WAHAHAHAHahHAHAHAHAH!!! ROFL!!! MUAHAHAHAH WAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!! AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…*ouch my side hurts*… WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAAHHAHA!!!!!!

*wiping tears from eyes*… read here… ok…I think I got all the laughter out of my system…

Nope…

WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHA!!!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!

Ferrari have walked away with a 1-3 result from the Chinese GP. Woohoo! Wet races always produce the best racing as teams and drivers gamble with their strategy and tyre choice. Fuji and Shanghai are classic example of this. The FIA should consider artificially wetting a track at random every season!

Lewis Hamilton didn’t score at all this race. And I personally think it is a result of McLaren hedging their bets again, just like they did with Kimi when he had flat spotted his tyre back at the European GP in 2005. Lewis admitted as much, telling Louise Goodman that he was waiting for the right time to switch over and was in fact coming in for a fresh set of tyres when he slid off at the entry to the pitlane. A case of being a little too late?

The current championship tally of Hamilton - 107, Alonso - 103 and Raikkonen - 100 means that we head to Brazil with 3 drivers still in contention for the World Championship. It is still an uphill task for both Alonso and Raikkonen with Raikkonen needing another (preferably) Hamilton DNF, which we all know is quite impossible. But this is still F1, and stranger things have happened. The last race of the season is gonna be electrifying.

Special mention goes to Sebastian Vettel who redeemed himself quite well after Fuji. And to Scuderia Toro Rosso, who got both cars home in the points, ahead of their ‘A team’ Red Bull Racing.

… and calls him a recluse.

That’s how strained relations have been between the McLaren boss and Alonso. Now, who still believes that Alonso will be seeing out his contract?

If you’re interested in reading the WHOLE transcript, get it here. Go to ITV-F1 for a summary.

Does Alonso need to behave in this manner? No. I really don’t know what he’s thinking. But McLaren are one of the best teams to be in. Renault is not McLaren, and neither is Toyota (which are also rumoured to be interested in Alonso). A different driver would’ve done his ‘talking’ on the track, by beating Hamilton. Many people question Michael Schumacher’s greatness, because he was never in a situation where his teammates were allowed to race him equally. Well, if Alonso was expecting that sort of treatment, I doubt McLaren are the team for him. Maybe if his name was Ayrton Senna…. I think Senna was the only driver that Ron Dennis ever gave any leeway to. Oh, and Mika Hakkinen.

Now it appears that Ron Dennis was the one that notified the FIA of the email exchanges between de la Rosa/Alonso and Coughlan.

This says a few things:

• Ron Dennis wants to show that the spying scandal happened without the knowledge of the top management, and by extension, McLaren itself.
• By showing that Alonso was part of this exchange, McLaren has further distanced itself from Alonso. Alonso will definitely not be seeing out his contract with McLaren

I don’t think this is over.

As for the actual details of the case, here James Allen sheds some light:

• McLaren would have received around $60-70 million in prize money for their constructors’ championship position, so that money goes directly from Formula One Management to the FIA and McLaren will have to write a cheque for the remaining $40 million or so themselves.
• But in terms of net cost to them, it is $100 million because that is the hole it will leave in their budget.
• They will also have to spend more money next year on freight and travel costs because they will be the 11th team on the grid.
• In addition they will find that instead of their current allocation of five garages, they will have two, and instead of their generous allocation of VIP paddock passes for sponsor guests, they will have a limited amount.

He goes on to say:

This episode does illustrate that both Jean Todt and Ron Dennis have become quite remote from their teams; Todt did not know that Stepney was plundering Ferrari’s secrets and Dennis did not know that McLaren’s legendary sense of fair play was being so badly breached.

And critically:

Alonso’s relationship with the team has now totally broken down and it is impossible to imagine him driving a McLaren next year.

Looks like McLaren, or at least Mike Coughlan, Fernando Alonso and Pedro de la Rosa knew a lot more about the spying than was previously thought. More info here.

Many in the F1 paddock were saying the punishment was unfair and did not fit the crime. Now that the facts of the case are out, I wonder what their opinions on the matter are now.

A few tidbits:

Alonso then replied under a section headed Ferrari: “Its weight distribution surprises me; I don’t know either if it’s 100 percent reliable, but at least it draws attention.”

De la Rosa then replied: “All the information from Ferrari is very reliable. It comes from Nigel Stepney, their former chief mechanic - I don’t know what post he holds now. He’s the same person who told us in Australia that Kimi was stopping in lap 18. He’s very friendly with Mike Coughlan, our Chief Designer, and he told him that.”

…

The evidence said: “In total, at least 288 SMS messages and 35 telephone calls appear to have passed between Coughlan and Stepney between 11 March 2007 and 3 July 2007.”

This puts into focus the stark reality of the harshness of the paddock. No wonder designers and important team personnel are put on ‘gardening leave’ before they are allowed to join another team. Drivers don’t even get to test the following year’s car even though they’re contracted until the end of the year. Pinnacle of motorsport? Yes… in more ways than one.

McLaren has been fined US$100 million and docked its constructor’s points! Their drivers are safe though, no points penalty for them. This is definitely something that will tarnish this year’s championship. Funny how every year there’s something that will ‘tarnish F1′.

More comments tomorrow once the exact details of the case are revealed by the FIA.

The British sporting press is famous for bashing people they even remotely dislike. Case in point is a certain M.Schumacher. All it took was a ‘touch’ (ok, it wasn’t really a touch) with Damon Hill… and from then began the Schumi-bashing. Ever since 1994, Schumacher has had a love/hate relationship with the British press. Being German made it even better (the Brits love to hate Germans, even tho they can’t seem to stop loving the cars that Germany produces).

But Schumacher and his nationality aside, what about Fernando Alonso? That last incident in Hungary has surely soured his reputation not only within the McLaren camp, but with the British press as well. Yes, so Hamilton swore at his team boss and told him to “fucking swivel” (for you tango). But, tango correctly pointed out to me personally that Hamilton’s exuberant exchange with his team boss was hardly covered in any of the British motoring press.

Tango pondered, “A case of nationalism surely?”

I’m willing to bet that as the coming weeks unfold and if Alonso calls it quits with McLaren as predicted by so many, he will start to feel the cold stare of the many British journalists and by extension, the British fans. Good luck Fernando…

p/s: Yeah yeah.. it’s like our third F1 post in like 2 days… SO?

With reference to foxtrot’s entry below, it has come to light that furious words were exchanged after Alonso’s 20 second stay in the pit lane. This time the furious exchange was between ‘ring leader’ Ron Dennis and his protege Lewis Hamilton.

The 10 seconds Hamilton (right) lost waiting for Alonso to leave infuriated the young British driver, who stormed on the radio:
Hamilton: “Don’t ever fucking do that to me again!”
Dennis replied: “Don’t fucking talk to me like that!”
Hamilton stormed back: “You can go and fucking swivel!”

Looks like all is DEFINITELY not peachy in McLaren. However, this furore has slightly changed my view on Hamilton. He used to be this squeaky, good boy rookie that everyone loves. His use of cuss words towards his mentor - who by the way took him on when he was still a wee lad - is surprising. Ungrateful is the word I’m looking at. But then again these racing drivers are always on edge and do possess egos as big as their trailer homes.

Oh well, we shall see and follow with interest what Ron Dennis has to say with the current turmoil within his own team. This must be a very bad month for him, with Spygate and all.

However, I do like Hamilton’s swivel comment. Hehe…

Post-Hungary and Lewis is already saying that Alonso has not spoken to him since Saturday’s qualifying.

Well that’s what you get when you have two competitive drivers and no real team orders to speak of. At least at Ferrari during the Schumacher era, you didn’t have that kind of problem. But then again, with Schumacher around, you know he’d dominate either on the track or back at the factory (with his superhuman work ethic).

How often do you see Alonso giving high-fives and back slapping his mechanics? Not very often. You see that alot with Lewis. So who’s the rookie? Even if Lewis wasn’t a Brit, I think he’d still manage to rally his McLaren mechanics around him.

As for the qualifying on Saturday, who was wrong? Well.. all of this wouldn’t have happened if Hamilton moved over like the team asked. But he’s not one to just move over right?

So, Lewis Hamilton, Formula 1 rookie with 11 races under his belt. But driving like a seasoned and hardened veteran. We’re in for a good few years of racing to come!