Driver Dominos To Fall After Alonso Makes Up His Mind

OYAMA, Japan — The 2008 driver market is in limbo while everybody waits to see what Fernando Alonso decides to do. Alonso has two more years on his McLaren contract, but can he really continue with the team given his cracked relationship with Ron Dennis and Lewis Hamilton? Sure, he says.
“For next year I have a contract with this team, and I don’t see any problem on that,” Alonso told reporters in Fuji.
Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen are waiting to have their contracts confirmed for 2008. Toyota is not saying if Ralf Schumacher will be invited back next year.
Both teams would welcome Alonso, as would the new Prodrive team if it hooks up with McLaren. Naturally, many of the players involved in all this are saying that what Alonso does is irrelevant, but that is simply not the case. Once his plans are certain, the other driver dominos will fall quickly.

• David Coulthard’s helmet was painted in the helmet colors used by fellow Scotsman Colin McRae. DC was good friends with World Rally champion McRae, who died recently in a helicopter accident.

• One of the rumors going around at Fuji was that Alonso will not drive in 2008 and then race for Ferrari in 2009. Jean Todt said there is no way Alonso will be at Ferrari next year. Both Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa have contracts.
When asked about Alonso maybe eventually becoming his teammate at Ferrari, Raikkonen said he didn’t care.
“It wouldn’t change anything for me,” he said. “I don’t expect it to happen, anyhow. I have never been in a position to say who I want my teammate to be. I don’t really care too much who it is. It really doesn’t make my life any different.”

• Mark Webber, Alonso and Schumacher were re-elected as the three directors of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Ass’n in Fuji.

• Super Aguri has yet to confirm its drivers for 2008.
“It’s not decided,” Aguri Suzuki said at Fuji, “but right now we’re talking about some things. I’m very happy for Taku (Sato) and Anthony (Davidson) to continue to drive for our team.”

• Depending on how you count it (there were several occasions where he qualified but did not start for various reasons) this was Rubens Barrichello’s 250th grand prix. Riccardo Patrese holds the record (257) of the most races contested.

• “The Japanese people are very friendly,” Kovalainen said. “When I walked the circuit on Thursday with my engineering team there was a couple of hundred Japanese people walking the circuit with us and sharing our comments. That was quite amusing.”

• Nico Rosberg qualified sixth but dropped to 16th because of an engine change in his Williams Toyota prior to the start of the weekend.

• Russian Sergey Zlobin, a former Minardi test driver, escaped serious injury when a bomb exploded under his car in Moscow in a case of attempted murder. He says he does not know who wants to kill him.

• Massa says Web site rumors linking him to Toyota are “crazy” considering he has a Ferrari deal for 2008. “When you have a contract that finishes next year,” he said, “why should I go and speak with other teams?”

• Matt Bishop, who has been the editor of F-1 Racing for the past 10 years and is also an editorial director for the Haymarket publishing group, has signed on as the Group Head of Communications and Public Relations at McLaren. He starts his new job in January.

• The FIA will mandate higher cockpit sides to increase protection of the driver’s head in 2008. “That’s fantastic,” Webber said. “They have reacted very quickly to the shunt that David (Coulthard) and Alex (Wurz) had in Melbourne. Prevention is better than cure.”

• The shareholders of Spyker Cars have approved the sale of the F-1 team. “The exclusive negotiation period with the consortium ends at midnight on Sept. 30 and minor legal conditions linked to this offer remain to be settled,” a Spyker statement said. The F-1 team made a loss of about $8.5 million in the third quarter.

• The team principals met in Japan to continue to discuss the description of “customers cars” used in 2008. “There are several discussions around the so-called customer teams,” said Honda’s Yasuhiro Wada. “One is the definition of the constructors and another discussion revolves around customer cars and how to share the money from FOM. Those are two different discussions that are moving simultaneously.”

• Super Aguri desperately needs sponsors. “The money side is very difficult, and it can be very difficult to find a sponsor,” Aguri Suzuki said. “It’s not only discussions with sponsors ... with partners as well. I don’t want to sell my team, so I need some very good partners.”

• Asked about Spyker’s 2008 drivers, Colin Kolles replied: “We are under no pressure to make a decision about 2008 drivers at present. Adrian Sutil has a long-term contract with the team and both he and the team would like him to stay next year, but we are in no hurry to announce our second driver.”

• FIA President Max Mosley sent a letter to all the F-1 teams urging them to stop wasting money.
“Formula One’s vast profits are currently being wasted on pointless exercises for the private entertainment of the teams’ engineers,” he said. “As a result, several independent teams are losing money when they should be making a profit, while car manufacturers are forced to spend excessively. This is the problem which needs to be addressed.”