Where will Alonso be in 2008?? (OPEN POLL)

[crmalcolm]

In my eyes LH and FA were equal this year. Which is why I said Alonso has not beaten his teammate, only equalled.
If they are never in the same team again, neither can say that they beat each other given the same machinery.

[Bononi]

I'm afraid that a repeat of Mansell/Piquet is hard to happen. First because Piquet had the support of Honda at the time, against the whole team (actually IIRC he took away the honda engines from Williams when he went to Lotus in 88) and Alonso doesn't have this with Mercedes, and second McLaren nowadays works in a different way from the Williams team at the time.

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by Wrex

Fernando, you are the weakest link, goodbye!

I wonder how strong Lewis would have been had he not benefitted from Fernando's set up knowledge, especially early on in the season?

I'm not saying that your wrong, just putting forward the point that Lewis may have gained an advantage due to the information he was being given by his team mate as opposed to having to find out for himself.

If Alfonso stays at McLaren in '08, it will be very interesting indeed as Lewis now has a season's experience, but on the downside (for him at least) he will be expected to find his own set up's (with his engineer's of course).

[Knowlesy]

I really doubt Hamilton will have any kind of problems with setup, these will likely have been ironed out over this season and with a few thousand miles of winter testing he'll be well prepped for 2008. Easily. There is not that much setup work goes into an F1 car nowadays in any case.

Hmmm, Wrex. Methinks you do Alonso, Hamilton and those who fought Alonso in 2005 and 2006 a huge disservice with those remarks.

[Ralf's Girl]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

I really doubt Hamilton will have any kind of problems with setup, these will likely have been ironed out over this season and with a few thousand miles of winter testing he'll be well prepped for 2008.

I agree - I think having a year's experience will be very important for Hamilton next season. The mistakes he made on set-up this year aren't likely to be repeated, whether Alonso is at McLaren or not.

[Bononi]

Alonso, where are you going to ?

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by Bononi

Alonso, where are you going to ?

Maybe he's not going anywhere.

http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=41216

[Leighton Irwin]

To Toyota in NAPCAR to join JV as long as JV calls him master and agrees to never finish in front of him! Yeah right. It would be interesting though.

[jab]

Originally Posted by Ralf's Girl

But according to Lewis they get on really well.

Yeah but 5 minutes ago he didn't want to be his team mate next season. Now he gets along really well with him and wants to be his team mate again

So which is/are the McLaren-prompted comment(s)?

He's a nice guy but he's too much of a PR robot...

[Ralf's Girl]

To be fair, I think the most honest thing Lewis has said is that he's not really fussed who his team-mate is next season. He's coped perfectly well with Alonso as his team-mate in 2007, so I don't see why that would be a problem next time round; equally, the whole atmosphere in the team would probably change if Alonso cleared off to a different team, which might suit him. He's just got to get on with his own job and let McLaren and Alonso sort out their differences or agree to part ways.

[roachy101]

McClaren and Renault could do a direct swap between Alonso and Kovaliainen. It could work though i doubt Kivaleinnen would want to be in Hamilton's shadow

[Bononi]

More and more I have the feeling that things are running differently inside McLaren than the rest of the "world" think or want. Even though I can't stand Alonso's attitude and what he did, McLaren is a business with a professional attitude after all and therefore they will deal properly rather than some sort of "revenge" or "payback" decision. They will take the more profitable (in any way) decision.

[Wrex]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Hmmm, Wrex. Methinks you do Alonso, Hamilton and those who fought Alonso in 2005 and 2006 a huge disservice with those remarks.

Excellent, looks like I upset everyone with one post. Opps, hang on a sec, did I mention Webber, Verstappen and Villenueve suck?

To put my previous post into context, I am far from saying Alonso is not a good driver. I still rank him as one of the top drivers in the world, just a drop down on previous champions. Similar to MotoGp, Stoner is a nice guy and all, and a worthy champ, but he's no Rossi or Dohan (IMHO).

My point being, Alonso winning 2005/2006 didn't mean he was the best driver in F1 IMO, and Hamilton being his match this season doesn't make him the 2nd coming either.

I'll also admit my opinion of Alonso has be clouded this season by his off track behavior. I'm no fan of RD, and quiet frankly am one of the minority that think they got of too easy, but his lack of loyalty to McLaren and Ron has been disgraceful. For a WDC and a role model, he has acted like a child.

Perhaps a season or 2 in a backmarker car being lapped by his former rookie team mate will humble him, so he can go back and be the driver his fans know he can be.

[Bononi]

A child without morals... Honestly, I've been saying this before it all started, so I won't go there again.

I don't believe in 2 or more seasons suffering... he better leave while some people still think of him as a champion.

SAINT HELENA !!!!!!!!!!!

[bestfit]

Off Topic

Stoner is a nice guy and all, and a worthy champ, but he's no Rossi or Dohan (IMHO).

Interesting, I think he will prove to be better than both.

/Off Topic

[crmalcolm]

Back to the original question, where will Alonsos lay his hat?

I think it boils down to where McLaren allow him to lay his hat. I don't believe they'll allow him to compete with another team, which leaves him only a few of choices, Stay put, year off, or how about a seat with ProDrive?! Which is why I went for the year off option.

[terence]

I heard he was taking a year out,just so he and Hamilton can get the House in Switzerland round to how they want it.

[Pro Racer]

well then we know who is the lady of the house then .

[strider]

Originally Posted by Wrex

My point being, Alonso winning 2005/2006 didn't mean he was the best driver in F1 IMO, and Hamilton being his match this season doesn't make him the 2nd coming either.

There's a suggestion circulating that Alonso's titles in '05 and '06 owed more to the Renaults he had at his disposal than to the man himself, which would confirm both your theories.

[f1manoz]

The more I read, the more I think he'll be at McLaren. Alonso won't want to move to an uncompetitive car, and there are no competitive seats left - Ferrari and BMW are filled, Renault can't afford him, the rest are not worth thinking about.

McLaren may sack him, but that would lead to all sorts of problems.

I think they'll just try and work on the problems of this year.

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by strider

There's a suggestion circulating that Alonso's titles in '05 and '06 owed more to the Renaults he had at his disposal than to the man himself, which would confirm both your theories.

I just don't see how that conclusion can be reached. At all.

[ralf fan]

Originally Posted by strider

There's a suggestion circulating that Alonso's titles in '05 and '06 owed more to the Renaults he had at his disposal than to the man himself, which would confirm both your theories.

He made one mistake in 2005 and 2006 combined. A fine record. I agree with Wrex that he can not as yet be put down in the 'all time great' champions list. But in 2005 and 2006 he did exactly what Michael Schumacher did in 2002 and 2004 i.e. being consistently quick in a quick car.

[Knowlesy]

His car wasn't as dominant as the 2002 and 2004 Ferrari's though.

I actually thought Alonso a match for Schumacher. I think both at their peaks, Michael has the slight upper hand. Of course, Alonso will not match Schumacher's career stats but then nobody will. It is less and less likely you will find yourself in the strongest team for a massive stretch of time whilst maintaining motivation like Michael did. In fact, I'd say it won't happen again - it was one in a million!

[ralf fan]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

His car wasn't as dominant as the 2002 and 2004 Ferrari's though.

This is true. Makes his achievements in 2005 and 2006 more impressive. Infact towards the end of those seasons his car was 2nd quickest.

[cds_uk]

Here we go, http://formula-1.updatesport.com/new...only/view.html very interesting, if i was DC i would be getting a little nervous, i think we all assume Red Bull are going to be strong next year, can you imagine Alonso in all his pomp in a Newey design, with a point to prove as well, could be really good.