Kazuki Nakajima, Williams

We entered the last month of 2008 Formula 1 season and after a short period of silence the drivers market there seems to be a lot happening on drivers market.

Williams team confirmed yesterday their 2009 drivers line up will remain the same as this year - Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima. Rosberg’s drive has been confirmed for a while already, Nakajima being the Toyota boy doing a decent rookie job was expected to continue. No real surprises here.

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Fernando Alonso - 2008 Singapore GP Winner

It was a great weekend in Singapore and the whole experience deserves a special post (coming soon ). This review however will focus on the race only.

Following his technical problems in second the part of qualifying Fernando Alonso had to start from lowly P15. It had to be great disappointment after very promising performances in free practice sessions and Q1. His post qualifying words sounded like he will only be there on Sunday to get over with the race:

“The race is lost. You can’t overtake here and I’m starting from 15th, so I will be going out just to lap the track, but it’s over already. If there are 10 or 12 retirements and there are safety cars… but there are no miracles. We have to do a better job on Saturday, especially on tracks like this where you can’t overtake. We said all weekend that starting from eighth or ninth would be a problem, so starting from 15th it’s all over.”

But then Sunday came and he looked very relaxed on the grid. When the commentator on the track asked him about his feelings before the race that seemed to be ruined before it even started, Alonso’s replied with a smile on his face - “who knows, perhaps there will be a safety car and we will get lucky” (this is not the exact quote). He had no idea …

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Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari

Ferrari again had an annoucement to make during their home race weekend in Monza. The team confirmed yesterday the extension of Kimi Raikkonen’s contract to the end of 2010 season ending the speculations about Raikkonen’s retirement. With Felipe Massa already having his contract for 2009 and 2010 it is rather safe to assume that Ferrari driver line up Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen will remain the same for the next 2 seasons. That is also what the team’s statement says:
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2006 European GP

This is the final part 7 of the European Grand Prix mini history series - years 2006 - 2007.

The 2006 season was all about the title fight between Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher and the European GP was not too different. This was by no means a classic and in line with the usual practice the race win was decided in the pitlane. Fernando Alonso claimed the pole position ahead of Ferrari duo Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa. Alonso had better start and kept the lead. Behind them a little Liuzzi (Toro Rosso), Ralf (Toyota) and Coulthard (Red Bull) get together resulted in Safety Car. After the restart Alonso and Schumacher pulled away and from then on it was all between these two. Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren) lead the race too for a while during the pit stop times but that was about it. After the first round of pit stops Alonso still had the lead. Then Alonso made his second stop on lap 38, Schumacher stayed out until lap 41. Those few flat out laps made all the difference and Schumacher rejoined the race in the lead. He went on to win what was to be his last F1 race at Nurburgring. Alonso finished second, Massa third, Raikkonen 4th.

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Alonso and Sato, 2004 European GP

This is part 6 of the European Grand Prix mini history series - years 2004 - 2005.

Season 2004 saw some changes in the order. Williams begun their decline, McLaren suffered from reliability issues (especially in the early stages of the season). Their places were taken by BAR Honda and Renault. And Ferraris were running away with the championship from the very beginning. European GP was the race number 7 of the season. Michael Schumacher won the first 5 and was ready to get back to winning ways after crashing out of Monaco race. Schumacher claimed the pole position after running light in qualifying, quick Takuma Sato lined up next to him in P2. Jarno Trulli (Renault, the winner in Monaco) and Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren) occupied the second row. At the start Schumacher pulled away with the help of Kimi Raikkonen who jumped ahead of Sato (BAR Honda) and Trulli and held them back. Also at the start, Williams team mates Montoya and Ralf Schumacher touched their wheels and Ralf was out.

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However unlikely it might have looked few weeks ago there may be some (not much but some) Honda logic behind Alonso to Honda move. But as it has become Fernando’s habit, he keeps sending out very conflicting signals or whatever he says is twisted and edited by the media. As a result his mind is very difficult to read. On Monday it looked like the Honda move is very possible, after but then I read his latest comments to Cadena Ser radio on Renault and their chances in 2009:

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My prediction for 2009 drivers line up does not expect many changes except some shuffle in Red Bull / Toro Rosso following Coulthard’s retirement and Vettel’s move to Red Bull proper and perhaps some refreshment over in Force India.

After McLaren confirmed Heikki Kovalainen last week Toyota guys also seem to agree with me . Following Timo Glock’s maiden podium the team has announced they intend to keep both their drivers for 2009 season. This does not come as a big surprise. This move by Toyota would very likely also mean that Kazuki Nakajima will continue at Williams.

It however looks like Honda and Renault may be out to spoil my 2009 drivers prediction. Honda are either desperate to get Alonso on board no matter what or confident that their 2009 package will be so good that Alonso will stop dreaming his 2010 Ferrari dream. Ross Brawn gave Honda’s intentions revealing answer to Autosport when asked about the Alonso situation:

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It had to be expected that there willl be lots of talk about the 2007 Hungaroring events ahead of this weekend race. So it is no surprise that this topic has been touched also during the press conference yesterday. And this is what Alonso had to say when asking about his feelings one year on:

Much happier this year for sure. Last year again it is true that I had a possibility to fight for the championship and it was okay. I knew that this year it was not possible any more. But if I was racing for McLaren now at this moment maybe I would be in the same position as I am now without the possibility to win. So at least I am happy to be with Renault with the full support of the team and knowing that everybody is working night and day to give me the best car possible. One day we will be seventh, one day we will be fifth and hopefully one day we will be on the podium and everybody on the podium will be there with some excitement.

This seems to me to be the strongest hint yet from Alonso on the “equal” treatment the McLaren drivers get. He has done a good job so far not talking about the details of his 1 year stint with McLaren but it looks like he may be ready to start leaking some bits and pieces .

I do not believe the claims that the drivers at McLaren are equal. I have no problems with any team having number one and number two, I have problems with being told all the time that it is not the case … We only need to look back to Hockenheim to see one example. And if that is not enough, then check the interview Felipe Massa gave to Autosport (Jonathan Noble) yesterday…

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After reading all that has been written about Fernando Alosno since his not that good German Grand Prix performance, a question popped up in my mind. Which way will his career go from now ?

Same as two former champions Alonso left his title winning team to try his luck somewhere else. After winning his first title in 2005 he signed for McLaren from 2007 season. He did manage to win his 2nd title in his final (?) season with Renault, but not much went right for him since. When he arrived in McLaren he found his rookie team mate to be the next big thing in F1. He had a car able to challenge for race wins and for the title, but the expected number one status was nowhere. Not able to bite the bullet he did not manage to keep his mouth shut and found himself out of the team not long after the end of 2007 season. (Seems like Heikki has learned the lesson ). With nowhere else to go he returned to Renault, now no longer a front running team. Despite all the PR talk he clearly struggles with the uncompetitve car and his performances seem to start to reflect his unease. There is not really anywhere else to go for him next year. Unless he forgets about Ferrari and signs longer term deal with another team he is stuck with Renault for a while … How will these few fruitless years affect his future career ?

Will he do Schumi or will he do Jacques ?

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Last week an article appeared on Autosport suggesting that according to high level sources Spanish bank Santander (currently McLaren sponsor) is about to switch to Ferrari from 2010 season. Their motivation for the 2007 link up with McLaren was simple - arrival of Fernando Alonso. He is however no longer there and any suggestion of move by Santander to another team naturally sparks fresh speculation about Alonso’s future.

The “Alonso to Ferrari” talk begins to look more and more similar to “Raikkonen to Ferrari” talk few seasons back. Kimi took the place of retiring Michael Schumacher and some sources suggest that Schumi was made to make the room earlier than he had planned.

If the stories behind Santander’s link up with Ferrari and reunion with Alonso are true, who’s place would he take ? Who would be making room this time ? Kimi Raikkonen has contract with Ferrari till the end of 2009 season, Felipe Massa till the end of 2010…

Photo: Daimler Media

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