2008 Line-Up (Rumour Mill)

Electric-Mayhem said:
I think one interesting thought would be to see Alonso and Kovaleinen switch places. I really like Heike and think he would mesh well with Hamilton. He's also a great driver that could be competitive but friendly with anyone. Just look at a the RAC a couple years ago to see that he has enough talent to beat the greats of Rally and F1. Having a couple of new young drivers would free up some of the tension and strife that Mclaren has built up this year. I also don't see Kovi meshing well with Alonso either, who seems like he does better with someone who is content just to drive and play a support role like Fisi did for him last year (reunite them in other words). I can't believe that any young driver up and coming driver like Kovi, Kubica or Rosberg would want to have that role. Much better to have someone who is on their way out, still wants a few wins/podiums when they can get it, and who is willing to be a team player/support role type person for a year or two.

Rosberg would also be a good fit for McLaren, but he seems intent to stay at Williams.

JH
Click to expand...

Not to mention, Hamilton and Kovi are really good friends. I really don't want to see Alonso go back to Renault, especially if they keep Kovi.
 
This is why we havent heard much about Prodrive lately.

The problem for Prodrive

Bernie Ecclestone told the F1 team principals in Fuji that Prodrive has the money that is needed to launch its bid to enter F1 next year - using McLaren chassis and Mercedes-Benz engines. Prodrive will be paying McLaren around $100m and should mean that the cars will be sufficiently competitive to produce good results. We hear that the team has a title sponsor that is new to the sport and also has an agreement with Ecclestone over prize money.

The problem is that some of the other teams are still fundamentally opposed to the idea of customer cars in F1. Some are said to so against the idea that they may even be reconsidering their positions in the sport - or at least using this as an excuse to get out. The fear is that the sport will become dependent on six super-teams, but the chances are that within a few years some of the manufacturers will have gone from F1 and other teams - notably Prodrive - will be wanting to move on to become constructors. This is why the FIA is arguing so vehemently for cost-cutting.

What needs to be watched now is the FIA Court of Appeal as we understand that Williams is questioning the legality of the Prodrive entry with a chassis manufactured by another team. No-one is willing to talk about what is happening but our understanding is that the failure of the negotiations for a new Concorde Agreement means that everyone has agreed to let the old agreement roll over into 2008. If that is the case then there is no agreement over customer cars and Prodrive will not have the right to use chassis built by McLaren as these will still be explicitly banned in the Concorde Agreement.

Stavelot
 
It's interesting and I can see the anti-customer car side. But if you look back 15 years in the sports history, teams used to come and go every other week, there was no consistency. Asking new teams to design and engineer a car that's competitive enough to hang with the pack from scratch is too much, and would lead to start-up teams disappearing too quickly, or not getting into the sport at all.

Why not allow a team to use a customer package of chassis and engine for their first 1-3 years in the sport, during which time they either wouldn't get prize money or constructors points, then require them to develop their own proprietary car thereafter.

That way we get new teams, new teams get a kick start, but don't take anything away from constructors whilst they're using someone else?s car.
 
Just a minute ago I was listening to the radio news and in the sports section they said that:

"Mercedes is planning to buy McLaren. This way McLaren would dissappear and so they woldn't have to pay the 100 Milion dollar fine.

But What Would happen to the F1 team??? It is said that Prodrive is planning to enter the competition and that they would share almost the same car as the Mercedes. So they are planning to create 2 different teams:

- Prodrive: With Ron Dennis leading the team and Hamilton as the first pilot.

- Mercedes: With Alonso as the first driver and Pedro mart
 
Toyota: Ralf's exit makes no difference

Tuesday, October 2nd 2007, 14:09 GMT

Ralf Schumacher's announcement that he is leaving Toyota makes no difference to the team's plans for 2008, motorsport president John Howett said on Tuesday.

"We accept Ralf's decision and we wish him the best for the future," he said in a statement a day after the German said he would leave the Cologne-based Formula One team at the end of the season.

"Fundamentally, this does not change Toyota's position; right now we are still looking at the drivers' market situation.

"This just means that Ralf is not part of our list of candidates any more," added Howett, whose team are preparing for Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix.

Jarno Trulli will stay at Toyota next season while Germany's Timo Glock, the BMW test driver and newly crowned GP2 champion, has been mentioned as a leading candidate to partner the Italian.

However, Toyota are unlikely to name a replacement for Schumacher until it is clear whether double world champion Fernando Alonso is staying at McLaren or not.

If Alonso, who has a contract with McLaren but no longer sees eye to eye with team bosses, leaves, then it is likely to trigger a general merry-go-round in the driver market.

Schumacher, winner of six races for Williams and Germany's second most successful Formula One driver after his now retired older brother and seven times world champion Michael, did not say what he intended to do next.
Click to expand...

Source

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/62938

I love the part of "We accept Ralf's decision" and "Fundamentally, this does not change Toyota's position"

Its like basically saying that we would have fired him anyway but he took the decision for us :lol:
 
HondaF1 said:
He's Spanish, there would be no truth in that radio story.
Click to expand...

What??:mad:

You mean we are a bunch of liars???
Sorry but I'm not Spanish, I'm Catalan and thats a veeeeery different story. And I can tell you it's not a made up rumour. I only said what I heard (BTW All the TV channels were talking about it this evening).
 
Don't take personal offence. I think Honda maybe implying that Spanish radio is quite like Italian newsprint. Often full of rubbish.

I.E Alonso is always speaking to "spanish radio" when he says some stupid imflammatory comment.
 
Just to expand on HondaF1 and Nexc0's comments, I think it tends to be a lot of rubbish where Alonso is concerned as they fish for stories to keep public interest. I know Spain is divided into several communitites and Alonso I believe is Asturian but that probably wouldn't stop the Catalan media reporting it just the same.

I'll wait until I hear it confirmed or denied from McLaren themselves though. But I really hope it's a load of crap!
 
no-one ever spells my username right.....very odd.
 
Vltros said:
What??:mad:

You mean we are a bunch of liars???
Sorry but I'm not Spanish, I'm Catalan and thats a veeeeery different story. And I can tell you it's not a made up rumour. I only said what I heard (BTW All the TV channels were talking about it this evening).
Click to expand...

Take a chill pill dude!!

The Spanish media have a habit of making up stories regarding whoever Alonso drives for in a bid to make him look better etc.
 
HondaF1 said:
Take a chill pill dude!!

The Spanish media have a habit of making up stories regarding whoever Alonso drives for in a bid to make him look better etc.
Click to expand...

It's not that I'm angry, but I found your comment a little bit.... harsh.

No problems anyways.:p

Yeah! I know Spanish media make up things sepecially in benefit of Alonso (who by the way I can't stand). Nobody payed attention to F1 till Alonso was in "because he's "Spanish".

But it's not like they talk too much about F1 (it seems we are more interested in football than anything in this country) that's why I thought "Hey!!! That's strange!! It may be true"

Anyways, as I said it's just a rumour. And it's unlikely this would happen because Ferrari, BMW and Honda wouldn't let the teams be created.
 
FIA hearing over Prodrive entry
Friday, 05, October, 2007, 09:57

The FIA Court of Appeal is to make a judgement about Prodrive's entry for the 2008 championship in a hearing in London on 24-25 October.

The case has been brought following an enquiry by the Williams team regarding Prodrive's eligibility to become Formula 1's 12th team.

"Further to the receipt of a letter from the Williams F1 team regarding the legality of the entry of Prodrive F1 in the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship, the President of the FIA has made a referral to the FIA?s International Court of Appeal (ICA) under Article 1 of the ICA Rules of Procedure," said an FIA statement.

It is understood that the hearing is part of the ongoing debate over the role of customer cars in F1.

Prodrive was picked from a number of potential entrants to take the final spot in the F1 pit lane next season, and has been open about its intention to run a customer chassis.

McLaren has since confirmed that it is intending to provide cars for Prodrive once the team's entry is finalised.

But the deal has been held up by the continued discussions over the new Concorde Agreement, the document that sets out how F1 operates.

It had initially been thought that customer cars ? which are currently prohibited ? would be permitted under next year's regulations.

However some teams, including Williams, have expressed concerns about the implications of allowing teams to buy other squads' chassis off the shelf rather than designing their own cars.

The crux of the matter is not so much whether customer cars should be allowed, but whether teams running them should score points in the constructors' championship.

Spyker is currently taking action against Toro Rosso and Super Aguri, who are alleged to have run customer versions of Red Bull and Honda chassis respectively.

The Prodrive hearing will take place on Wednesday 24 October, with a decision due to be announced the following afternoon.
Click to expand...

Source
 
Button reiterates commitment to Honda

Jenson Button has reiterated that he is committed to Honda for next season and will not be part of any silly season merry-go-round that follows Fernando Alonso's decision about his future.

The driver market is currently at a halt while teams wait to see if Alonso decides to end his turbulent relationship with McLaren and look elsewhere for 2008.

Renault, Toyota and Williams have yet to announce their 2008 driver line-ups as they await the fall-out from Alonso's decision, while a highly prized McLaren seat could also be up for grabs if the world champion decides to jump ship.

Some pundits have advocated Button as a possible new team-mate for Lewis Hamilton after the Briton's impressive performances in the difficult 2007 Honda.

While Jenson welcomed the speculation, he insisted he was committed to his current team.

"It's nice that people are talking about me like that," Button told ITV Sport's Louise Goodman.

"I think it's important that people are always talking about you for different seats in Formula 1, but I'm with Honda next year."

He admitted that it had been difficult to come to terms with Honda's dramatic downturn earlier in the season, but was confident the team was now moving in the right direction.

"It's been quite demoralising at times, especially at the start of the year when I first jumped in the car and thought 'this car isn't going to work,'" said Button, whose fifth place at Shanghai yesterday was Honda's best result of the season.

"Every time I jumped in it, it made me so angry, because you just weren't in control of it.

"For a driver that is the worst feeling in the world - an inconsistent car.

"If you look at this year's car, you think 'wow, how did we get it so wrong?'

"But I think that was because we went in one direction with it, and it was the wrong one."

Button also backed Honda's 'earth car' environmental awareness campaign, which is set to continue in 2008 despite a mixed response to the initiative this year.

"I think the concept's worked," he said.

"It needed to be done.

"The Formula 1 world needed to know that there are issues out there and that we're trying to make a difference."

Source

HondaF1 is a happy man :D
 
Wurz confirms immediate retirement from F1

By Pablo Elizalde Monday, October 8th 2007, 15:11 GMT

Alex Wurz has confirmed he is retiring from Formula One racing, as revealed yesterday by autosport.com, and the Austrian will not even take part in the Brazilian Grand Prix.

"I would today like to announce my retirement from active racing in Formula One," Wurz, 33, said in a statement released by Williams.

"I would like to thank my family and fans, everyone at AT&T Williams and my previous teams, as well as the media, for all of their support during my Formula One racing career.

"In such a hard fought environment as Formula One, I have always maintained that if you have a moment's doubt about what you are doing, then it is time to stop. Privately I began to have these thoughts earlier this year and so have decided that now is the time to make my announcement.

"Racing this season has been a real pleasure, especially securing the podium in Canada which was pretty sweet along with a number of other strong races, but now it is time to call it a day.

"I'd like to thank the team for accepting my decision and I wish them all the best for the last race of the year."

Wurz made his Grand Prix debut in Canada in 1997 and spent several years at McLaren as a test driver before joining Williams last year.

He returned to racing this year but has often been unable to match the pace of teammate Nico Rosberg, especially in qualifying.

"I look forward to my future and perhaps the opportunity to pass on my knowledge and skills in Formula One and I have some discussions underway," Wurz added.

"I may also race again, perhaps in Le Mans or other categories and certainly some of my time will now be committed to the very important subject of road safety."

Team boss Frank Williams added: "Alex has made an invaluable contribution to the team for the past two years, first as one of the best test and development drivers the team has ever worked with, and more recently as a race driver.

"This season Alex has had some very strong drives in difficult circumstances and we would like to thank him for all he has contributed. Alex is well known, immensely popular and widely regarded as one of Formula One's gentlemen.

"I am sure I speak for everyone in the paddock when I wish Alex and his family the very best for the future."

Williams said Wurz will not be racing at the season finale in Brazil, and that his replacement will be announced tomorrow.

The British squad have Kazuki Nakajima as their test driver.
Click to expand...

Source

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/63165
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top