Alonso was only free for 2008 – Mateschitz

I don´t buy that version. Renault wouldn´t allow his driver to help a rival team. Remember that McLaren wanted Alonso to test with them before Christmas but Flavio only allowed him to make one test; he was not very cooperative, even despite the season was finished.

 

True, but how could he stop Alonso from visiting the factory? Maybe jumping in the simulator for a quick spin. Even before the season ended, it is possible. To think the team and Alonso had no contact is unrealistic don't you think? Hell, if it were me I would have put on DeLaRosa's helmet and started testing.

 

Well, of course he could. But he shouldn´t. He and McLaren would be in REALLY knee-deep trouble if someone caught them.

 

So true. Example: this youtube clip from the 2005 Monaco qualifying, where Raikkonen out-qualified Alonso by basically half a second. This clip is also what pretty much soldifies who is the No.1 driver in the sport today. I love Brundle's comment: "Now then. Mr. Raikkonen. What can you do?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFHy_ieU3Pc&feature=related

 

You have supplied no hard facts that he has a deal. What is fact is the running of the mouth by Alonso about hoping to go there. Kimi had a deal...total silence. Alonso hoping for a deal languising mid pack.....running mouth. Hence NO DEAL. Decorum would demand he keep it to himself until the approved time for that news to be put out. Its really simple. He has no deal. His mouth is proving that pretty well. First sign of a problem is a constantly running concerned mouth. If he had a deal he wouldnt need to tell you or me at all.

He didnt want a multi year deal with a none competitive team, since he couldnt go to any of the top 3. As I posted earlier Renault was all he had left. They told him 2 yrs or no deal and he took it, NO other choice.
Seems he is saying so much here: Crash.net

Alonso: McLaren are not winners
Eurosport - Sat, 12 Apr 19:05:00 2008
Fernando Alonso has claimed that he did not leave McLaren-Mercedes at the end of the 2007 campaign because of his public fall-outs with both team-mate Lewis Hamilton and team principal Ron Dennis, but rather because he deemed the highly successful British outfit to be 'not a winning team'.

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The Spaniard cut short his three-year McLaren contract to return to Renault - with whom he claimed both his world drivers' championship successes in 2005 and 2006 - and even if his current R28 mount has proven to be a distinct disappointment in terms of its pace and potential, he argued he believed there was more chance of winning with the Régie in the years to come than had he stayed at Woking.

"McLaren seem like a winning team, but they are not," he is quoted as having said by Dutch website f1today.nl. "Some teams are able to produce good cars [and] seem like winners, but in fact they are not, like McLaren.

"They haven't won any titles in years, so I would rather be with Renault, who in the same period collected two drivers' and two constructors' championships."

Whilst there have been a good many rumours linking the 26-year-old to a switch across to Ferrari in 2009, Alonso also stressed that Renault was the right place to be for him at the moment - though he would only remain there beyond the end of the current season, he added, should he be given a winning car next year.

"I could have gone to a couple of other teams," he acknowledged, "but ultimately Renault seemed like the right ones, with the experience, to make a good car and win races.

"Next year I want to be with a team that can win. At the moment I think it will be Renault, because by the end of the season we will have made up a lot of our deficiencies and then we can make a small further step for next season."

Crash.net / Eurosport

 

Kimi 2007 and 2008 WDC, Kimi and Fred 2009 Forza Ferrari....

 

+1

 

If Ferrari win both titles this year then it is even more likely that they will stay with the same duo. Why change a good thing? Why bring in a proven team destroyer? Aint gonna happen.

 

Good point.

How about to do some succession planning?

 

How about the fact that maybe Alonso was just shooting his mouth off again and bluffing in seek of a 1 year contract so he could leave his options open to bail out if Renault does not do so good. Ill bet that Alonso had no option at all for next season. Im sure we will all see that at the end of this season when again he opens his mouth and noone takes him and he stays at Renault. Some in here said it last season....Alonso is finished and will never drive to a WDC again.

As for Ferrari planning ahead....sure they are and Im sure they are planning to pick up a young driver by 2010 and not a soon to be has been which is exactly what Alonso will be in 2 years.....Just watch.

 

Actually I'm perfectly fine with LdM doing what he likes. He has been a tremendous blessing for Ferrari and whatever he touches seems to turn into gold.

 

+1

 

What I still dont get is that if Ferrari were indeed interested in Fredric, and vice versa, then why did they do the long term with Massa ? Is Massa's contract worthless ?

 

A few reasons:

- This was payback for his support of Kimi in 2007 and letting go of the victory at Interlagos.
- Todt reading the writing on the wall wanted to get this contract under cover while he was still in power.
- "F1 contracts are flexible" as Alonso said

Besides: We don't know the exact wording of the contract. Could be that Massa ends up in a Ferrari powered F1 car, but not necessarily a Ferrari.

 

Kubica. Fred is getting old

 

I'm not yet sold on Kubica. But it doesn't matter what I think. In the most recent "Bulletin" magazine from BMW-Sauber sponsor Credit Suisse they rate their own drivers and Kubica is given high kudos, but they themselves call him inconsistent! That to me sounds a lot like Massa: Superfast and unbeatable at times and a DNF the next go around. Not to turn this into another Massa bash thread. Just making the comparison because it sounds replacing an existing driver with Kubica doesn't really buy you anything.

 

That's why I think Heidfeld is superior. Not only does he have the speed, but he has the CONSISTENCY. I can't even recall when I've seen Heidfeld make a significant mistake.

 

Yes, but as someone said here before, maybe he wanted a one year contract just because Red Bull hasn´t showed anything so far and he didn´t trust them.

I would have done the same thing in his position. Red Bull? WTF?

 

So why is Kimi driving for Ferrari?

They replaced Irvine with Rubens, they replaced Rubens with massa, and they replaced Michael with Kimi. The facts do not correspond with your statement.

 

Alonso is 27.

Other than Schumacher and Fittipaldi, every other F1 WDC has been older than that when they won their first title.

 

+1

i think they hit their peak when they're between 27-33 yrs old.

 

IIRC, Fangio was in his 40s when he won his 1st WDC