And the catalyst for all this uncertainty in the F1 driver market is Fernando Alonso; who is rumoured to have received offers from Red Bull, Toyota and ex team Renault. If Alonso does choose to return to Renault (which is the most likely destination) and with Renault’s wish to give Nelson Piquet Jr a race seat next season that’ll leave Heikki Kovalainen out in the cold. Kovalainen is likely to move to McLaren or Toyota, but McLaren would have to be the frontrunner for his services and we all know of Ron Dennis’ liking for Finnish drivers, Hakkinen, Raikkonen and now Kovalainen? But if Alonso goes to Red Bull, it’s looking likely that Kovalainen will be #1 driver for Renault or Mark Webber could come in as #1 at Renault if he is deposed from the Red Bull team by Alonso’s arrival and Kovalainen could still end up at McLaren. One option that is definitely out for Fernando Alonso is Williams as they have promoted Kazuki Nakajima to a race seat for 2008 alongside Nico Rosberg.
You would have thought that this season had enough drama off the track; but now McLaren have accused Renault of possessing technical data from their 06/07 cars. An FIA statement said Renault were accused of “unauthorised possession” between September 2006 and October 2007 “of documents and confidential information belonging to McLaren”. That, it added, included “but [was] not limited to, the layout and critical dimensions of the McLaren F1 car, together with details of the McLaren fuelling system, gear assembly, oil cooling system, hydraulic control system and a novel suspension component used by the 2006 and 2007 McLaren F1 cars.” – Now should Renault be found guilty; that would mean that they should get the same punishment as McLaren did this season; there can’t be one rule for one team and another rule for another team. These claims arose while the FIA were inspecting the McLaren factory last Thursday; although McLaren did elude to Renault being in possession of McLaren intellectual property a few weeks back. Two scandals in one season and look who was part of both teams when these spying charges are alleged to have happened; yes that’s right, FERNANDO ALONSO; make of that what you will!