http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp...47118&FS=F1

I'd like to see that happening. Rather have Nick there than Rubens.

The voice of reason. Thank you, Lustigson.

He should move to WRC then - so he wouldn't have to worry about sharing the racing line.
Look, Trulli has always been a qualifying specialist. He has the speed to become a world champion, but he isn't mentally strong.

Lustigson, just out of interest, why do you do that odd thing with drivers initials in all your posts?

Just so you get the "crap" straight.
Nobody said that they don't want no German.
The entire German media points out that they have NEVER HAD ONE, and consider that strange.
How can you take issue with that?
The rest is speculation.
As to your well presented argument, all I can say is that, if there is a will there is a way.
Obviously the will was never strong enough. (again, speculation)

I think Mac would take Vettel if he was available, but he isn't. I think they'd have taken Nico instead of Kovy, Frank said that, but he wasn't available at the time. Now Kimi is available, and even from 100 miles away I can feel the buzz of excitement in the team . Did you see Whitmarsh being asked? Mentioned Kimi for no particular reason, twice at least, Norby too. They can't wait, racers that they are .

And you scoffed when I suggested that Mac is more likely to get another Finn than a German.
Now you are saying what? Nico not available?
Whatever.

Mac always takes the best drivers available, and Kimi's probably rated higher for them than Nico. He was very quick there before. He has a relatively similar driving style to Hamilton. He is apparently interested in moving back. There's financial motive with Santander pulling some strings for it all to fit together. Again, like the previous times they didn't hire a german, it's another transfer that makes more sense than to hire a german just to please Metz the forum poster.

I predicted Nico there before because at the time I thought Kimi was fed up and retiring, or Ferrari would pay to bench him. Obviously this turned out not to be the case, and Kimi's latest good patch of form helped his cause as well.

I couldn't think of a better reason.

This is slightly off topic but not in a way.

As a Ferrari fan I am going to say I really like Martin Whitmarsh when he's on the BBC forum. He is fantastic value for money. He is the one who is the most truthful (albeit because I think he cant contain himself sometimes) either that or he is the worst liar in history. I think he likes gossip. He's the best reporter of anyone. He makes me laugh.

What about Toyota?
Dropped both Trulli and Glock. Seems unlikely they'll be around...

It's almost for sure.
I just don't know if the Japanese squad is open to a buyout.

Well I'd imagine this is the last-ditch throw of the dice to get the board on-side. Field Nakajima and a pay driver and you're saving some serious cash. It's pretty desperate though. The rear of the field really does beckon for them.

It is ironic. John Howett as deputy president of FOTA campaigned hard to get cost cutting deferred a year. Now it seems he needs it more than anyone else on the grid.

I have a hard time trying to imagine Toyota on a low budget.
I guess they would rather pull the plug.

Toyota want to win the championship so surely they will go for:

Toyota
9, Robert Kubica (2010) - build the team around a championship-caliber driver in clear no. 1 position
10, Kazuki Nakajima (2010) - keep the board happy in Japan

1-year deals only of course.

Maybe Toyota want Kubica, but does he want to sign a 1-year contract with them? I doubt he likes the idea of driving for a team that might not be around next year and so far didn't impress.
Going for Nakajima and a pay-driver would be the worst they could do. A terrible 2010 season before the board pulls the plug.

with a renault deal essentially in his lap - he'd be mental to go to toyota.

Could someone explain why Brawn would want Rosberg, other than he's (sort of German) and Mercedes wants a German placed there? Of the available drivers including Raikkonen, Barichello, Kubica, Heidfeld, Trulli, Glock, etc., I think I'd rather have any of those before Nico. If they had to have a German, they should go for Hulkenberg.

They obviously see some value in him. Okay, he hasn't won a race yet and tends to do best in practice sessions, but he's been very strong. Look at the way he was able to take the fight to Hamilton in the early stages of the Singapore race, despite the fact that he didn't have KERS.

And as for those other drivers, Raikkonen is too expensive, Barrichello can be too critical of everyone lse when things go wrong, Kubica is terrible in a bad car Heidfeld is simply slow, Trulli is past it and Glock is a race driver instead of a race winner.

KERS did not add much of a benefit at Singapore... though.

As for Kubica, he has said repeatedly that he prefered job security over "the best offer/salary/biggest team.. however you put it." In other words, an offer from Williams would probably rank higher on his priority list than an offer from Toyota and even an offer from Renault (if they cannot find sponsors for next year).

Kubica needs to reaffirm himself as a top driver before taking on "more serious" endeavors.

I don't know what race you were watching but Rosberg blew the race big time. He has nobody to blame but himself for throwing away that podium with a dumb mistake. I fail to be impressed by him. He can put up a fast time in practice but his qualifying is mediocre at best and his racecraft is subpar in my opinion. His teammate is so bad its making him look a lot better than he is. Nico is soft - maybe a good number 2 but I don't put him much higher than Kovaleinen. The williams had the pace to win at the beginning of the season and he didn't capitalize once.

Last time I checked Glock has more podiums than rosberg in about half the races. Explain that one.

-Alonso-Ferrari announcement on thursday.
-25€ millions per year.
-6 year contract. [3 +2 +1]
-Alonso want people from Renault, Red Bull and McLaren [engineers...].


From the radio program El Largero, the director is a close friend of Alonso.

Whaaatt?

I somehow doubt McLaren will let their engineers work for Ferrari, let alone for Alonso.

So what are peoples opinions about what will be the strongest driver pairing next year ?

Alonso/Massa?
Hamilton/Raikkonen?
Button/Rosberg?
Vettel/Webber?

I surpose it comes down to how quick massa is when he gets back in the car.

Ever notice how many Spanish journalists are close friends of Alonso? Dinner parties at his place mustbe like Woodstock.

And with 2010 regulations limiting the number of people a team can take to a race, there's simply no way Ferrari are going to replace ther current lineup of engineers and people with outsiders who don't know the team. Nor would Renault, Red Bull and McLaren let them go to Ferrari, especially not to satisfy Alonso's whims. And I'm pretty sure Ferrari's standard modus operandi in signing a new driver - whoever he or she might be - is to sign for three years; if there is an option, it is offered later, once the driver has demonstated their ability.

Now that everything is seemingly out in the open - or at least that everyone assumes it is - I think El Largero is making this up because now that everyone has the same information, they need something more.

Why do you people even give Spanish reporters the time of day?

Can't be true！

In this particular case this guy is truly a close friend, to the point that he is the guy that introduce Raquel (Alonso's wife) to Alonso.. Also this program is the only radio program that is allowed to interview Alonso in Spain. I think they have insider info, but maybe not. Only two more days to know if all this is true.

Next thing he want's must be the Pope to be his personal assistance in the team... and Flavio as a team manager...

This is too thick even from Spanish press...

Well, at McLaren he wanted to use Ferrari intellectual property, so I'm not surprised at all.

From JA:
Ferrari’s Stefano Domenicali said that things would be settled in the next two weeks.
An announcement of Massa and Alonso for 2010 would play very well if it were made in Brazil, at Massa’s home race, but they may not be able to hold on to the story for that long, so it may come sooner.

You seem to know a lot for someone who doesnt work for ferrari, including their standards contract deals?"
No one is saying Alonso is trying to replace the ferrari line up of engineers, but hes obviously bringing in some key personel that have impressed him in the past. As for the contract length, Alonso doesnt have to prove himself to Ferrari, hes a double wc and already totally proven. What an offensive suggestion.

Spanish reporters are no worse than british ones who are world famous for making things up.

Toyota should accept that "The Japanese/Toyota way" does not work in F1. At least there has not been a variation of it that has been productive to date. F1 is a no huddle technological development. Whereas the Toyota Way is very much a timeout method of technological development. Sorry to use the analogy but I can't think of a better way of summing up the difference between the two cultures.

The only way that the Toyota Way can work in F1, imo, is if Toyota adapts the TW and gets it to work in a lesser series and then moves it up through other series, constantly adapting it as they go growing it into F1. By the time they get to F1, they will probably find that they end up with a model that is not too dissimilar to the one that is used by the rest of F1. It would demonstrate that simply mapping one business model, just because it works elsewhere, into another sphere does not work. Toyota and Honda have had a pretty good run at trying to make F1 work for them now. Rather than looking at how big the Toyota F1 budget is, Toyota should look at how the budget is being spent. Subsidising the business model by transplanting Glock with Nakajima is one step further along the path of diminishing returns.

No, but I do recognise a pattern when I see one: every Ferrari driver whohas been brought in has done so on a three-year contract, usually with a one-year option.


There's no truth in that! There has been no indication that Alonso is brining anyone with him to Ferrari, much less demanding that they pluck people out of teams he has no association with.


Both of which were won during the height of the traction control period. Fernando Alonso hasn't won a single race on his own merits since traction control was banned in 2008. The Singapore race was fixed, and he wouldn't have won in Japan if Hamiton, Massa and Raikkonen remembered what they were supposed to be doing at the start. Before Singapore, he hadn't landed on the podium in a straight fight in a race without traction control. Not counting his two victories for the aforementioned reasons, he has scored just 67 points in the past two seasons, compared to 115 for Raikkonen and 119 for Massa. Even if you count his two victories, he's still 28 points behind Raikkonen and 32 behind Massa. If I were a team principal and I was crunching the numbers, I would have reason to consider Alonso unproven in the current generation.

And even if he didn't need to prove himself, he'd still probably be offered a three-year contract. The idea that he's been given six years if bullsh*t; Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schuamcher are the only people I can think of who would have that.

That Spanish press article is a wee bit on the far fetched side, I mean, what else, perhaps have Monaco moved 20m to the left?

Utter rubbish. Your reasoning might be right if all three had equal equipment to some degree, but R28 was a dog of a car compared to Ferrari and Mclaren last year. True, he lost many points in first half of the season due to agressive strategies and driving (like in Canda) when he and the team tried to compensate the intrinsic flaw of the car (ie. massive lack of speed), but after Canada they found some sense (and speed) and Alonso had the best last half of the season compared to the rest of the grid. Yes Singapore was obviously rigged and that changes points statistics a bit, but you cannot deny his superb drives whit that tractor after Canada...

And this year the car is even worse and he has really hard season picking those 5-8 positions against few more better teams than last year. In last races even Force India seems to have better car FFS!! I'm not saying he is doing superbly this year but he is very consistent and always fighting to get those crumbs that are left on the table... Maybe Ferrari respects that and they see between the lines of your "number crunching".

New Serbian outfit Stefan GP just said that they still want to be on the grid next year and that their budget is in place. They hired Mike Coughlan.

Tell me about it. If Alonso is this powerful, what the fcuk has he been doing at Renault?

Spaniards are getting more than a little carried away here, but that has been their style since forever. Next year or two are going to be interesting to watch if anything at all goes wrong or not as planned, I mean the Spaniards vs. the Italians, whoa!

Announcement will be made at 10-11 am local time.

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

massive ****ing lol.

so they're using 2001 prost chassis? or is it 2002 arrows chassis?
getting jean-pierre van rossem to sort out the finances?

edit: just found this article written by stefanovic yesterday: http://www.racecar-engineering.com/news/op...010-season.html
seriously, this guy is a complete dreamer. he tried to buy the 1997 lola chassis to race in 1998.

I read that on F1Fanatic.co.uk, too. What's next: F. Briatore's team manager and P.B.R. Symonds Technical Director? Bollocks.

In case they make it here's a little lesson:

serbian language for beginners

So now they can make Ferrari-McLaren hybrid?

Some sense amid all the hype and nonsense.

Contract length is dependant on demand and driver committment. Alonso is in demand plus he is also very commited to Ferrari which would be why the contract is so long.


It has been reported in the media from a pretty good alonso source so apparently there is some truth to it. How would you know otherwise? Whos your source?



This whole notion is predicated on the idea that Alonso relied on driver aids more than anyone else and that results under different regulations are unreliable. There is no substance to that at all. Alonso was universally rated at one of the drivers of 2008, scoring 2 wins and outscoring the title contenders in the second half of the season. Not exactly indicative of him losing his edge. He won Japan fair and square, as opponents making mistakes is part of the game, and by your standards almost every Hamilton win in 08 does not count because he had some luck, like australia for example when both ferrari's screwed up.


As for the number crunching since 2008, well everyone knows Alonso has had far inferior machinery to the ferrari drivers, so that doesnt prove anytthing. Infact to even come up with that suggestion just proves how desperate you are.

Running the team instead of Flavio, if you believe Piquet Sr..

Imagine that the guy who is this powerfull and on top of things, did not knew anything about anything last year in Singapore

Well, that's what he wanted to say IMHO.
Read between the lines guys ...