McClaren #2 = Jeff Gordon!!!!!!

:lol:

Dammit you beat me. :lol:

Jarno has a contract with Toyota next year (or 09), so I expect him there. There are also rumors that Timo Glock is lined up to join Toyota, though there is also talk of Nico Rosberg going there as well. I think Giancarlo will be gone from F1 next year. Gary Paffett is linked to the other Prodrive drive.

So,
McLaren - Lewis Hammilton, Fernando Alonso
Ferrari - Felipe Massa, Kimi Raikkonen
Renault - Hekki Kovalinen, Nelson Piquet Jr
BMW - Nick Heidfed, Robert Kubica
Toyota - Jarno Trulli, Nico Rosberg
Honda - Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello
Williams - Timo Glock, Kazuki Nakajima
Red Bull - Mark Webber, David Coulthard
Toro Rosso - Team Sea-bass
Super Aguri - Taku and Ant
Prodrive - PDLR, Gary Paffett
Orange India - Adrian Sutil, Narain Karthikeyan.

No way Alonso is at McLaren next season. I'm surprised he's attempting to stick it out in '07 as it is. He obviously wants to be gone, McLaren seems like they would rather have Hammy, and with the Telefonica money and Renault's desperate need of a top-caliber driver, I've got to think Alonso will just go back there.

I agree its probably more likely, but I don't think its a foregone conclusion just yet.

Plus, I couldn't figure out a team where Hekki would go (maybe Williams instead of Nakajima), and I think he'll stay in F1 next year even if he leaves Renault.

Rumors are swirling that Alonso's manager has possibly found a loophole in his contract that allows him to get out of it because Mclaren was found guilty of violating the sporting code in the Stepney-Gate saga.

Another Rumor is that Alonso will suit up for BMW in 09 which is why Mario Thissen is not speculating on how long Nick Heidfeld's actual race contract is past 08

ahh silly season how I've missed you :lol:

I thought McLaren already said they'd be happy to release Alonso from his contract at the end of the season?

I don't think that statement is official yet, and Norbert Haug keeps saying the contract is still valid and that Alonso will be driving for McLaren in 08.

I don't know if its confirmed as fact yet, but there is a lot of buzz about the Skyker F1 team being sold,to Michael Mol (who is currently team principal and until a few weeks ago an exec at Spyker cars) and Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya. In other articles I've read, Mallya is the owner of many different companies in India including Kingfisher which currently sponsors Toyota.

http://www.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlin...02111545.shtml

Anyways, looks like Narain might be on his way back to F1.

As soon as I saw "Indian Billionaire" I though of Karthikeyan. :lol:

new evidence??? Uh-oh

http://www.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlin...05182039.shtml

discuss

I saw that. The silly season would be complete if the 1st person ever to win the championship in his rookie season was stripped of the title due to his team cheating.

From what I heard Varsha talking about this morning it sounds like De La Rosa and Alonso are bringing the new evidence in the Stepney Gate.

Apparently De La Rosa sent an email to Alonso detailing some secret ferrari setup info he got from Mike Coughlin

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/62097

Oh snaps! I think McLaren is fucked.

Also in F1 news, Q3 is finally getting rid of the goofy fuel credit nonsense:

It means Q3 times will be even slower than Q2, but it does make the rules a bit clearer, and adds that extra element of strategy, where staying out one extra lap means being that much faster and grabbing pole, but also means pitting one lap sooner in the race. Hell, what it really means is that the race *starts* when the pit lane opens in Q3.

Which asks the question, why not put the cars into Parc Ferme at the start of Q1? Meaning the cars have a fixed fuel load from the start of qualifying. Spyker could run light fuel and get themselves into Q2 only to run out of gas on the starting grid! :lol:

More on the DLR/Alonso emails:

http://www.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlin...07204845.shtml

If this goes down like it sounds like it will, it's going to SUCK for McLaren. They'll be DQ'd for all this season, and likely all next season. Their two new drivers likely have clauses in their contracts allowing them to leave the team if the team is found guilty of rules infractions, so say hello to two of the best drivers in F1 on the free market for next year. Lewis is going to lose his record breaking rookie championship season that he likely deserves, even if McLaren got tire/setup info from Ferrari.

And just to be devil's advocate, McLaren's use of setup info (if it really is just tire related data) would just be leveling the playing field since Ferrari really had an unfair advantage over everyone else 'cause they were the only competitive Bridgestone team before Michelin left the sport.

I was just reading that article. This sounds pretty bad now for McClaren. I'm also wondering if this takes PDLR out of the running for the Prodrive seat next year. :eek:

I doubt DLR is going to be in any sort of real trouble. If the excerpts from the email are the most damming thing, it doesn't sounds like DLR or ALO had real "cheater" info, they just knew that it existed and didn't tell the FIA when they were asked.

Likely the FIA will give them a talking to, but I doubt they'll be excluded from next season.

Mclaren has apparently been disqualified from the 07 and 08 championships according to first reports

more to come the F1 sites are updating right now

Ok maybe not just yet......here is what i got from f1-planet


According to reports on the BBC, the FIA's World Motor Sport Council has proposed that McLaren are excluded from the 2007 and 2008 World Championships.


However, the corporation claims that the exact nature of the punishment which will be meted out is still being discussed.


As such, Lewis Hamilton's World Championship bid may yet be rekindled, with McLaren expelled from the Constructors' Championship but both Alonso and Hamilton permitted to compete for the Drivers' title.


The FIA has confirmed that a definitive verdict is now imminent.


ALL THE DAMN F1 SITES ARE DOWN!!

Just read the news. Damn.

I'm curious to see what the final verdict is going to be.

here it is

http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,189...726904,00.html

Booted from 2007 Constructors Championship
Hamilton and Alonso can still compete for the Drivers Title
$100 million fine
2008 cars have to be examined prior to taking to the track

Mclaren is to hold a press conference in 30 mins

totally seperate from the Stepneygate saga

but it looks like renault might be in trouble for espionage as well

http://www.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlin...13174203.shtml

Silly season. Indeed. :(

$100million???? Holy carp!

Looks like it's just constructor points and the $100M fine...

http://www.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlin...13194710.shtml

The good news is that I don't have to recalculate the FF1 standings! :lol:

That's not even the half of it.

McLaren could lose even more money than that by losing their constructors points. They now lose this years travel budget and TV earnings alloted to them by Formula 1 Management.

exactly

I dont even want to know what a teams travel costs every year :eek:

Actually, it turns out I was wrong.

I found this blurb

So, they aren't getting hit with a double whammy of losing FOM income (from losing points) AND getting fined.

The official site has already updated the contructor standings:

http://www.formula1.com/teams_and_drivers/teams/

:lol:

According to that list... McLaren's "DSQ" is once place higher than Spyker's "0".

:lol:

I wonder how that math works.

Especially since STR is still above the McLarens :lol:

EDIT: I think it goes by non-points paying finishes.

Both STR and McLaren have one 9th place finish which ties them, but since McLaren has no other non-points paying finishes, STR comes out on top with the greater number of 12th place finishes (or whatever it really is).

Since Spykers best finish this season is a 13th, they are actually behind the DSQ'd Macca. :lol:

That doesn't make sense. McLaren was penalized by removal of points not finishes. They still have all sorts of wins/seconds/thirds/etc. So they should be leading all teams with 0 points, or they should be dead last with a DSQ for every round of the manufacturer's championship. It makes no sense to DSQ only their points finishes... either they cheated or they didn't, right?

I think the algorithm for teams with zero points must only takes into account 9th-22nd finishes. I dunno for certain, I'm just guessing on the evidence that STR is somehow ahead of McLaren in the zero points battle.

I'll bet its just an inconsistency in the rules, as there might be no contingency for figuring out final standings with one team being disqualified.

Yeah, according to another news report the actual standings are as follows, with McLaren specifially excluded.

1. Ferrari 143 points
2. BMW Sauber 86 points
3. Renault 38 points
4. Williams-Toyota 25 points
5. Red Bull-Renault 16 points
6. Toyota 12 points
7. Super Aguri-Honda 4 points
8. Honda 2 points
9. Scuderia Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0 points
= Spyker-Ferrari 0 points

EX. McLaren-Mercedes 166 points.

I haven't had a chance to read it, but the full FIA findings have been released.

http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,189...728560,00.html

Well we know that alonso was involved for sure now. At least Hamilton wasnt involved

In the penalty section 9.2 it states that:

McLaren will be permitted to race in the remaining rounds of the 2007 Championship but will not be permitted to score points in the Constructors Championship or attend the podium in the event of a top three finish in any of the remaining races in the 2007 season


does this mean that if Alonso and Hamilton 1-2 (or some combination of a top 3) there will only be the third place finisher on the podium?? The only time I cant think of a mclaren employee (besides hamilton and alonso) going up there is if they win the race to accept the constructors trophy

If you can believe what they were talking about during practice, apparently Alonso was attempting to blackmail Mclaren into sacking Hamilton and making him the number 1 driver with somebody replacing Hamilton. Now that is F'd up if true.

Even if it's not true, Alonso's a dickhead. Hammy's a bit cocky too, but at least he's not two-faced the way Alonso is... watching his interviews remind me of watching a presidential press conference w/ all the spin coming out of his mouth.

Well, now that the FIA has said they are going to watch to make sure there is no retaliation against Alonso, apparently he thinks he thinks he can get away with anything.

That start was a blatant attempt to put Hamilton off track IMHO and he could well have damaged one or both cars. I'd fire him anyway!

I didn't get to see the race... my DVR went haywire and recorded 12 hours of Comedy Central because it thought there was an infinitely long episode of Scrubs. :mad:

If anyone's got it, please save it! I don't want to check out the standings before seeing it.

I've got it still and can burn it to a DVD if you want.

My hero!!

http://www.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlin...17181815.shtml

interesting.......it sounds as if Mclaren could actually score 15 more points this year to bring the $100m fine down based on their FOM earnings

Yeah, they can't get the points, but it'll help offset the costs on the $100m fine.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5...HKugRtk7Km787w

India will host a race in Dehli in 2010

It looks like I still have Spa on my DVR if you haven't yet seen it Scott.

Dean hooked me up w/ it on DVD, so I've seen it.

...and, welcome back! :)

It's f'n nice to be back home. I don't think I'll be out tonight, but see you all soon.