2014 / 2015 Silly Season. Drivers Market.

[siffert_fan]

Or will Bernie suddenly mandate third cars?

If Alonso doesn't quit, doesn't that show that he really isn't that unhappy at Ferrari, now that a Merc seat doesn't appear to be open? It would make so many of his recent pronouncements appear to be total B******t that his credibility would likely take a huge hit.

 

[F1Yorkshire]

Are Ferrari gambling on 3 cars? If that does become the case then Alonso becomes very hot property indeed.

 

[canis]

I don't think Ferrari will be forced to give Alonso the seat due to his contract. This does not mean that the sponsors will continue o pay the team if he is not driving (remember the rumours that his Ferrari pay packet was mostly funded by Santander as part of a joint deal to get him to the team?).

At the end of the day this is down to money and Alonso maybe having overplayed his hand. Ferrari know he wants to leave, they have replaced him, but he is going nowhere unless he gets fired and paid off. If I was him I would hold out as well, lets face it, if someone is going to pay you a reported $50mil to sit at home next year and chill out or they have to pay it to you up front and you can go and work hard for the year to make more, I would not really be bothered which way the end came, not sure I could spend $50mil in a year, so surely missing out on another $25mil is not going to hurt too much?

 

[siffert_fan]

I would think that, if Alonso doesn't drive next season, he can, in all probability, kiss off any hopes he has of driving for a top team in 2016. If Merc remains as dominant next year as this, I would guess that they will either keep the drivers they have or, based on this season's performances, try to obtain Ricciardo. And who knows what young talent will reveal itself next year.

FA takes a real chance here, with "out of sight is out of mind" that he may never drive in F1 again if he misses next season, IMO.

 

[Incubus]

I said this before but I think it's almost certain that at this stage of the season everything important whatever that is was probably decided weeks if not months ago.
It's probably just lawyers who are busy right now, trying to ensure each party loses out as little as possible in whatever has probably been already agreed on.

 

[Jen]

If all is true, then Ferarri were foolish to hire before they received a letter of resignation and may well have to pay the price. If that is the case, it would be quite useful if they had a manager in the team who understands that not everyone is as cavalier as they seem to be - for a start Ferarri would have lots more money to build a car worth racing!

Still I can see him in F1 next year, as what I'm not too sure - driver would be brilliant, he could yank the slouches up; development driver, he is very good at diagnosing the faults on crap cars or even 'elder statesman' (stop sniggering in the back please!), as he has seen all the bloody F1 crap in the raw and learnt from it.

 

[siffert_fan]

If Ferrari have to buy him off, I imagine there will be a stipulation that he cannot drive for anyone next season. That would amount to a nothing clause, since he has already made clear that he only wants to drive for a top team, and their rosters seem pretty much done now.

I really think he miscalculated this time.

 

[Road of Bones]

I agree - I think Vettel's announcement (and Red Bull's response in signing Kvyat) caught him out completely. He's starting to look like someone who refuses to sit down because he doesn't like the chair that's left when the music stops. You get the impression that if he was going to McLaren, somebody would have said something by now - and if he does end up there, it would somehow be begrudgingly (on his part).

A shame if he does end up missing from the grid, but if it means Jenson stays around, then tough on him, frankly!

 

[Jen]

If Nando should be on the grid next year, it won't be half-heartedly and will do his best for any team that are wise enough to sign him!

 

[Il_leone]

There are various complications with dispensing and signing Alonso

- i) The manner it was done - if he is sacked then he is entitled to be compensated for the remaining year of his contract

- ii) If he did trigger the contract to be terminated based on certain clauses which may include him walking away for free


then going to Mclaren

iii) Commitment long term if he is thinking of jumping to Mercedes the year after

Now only Fangio had that sort of pulling power in the paddock to jump to different teams back in the 50's but surely Alonso risks damaging his reputation for good the way he is exiting F1

Does anyone know what are Santander thinking in all this because clearly they were main sponsor for Ferrari because of Alonso but they were still with Mclaren despite initially not intending to stick around with them

 

[teabagyokel]

More particularly, they suddenly returned to McLaren (for some unspecified reason) halfway through 2014.

 

[RasputinLives]

Isn't this all a bit similar to 2007 (without the spy bit) for Fernando?

He wanted out of the team he was in but the only place he had to go was a team that weren't competitive. He then spent a couple of years being massivly frustrated at a team he didn't want to be at waiting for a seat he did want to come up. Renault felt so pressured to try and make him competitive again they pulled the Singapore job!

Eventually he got the Ferrari seat he wanted but back then he had time on his side with him still being quite young. If he had to wait another 2 years now he might not get the seat as some new big shot might be deemed a better prospect.

Alonso does have a tendency to trigger silly season. He signed for Mclaren before the 2006 even started which made Ferrari jump for Kimi which led to the retirement of Schumie. Could the wheel has come round and its him thats forced to retire.

 

[Il_leone]

RasputinLives At the time he did not think Red Bull was a competitive option even though they had Newey on board.

All the big teams I thought were seriously considering him from Honda, BMW , Red Bull, Toyota and Ferrari. I think Honda did make an offer and that was before Ross Brawn joined and certainly Red Bull would have considered due to Renault influence from Flavio

In the end he dithered so long he had to join Renault because he wanted Ferrari drive the most and undoubtedly he thought that was the one team who was going to give him No 1 status .

You can argue that Flavio had a conflict of interest and made a few bob by getting Renault to re-sign him for $70m ( 2 years)

So last time Alonso cost Mclaren $200m - $100m for spygate and $100m for being disqualified from the constructors championship and add to the fact he walked away from the remainder of his contract with no compensation. Ouch

Alonso has a habit of leaving his former teams in a mess so will Vettel get a rude shock when he joins

Bouillier 's management of Alonso at Mclaren will be critical if he does sign because he too was not happy at the way Renault was left in a mess as well .

 

[Incubus]

As ever, the most entertaining thing about looking out for the latest news on the Alonso front is Google Translate.

Difficult to suppress a chuckle at the sight of a headline such as THE FERRARI PISSES THE JOYFUL ALONSO AT THE 2015 ENGAGEMENT.

 

[Kewee]

Il_leone ....... Alonso didn't cost McLaren $200 million or $100 million, McLaren cost McLaren $100 million, after all it was McLaren that was cheating, not Alonso. McLaren and Renault were quite capable of creating their own mess, but hey, why let the truth get in the way of a good story.

 

[Il_leone]

Kewee

Renault's mess was because Flavio wanted everyone to follow what Alonso wants and even convinced his bosses at Renault that Alonso was worth the money to re-sign ( and owning a 25% commission for himself as Alonso as part of his drivers stable)

That is despite the difficulty Alonso caused at Mclaren which is all there to see . Alonso as RasputinLives pointed out saw Renault as a stop gap to land himself the Ferrari drive - so how can you pay someone that much if he is not going to be fully committed to the team long term

As soon as Flavio was fired and he got himself sorted at Ferrari he did not much care about everything else at Enstone

As for his role in Spygate at Mclaren - he was granted immunity for whistle blowing was not he? to say he is totally innocent is ridiculous

 

[Il_leone]

well looks like Alonso is seriously running out of options
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/116536

and this is a u turn I did not expect to see if it does happen

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/116539?source=mostpopular

 

[Il_leone]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/116531

Is Ocon the real deal ?

 

[siffert_fan]

http://www.pitpass.com/52815/Forza-Rossa-gets-green-light-from-the-FIA

Maybe this is where Alonso is going?

 

[Mephistopheles]

I will never believe that Alonso didn't know what was going on in Singapore 2008.