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Got in just in time to watch Hamilton go over the line. Was the race any good?

I would have to say no.

BTW I heard an interview with Alonso on BBC Radio 5 and he is NOT happy!

Ahhh, pood diddums.
F1 is increasingly going down the Coulthard route of 'everything was everyone else's fault, boo hoo hoo...'

I would say that it is much easier to win a race when your main competitor is relegated unfairly 4 places. That being said, Hamilton is great! It is just McLaren that is doing so many stupidities these days that will end up creating more conflicts between the two guys.

And the Swiss team didnt do to bad.

DC

I'm a McLaren fan, who was also pleased to see Alonso win for the last two years, and chuffed when it was announced he was moving to 'my' team. However, what he did on Saturday was petulant and stupid. I was absolutely certain when I saw Ron Dennis' face at the end that he'd be getting a P45 pretty sharpish because the ronster doesn't put up with any silliness (Didn't know about Hamilton's refusal to play ball at this point).

I was therefore absolutely stunned to see McLaren argue that there was nothing wrong in front of the stewards. They had been asked for the pit to car radio recordings. Surely they are shrewd enough to know they would get found out?

In my view, Alonso's incident was no different to Schumacher's dodgy parking at Monaco. He should have been disqualified from the race for it, and Alonso should have been on Saturday. Alonso's penalty should have been at least equal to Schumacher's and he should have been sent to the back of the grid.

McLaren made an error of judgement in taking the blame for Alonso in front of the stewards, and they took the penalty for it. I think they appreciate that now because a clearly emotional Ron Dennis was interviewed on ITV after the race and he hinted they may drop the appeal. I also think if they proceed, they may have more to lose.

Let me just repeat, I'm a McLaren fan, but wrong is wrong whoever does it. Having said all that, I think Alonso's drive was stunning and I'm in no doubt that even from 2nd on the grid he would have won. Hamilton was pretty good too in the way he held off Kimi. It's also clear from their exchange before the press conference that, despite the rivalry, Kimi and Lewis get on well.

There's gonna be a few more sparks as that's what happens when you have two very competitive drivers at the very top of their game. I see in the news this morning that there are hints Alonso may try to get out of his McLaren contract at the end of the year to either return to Renault or go elsewhere. I hope he can be 'man enough' not to throw his toys out of the pram, but if he does go elsewhere then I think he will regret it. Renault are nowhere this year, and Ferrari seem to have major reliability problems - surely you'd rather be alongside your major competitor with equal equipement, than in an inferior ride.

That said, Ross Brawn back at Ferrari as team principal, with Kimi and Fernando as jockeys - that's gotta be a winning partnership (although both of those drivers are reluctant to race alongside a team mate who is their equal).

Aah, you see that's where we difer DPH. I would love Hamilton to win the championship but if it can't be him I want Massa. The last thing I want is for Alonso to win it again, I think 2 years champion back to back is enough for now and his head has got too big for his helmet. That's why he's finding it so hard for someone else to be amazing at what he does as well as him, hence the "throwing toys out of prams" kind of behaviour we're starting to see from him now.

The only way a Ferrari is going to win this championship is if the FIA play their silly little games and ban or dock McLaren as a result of this spying c**p.

The idea that Ferrari are the victims in that, and aren't in any way responsible for some of the blame (it was, after all their employee who leaked the data) is utter rubbish.

Oh yeah, fair enough. And I agree that as things stand Ferrari don't stand much of a chance of winning right now. (Although I don't think the FIA would ever dock the drivers points, only the constructors ones).

My thing is just that I have a soft spot for Massa so if Hamilton can't win I want it to be him. I think he deserves it cos he's a top driver and he proved that last year while he still had Schumacher above him. Now Schuey's gone I think he deserves a championship and he's worked bloody hard for it. Besides that i think he's pretty damn cute too!

Oh and by the way, if you are ever in Zurich when a race is on, we found the Pickwick Pub there very willing to put ITV coverage on so you can have your English commentary. And they even have a TV outside as well as inside so you can sit in the sun and watch if the weather's nice!

At the last hearing McLaren were warned that if it subsequently came to light that they had used any of the Ferrari information, they would be disqualified from both the 2006 and 2007 championships. That's not dockign points - that's finito - no racing for the drivers, and if they don't race, they can't score points.

It would also be finito for the sport. This is one of the best championships in years. Problem is that the FIA seem hell bent on destroying the sport in their unstinting support of it's oldest team.

Thanks for the tip about Pickwick. I'm back in the UK for Turkey, then in Africa for Monza and Spa, but it may be that I hang around for the last flyaways rather than going home.

Actually, just thinking about that - China, Japan and Brazil will all be at stupid hours. Might have to go home anyway...

I wish Youtube had the Rory Bremner sketch where he does an impression of Griff Rys-Jones in an old Vauxhall-ad style, where he takes apart where Ferrari cheated in the design of the car over the last few years and got away with it.
Always wondered just why Ferrari get such a light time of it.

You've only got to look at the Indy debacle a couple of years back - basically the race was destroyed by a bloke on the end of the phone in Monaco saying to 7 of the 10 teams that they have to race, even with tyres that are dangerous.

Not too long ago the composition of the World Motor Sport Council was changed, and the team representation was reduced to just one member - I'll let you guess which team.

It doesn't appear to be quite as bad as it was 2-3 years ago, but F1 is seriously at risk of consuming itself if this political stuff goes on much longer.

Was actually dissapointed at the lack of crash-bang-wallop from the leading teams, especially Alonso.
Dropped points should make for some interesting manouevering in Istanbul, I hope ....

Cracker of a circuit for a grudge match - turn 8 will no doubt collect some bodywork.

The thread could be renamed ... will Alonso still be at McClaren at the end of the season ????

The Ronster is not known for giving up contractual rights easily and without appropriate compensation. Refer to the JPM departure for that, and bear in mind that he wasn't a 2x (3x?) world champion.

I'm sure I've heard Martin Brundle (who has negotiated a McLaren contract every year for yonks, initially his own then for drivers such as DC) say that they are rather watertight.

My guess is that without a substantial dowry, it's McLaren or the bench until the end of 2008.

Sorry, previous post just referred to the title - have just read your linked article.

1) I don't believe that he's been told he's free to go - see my previous post for that.

2) The idea that he may go to Toyota is laughable. Yes, they have deep pockets but it's not got them anywhere. I'm presuming that FA's motivation in F1 is to continue to win world titles.

3) I'm guessing the BMW reference is because he's now living in Switzerland? Again, not sure this is likely. BMW are doing really well this season, but they don't have a pedigree as winners (Benetton/Renault do, even if they're not doing well this year) and they're not on the same plane as Macca/Ferrari. Plus they have two drivers at the moment which seem to fit very well with the team and are delivering results.

http://www.autosport.com/news/grapevine.php/id/61444

Never one to gloat, me, but I think I hit this one on the button!