside F1 will doubt he will be a success in the position - as long as Honda's management in Japan allow him free reign to run the team.
Brawn joins at the end of the worst season in Honda's modern history.
The team produced one of the most uncompetitive cars on the grid this season, with Jenson Button managing only six points and the veteran former Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello failing to score any at all.
That was despite Button giving the team their first win of the modern era in Hungary in 2006.
Brawn joining the team will be a huge reassurance to Button, who said at the weekend he would not tolerate another season of underachievement.
"The car was a complete dog, and I'm just not interested in racing like this any more," Button said.
"I'd love to win the title with Honda but I've got to start winning, and if I don't then I have to be ruthless."
However, Brawn will not be able to turn the team around overnight.
Next year's Honda car has already been designed, and he will be focusing his initial efforts on reorganising the team to ensure it is competitive in 2009.
Nevertheless, it is to be expected that his impact will begin to be felt as the 2008 season progresses.
Brawn is hugely highly rated in F1, where he became synonymous with Michael Schumacher.
The two were together at Benetton in the early 1990s, winning back-to-back world titles in 1994 and 1995, before both moved to Ferrari in 1996.
Their arrival marked a dramatic upturn in the Italian team's fortunes, turning them into world beaters after years in the doldrums.
Schumacher finally ended Ferrari's 21-year run without a drivers' title in 2000, the first of five championships in a row.
Brawn took a sabbatical from F1 following Schumacher's retirement at the end of 2006, and has been in demand by Red Bull and Toyota as well as Honda.
Fry is rumoured to have been chasing Brawn since last spring, but Ferrari had first call on his services.
Brawn began talks with his former team in the summer but he was unable to agree a deal to become their team principal.
Now those negotiations have failed, he has decided to take on a challenge that will be at least the equal of that he undertook at Ferrari - and Honda will hope he is able to have a similar effect on them.
Honda announced that Shuhei Nakamoto, whose controversial appointment as senior technical director led to the departure of the respected Geoff Willis in 2006, will move to a new role.
Nakajima will become deputy managing director (technical), reporting to Brawn, and charged with ensuring the F1 team "gains maximum benefit from Honda's research and development operation in Tochigi [in Japan]".
Thank you count.
Good appointment by HondaBrawn charged with reviving Honda
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7090180.stm
The struggling Honda team have secured a major coup by appointing former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn as their new team principal.
The Englishman, 52, was confirmed in his new role on Monday, with Nick Fry continuing as chief executive.
Brawn was the technical mastermind behind Ferrari's unprecedented success in the first half of this decade.
Brawn said: "The opportunity to help the team to realise its potential represents a fantastic new challenge."
Brawn will be expected to turn Honda from underachievers into a major force.
"The team has already done a great job of giving due consideration to its future and has spent a good deal of time putting in place both people and first class engineering resources to achieve its ambitions," he said.
Fry described Brawn's appointment as "a very satisfying conclusion to the process of refreshing and revitalising a strong and determined team.
"His experience of winning world championships in F1 will be crucial as we seek to put Honda back into championship contention," he added.
It is Brawn's first role as team principal, but few inside F1 will doubt he will be a success in the position - as long as Honda's management in Japan allow him free reign to run the team.
Brawn joins at the end of the worst season in Honda's modern history.
The team produced one of the most uncompetitive cars on the grid this season, with Jenson Button managing only six points and the veteran former Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello failing to score any at all.
That was despite Button giving the team their first win of the modern era in Hungary in 2006.
Brawn joining the team will be a huge reassurance to Button, who said at the weekend he would not tolerate another season of underachievement.
"The car was a complete dog, and I'm just not interested in racing like this any more," Button said.
"I'd love to win the title with Honda but I've got to start winning, and if I don't then I have to be ruthless."
However, Brawn will not be able to turn the team around overnight.
Next year's Honda car has already been designed, and he will be focusing his initial efforts on reorganising the team to ensure it is competitive in 2009.
Nevertheless, it is to be expected that his impact will begin to be felt as the 2008 season progresses.
Brawn is hugely highly rated in F1, where he became synonymous with Michael Schumacher.
The two were together at Benetton in the early 1990s, winning back-to-back world titles in 1994 and 1995, before both moved to Ferrari in 1996.
Their arrival marked a dramatic upturn in the Italian team's fortunes, turning them into world beaters after years in the doldrums.
Schumacher finally ended Ferrari's 21-year run without a drivers' title in 2000, the first of five championships in a row.
Brawn took a sabbatical from F1 following Schumacher's retirement at the end of 2006, and has been in demand by Red Bull and Toyota as well as Honda.
Fry is rumoured to have been chasing Brawn since last spring, but Ferrari had first call on his services.
Brawn began talks with his former team in the summer but he was unable to agree a deal to become their team principal.
Now those negotiations have failed, he has decided to take on a challenge that will be at least the equal of that he undertook at Ferrari - and Honda will hope he is able to have a similar effect on them.
Honda announced that Shuhei Nakamoto, whose controversial appointment as senior technical director led to the departure of the respected Geoff Willis in 2006, will move to a new role.
Nakajima will become deputy managing director (technical), reporting to Brawn, and charged with ensuring the F1 team "gains maximum benefit from Honda's research and development operation in Tochigi [in Japan]".
Wonder if Alonso might end up at Honda now?
Will the media swing behind Button if he starts to win races there, or are they too firmly entrenched in Hamilton's anal crevice to move now?
Will the media swing behind Button if he starts to win races there, or are they too firmly entrenched in Hamilton's anal crevice to move now?
First session of the hearing today, appalling stuff.
I have to say, I've lost an incredible amount of respect for McLaren over the course of the last few months.
I have to say, I've lost an incredible amount of respect for McLaren over the course of the last few months.
McLaren's appeal rejected and rightly so. They are a scum. They are lucky not to be disqualified after stealing data from Ferrari and they have the guts to appeal after they themselves have broken the rules for using more set of tyres than regulated. Should they be penalized for that too? Twats.
Update
Well more evidence has come to light about McLaren and the FIA have revealed it was spread further into the team than first revealed but along with Ferrari they agree that this chapter should try to be put to bed so we'll see what happens there. Meanwhile, Renault were not prosecuted for having McLaren technical data due to a lack of evidence - different to McLaren last year where the drivers confessed.
Anyway besides all that some of the driver positions have been sorted.
McLaren - Hamilton and Kovalainen
Ferrari - Raikkonen and Massa
Hopefully Renault will be a lot stronger and it can develop to a three way battle. There can be no doubt Ferrari have the strongest line-up going into the season but what I am particularly interested in is the lack of experience between the McLaren drivers. They have both had one-full year in F1 and an experienced driver next to them - it was rumoured that Hamilton used a lot of Alonso's test data to set up his car until the end of the season.
Well more evidence has come to light about McLaren and the FIA have revealed it was spread further into the team than first revealed but along with Ferrari they agree that this chapter should try to be put to bed so we'll see what happens there. Meanwhile, Renault were not prosecuted for having McLaren technical data due to a lack of evidence - different to McLaren last year where the drivers confessed.
Anyway besides all that some of the driver positions have been sorted.
Renault - Alonso and Nelson Piquet Jr
McLaren - Hamilton and Kovalainen
Ferrari - Raikkonen and Massa
Hopefully Renault will be a lot stronger and it can develop to a three way battle. There can be no doubt Ferrari have the strongest line-up going into the season but what I am particularly interested in is the lack of experience between the McLaren drivers. They have both had one-full year in F1 and an experienced driver next to them - it was rumoured that Hamilton used a lot of Alonso's test data to set up his car until the end of the season.
Ron and McLaren look like right twats now. All that bollox about McLaren's integrity, when all along they were using stolen data to design their new car, had a sham internal investigation, and tried to stitch up Renault as well as shamefully appealing the result of the Brazilian GP.......and all of this while failing to control their drivers and losing the World Championship for Hamilton because they couldn't see a fecking bald tyre that the whole world could see on telly.
Crap show. Ron needs to have a look at himself. I remember Alonso saying that from the outside, McLaren looked professional, fair, organised and clinical, but that wasn't the reality he experienced.....hard to disagree with him now.
On the driver side of things, word is that Alonso wanted Kovalainen out because he didn't want to compete with his team-mate. Typical Alonso, double world champions should have a bit more about them IMO.
Crap show. Ron needs to have a look at himself. I remember Alonso saying that from the outside, McLaren looked professional, fair, organised and clinical, but that wasn't the reality he experienced.....hard to disagree with him now.
On the driver side of things, word is that Alonso wanted Kovalainen out because he didn't want to compete with his team-mate. Typical Alonso, double world champions should have a bit more about them IMO.
Unfortunately, I have to agree with what you say.
Even when Alonso threatened to go to the officials Ron was saying things like; 'as soon as I found out I was straight on to the phone'... Like he was innocent the whole time and he couldn't control a few of his rogue employees. At least Renault have said there was McLaren's data in the system and showed that it had been removed straight away as soon as it came to light.
They have let themselves down big time with all that and no doubt are now less respected by many in and out of the sport. Racing wise some of the decisions and strategies late in the season cost them I feel.
Driver wise, I agree about Alonso, he should have a bit more about his self being a champion - sources say he has the number one status set in the contract. Maybe he wants things to turn out like it did for Schumacher with his series of number 2's but at least he showed his class when things were down, unlike Alonso did the last season. Alonso is a top class consistent driver and proven champion, why would you be bothered about a rookie, he needs to put his head down and have more belief in himself.
Even when Alonso threatened to go to the officials Ron was saying things like; 'as soon as I found out I was straight on to the phone'... Like he was innocent the whole time and he couldn't control a few of his rogue employees. At least Renault have said there was McLaren's data in the system and showed that it had been removed straight away as soon as it came to light.
They have let themselves down big time with all that and no doubt are now less respected by many in and out of the sport. Racing wise some of the decisions and strategies late in the season cost them I feel.
Driver wise, I agree about Alonso, he should have a bit more about his self being a champion - sources say he has the number one status set in the contract. Maybe he wants things to turn out like it did for Schumacher with his series of number 2's but at least he showed his class when things were down, unlike Alonso did the last season. Alonso is a top class consistent driver and proven champion, why would you be bothered about a rookie, he needs to put his head down and have more belief in himself.
It was clear Mclaren were guilty the whole time. It was completely ignorant to think only De la rosa and Alonso had benefited from the Ferrari knowledge. All those Mclaren sympathizers don't have a leg to stand on now.
Bump!
The season starts in Melbourne this weekend.
It seems ages ago when Hamilton fecked up his debut title. Hopefully this year he will win the drivers championship and McLaren will win the constructors (hopefully no spy-gate again)
The odds for the constructors championship are:
1. Ferrari (4/7)
Race starts: 758
Wins: 201
Titles: 15
Drivers:
Kimi Raikkonen (13/8)
Race starts: 122
Wins: 15
Felipe Massa (3/1)
Race starts: 88
Wins: Five
Ferrari’s F2008 has been the class of the field in testing, with Raikkonen setting the pace. New rules banning electronic driver aids should allow the Finn’s natural ability to shine through, making him the title favourite. Expect Massa to trail him as he tries to get to grips with the ban on traction control.
2. McLaren-Mercedes (15/8)
Race starts: 630
Wins: 156
Titles: Eight
Drivers:
Lewis Hamilton (5/2)
Races: 17
Wins: Four
Heikki Kovalainen (10/1)
Races: 17
Wins: None
Accused of spying, getting thrown out of the championship and then losing Fernando Alonso meant McLaren had an eventful 2007. This year gives the outfit a chance to rebuild, while the massively talented Hamilton has to prove his pace last year was no fluke. New boy Kovalainen will push Lewis hard and is sure to bag a maiden win.
3. Renault (9/1)
Race starts: 227
Wins: 33
Titles: Two
Drivers:
Fernando Alonso (14/1)
Race starts: 105
Wins: 19
Nelson Piquet (66/1)
Race starts: None
Wins: None
The big news at Renault is that Alonso is now back in his ‘spiritual’ home. The Spaniard will want to put his time at McLaren behind him and concentrate on turning the R28 into a winner. Piquet moves up from his test driver role and is ready to step out of the shadow of his three-time world champion father.
COME ON HAMILTON!!!!!!
It seems ages ago when Hamilton fecked up his debut title. Hopefully this year he will win the drivers championship and McLaren will win the constructors (hopefully no spy-gate again)
The odds for the constructors championship are:
1. Ferrari (4/7)
Race starts: 758
Wins: 201
Titles: 15
Drivers:
Kimi Raikkonen (13/8)
Race starts: 122
Wins: 15
Felipe Massa (3/1)
Race starts: 88
Wins: Five
Ferrari’s F2008 has been the class of the field in testing, with Raikkonen setting the pace. New rules banning electronic driver aids should allow the Finn’s natural ability to shine through, making him the title favourite. Expect Massa to trail him as he tries to get to grips with the ban on traction control.
2. McLaren-Mercedes (15/8)
Race starts: 630
Wins: 156
Titles: Eight
Drivers:
Lewis Hamilton (5/2)
Races: 17
Wins: Four
Heikki Kovalainen (10/1)
Races: 17
Wins: None
Accused of spying, getting thrown out of the championship and then losing Fernando Alonso meant McLaren had an eventful 2007. This year gives the outfit a chance to rebuild, while the massively talented Hamilton has to prove his pace last year was no fluke. New boy Kovalainen will push Lewis hard and is sure to bag a maiden win.
3. Renault (9/1)
Race starts: 227
Wins: 33
Titles: Two
Drivers:
Fernando Alonso (14/1)
Race starts: 105
Wins: 19
Nelson Piquet (66/1)
Race starts: None
Wins: None
The big news at Renault is that Alonso is now back in his ‘spiritual’ home. The Spaniard will want to put his time at McLaren behind him and concentrate on turning the R28 into a winner. Piquet moves up from his test driver role and is ready to step out of the shadow of his three-time world champion father.
COME ON HAMILTON!!!!!!
I really want Lewis to win it but I have to go for Kimi to win the title. Also I will go for Ferrari to win the constructors they have fixed most of the problems it had on last year’s car. It’s better in slow corners and over the kerbs.
Thanks alot.
Alright Manx, how are you fella, good meeting you last week.
Alright mate, i'm good, yea was nice to meet someone new off the caf!
Shame about the result tho eh?
fecking gutting mate, but I still enjoyed it, was a good game if very frustrating, but that just added to the atmosphere.
Looking forward to the next match I can get tickets for, hopefully the scouse cnuts.