Who will replace Alonso if he leaves McLaren

they can score points, pending teh FIA's check of there 2008 design as i understand it

Sim

---

All Hail The New York Giants - Winners of Superbowl XXI, XXV and XLII!

"I'd love to know what goes on in that crazy head of yours sometimes, Sim..." - Locke Cole

Yes and Ron is asking the FIA to check the new car over to see if it is kosher in their book:

McLaren boss Ron Dennis wants the FIA to carry out the analysis of the team's 2008 car as soon as possible in order to clear the British squad's name.

McLaren were stripped of all their points in the 2007 constructors' championship and fined a record $100 million in the spying row involving Ferrari.

Additionally, the FIA said it will analyse the McLaren car entered in the 2008 championship to decide what sanctions, if any, should be applied on the team if any evidence was found that the car design benefited from the use of Ferrari information.

In last week's World Motor Sport Council hearing, of which the transcripts were made available to the public on Wednesday, Dennis asked the FIA for the inspection to be carried out quickly in order clean the name of his team.

"We would like the inspection as quickly as possible, subject only to the rules of engagement, so that we can prepare for it, the period of time, etc," said Dennis.

"I care only about the McLaren name.

"Once that inspection has been proven to be devoid of anything that could possibly be related to Ferrari intellectual property, I would like that in the public domain as quickly as possible," Dennis told FIA president Max Mosley.

"Let us cross that bridge when we come to it," Mosley replied.

I hope that bridge hasn't burnt down.

Sorry I did not think they could score point next year either but I got that wrong.

Most of their sponcers have backed them apart from Vodafone, they only said they will look into things.

Next year mclaren will not have the space in the paddock or pitlane for all their corparte stuff so dont know what will happen there.

With all the top drivers signed what other choice do mclaren have other than take a lesser driver? who else is there

I can't see the FIA checking a car before its ready to test. They will also have to check it before the first race 'cos somehow I don't think they will rely on trust and Macca's word that they have not used any Ferrari influenced parts if the check is done too early. Its no good Ron bleating about checking asap. That would just give them time to change things.

Nico bites yer tyres!

yeah i thought they were supposed to check the plans, even before the car is built, and then check the car before every race to ensure there's nothing from the F2007 on it.

and Brian is correct, Ron wants them to check it ASAP so they can be cleared and get on with the 2008 season, but if they didn't continue checking before every race, they could easily sneak F2007-inspired bits onto it. (i doubt they would, but it's possible if they wanted to)

and the Webber-Alonso swap sounds plausible and makes sense.

---

RIP Jules, never to be forgotten. #KeepFightingMichael

Seeing as the current mclaren has not ferrari bits on it why would next years?

Also mclaren do not have the plans for the current ferrari which has changed so much during the year. The plans were for the car when it was first built.

Anyway back to the topic I think alonso will only go to renault and out of dc and webber I think mclaren would take DC tbh.

marcl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Seeing as the current mclaren has not ferrari bits
> on it why would next years?

because it might be too early to get parts designed, built and ready to go on the racecar, so a sensible team would use the new ideas for their next season's car.

no-one expects McLaren to have Ferrari blueprints in March 2007 and have Ferrari-lookalike parts on the racecar by April 2007, do they?

any new parts might not fit in with the whole design philosophy with the current McLaren, so any parts they might want to implement would have to be re-engineered to fit with the next car that would have been at the design stage around the time this whole thing was going on earlier this year.

anyway, i don't think McLaren will or ever intended to use Ferrari-inspired parts, but if they wanted to, it would have been in next years car.

---

RIP Jules, never to be forgotten. #KeepFightingMichael

If they use ferrari parts from this years car on next years they would already be out of date and old technology.

Mclaren are though going to be a bit restricted as to what they do. For all we know they could have been working on wheel rim things like ferrari use, they will probably not be able to use things like them now.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/2007 02:28PM by marcl.

Ferrari-inspired doesn't mean direct copies of parts, Marc.

McLaren might have seen something new on the F2007 Melbourne spec car that interested them, that gave them the spark of inspiration for something which they would then want to look into and develop for their next season's car.

so something can appear on the MP4-23 that doesn't look identical to a Ferrari F2007 part, but was conceived from things learnt about the Melbourne F2007.

---

RIP Jules, never to be forgotten. #KeepFightingMichael

I'm sure the MP4-23 will be cleared for take off next season. Ron sounds pretty damn conviced that the new car is 100% Ferrari free.

Muks_C i agree with what u are saying but I am just saying that if mclaren run them wheel trims what will people say?

i think it will be more focused on teh internal workings, as obviously you can copy the externals through legal means. i think most people expect that

Sim

---

All Hail The New York Giants - Winners of Superbowl XXI, XXV and XLII!

"I'd love to know what goes on in that crazy head of yours sometimes, Sim..." - Locke Cole

Yep i know what u mean it just depends where people are going to draw the line thats the problem really.

as Sim said, things on the exterior of the car are fair game for copying, i doubt they'd have needed to consult a 780 dosssier to make their own wheel frisbies.

it's everything under the skin we can't see that's gonna/should be checked.

---

RIP Jules, never to be forgotten. #KeepFightingMichael

i just read this on grandprix.com
"There is no doubt that part of the negotiation going on at Spa last weekend was to find a way for Fernando Alonso to get out of his McLaren contract. Our spies suggest that while everyone seems to think that Fernando will wash up at Renault, it is much more likely that he will be popping up as Kimi Raikkonen's team-mate at Ferrari. The Italian team would obviously have to pay a considerable sum of money in order to achieve that goal but no doubt that money could be used by McLaren to find a replacement and perhaps even to pay its fine.

Alonso was busy doing the rounds in Spa and was spotted at Red Bull Racing, which can only be seen as a courtesy call, rather than something serious. At the same time the sharp-eyed observers will have seen Felipe Massa visiting Toyota.

We also hear that a group of Ferrari owners recently visited the factory in Italy and were told by a senior Ferrari man that there was a possibility that Alonso would drive for Ferrari next season and that the team was working on a deal.

All this would involve Massa moving on to become number one at Toyota, which would be a lucrative move but might not help his career as a Grand Prix winner. It would also create some interesting dynamics in the Todt Family.

Massa is managed by Nicolas Todt - Jean's son - and he may not be happy to see his charge being booted out of Maranello. This might perhaps explain the fact that another Todt Jr protege - Luca Filippi - is now being mentioned as a possible Ferrari test driver next year."

is that even possible, that a really shocking move in the 2008 drivers lineup
for me and maybe some other people.


speed freak

He's not going to Ferrari. The only reason this thing started in the first place is because of the argument with Dennis at Hungary before the race, supposedly over not being treated as a number 1, and he's not going to get preferential treatment at Ferrari while Raikkonen's his teammate.

He'll be at Renault if anywhere other than McLaren.

What on earth would Alonso go to Ferrari for? If he can't handle Hamilton, how the hell will he get on with Raikkonen?

he should just stay at mclaren and crush lewis

crush ?
no chance.
if lewis doesnt win the wdc next year i will be disapointed.

---

"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

chet Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> crush ?
> no chance.
> if lewis doesnt win the wdc next year i will be
> disapointed.

He's not going to have as good a season as this year, so sorry. :P