so...F1 2008

[TiG]

Given the number of threads we've had on the whole subject of F1 2007, the politics, rivalries and huge amount of entertaining races through the course of the season. What have we got to look forward to next year.

Can we see Alonso still at McLaren next year?, If not where is he going to end up?.

Will be interesting to see how McLaren deal with the pit lane situation next year, does position in the pit lane really make that much difference?, I guess we shall see.

Who will have the performance next year?, I can't see McLaren or Ferrari being too far away from each other, BMW have looked and made good solid performance this year with very good reliability (61 points for Heidfeld remeber...), Redbull seem to be getting a more solid car performance both in qualifying and in the race, can they sort the reliability out tho?.

Who for the title next year?, a year older and wiser, maybe less stupid decisions in the management of Hamilton's car, bad tire choices, 3 stopping etc, not letting him turn the wick up when it mattered till far too late... will give Hamilton the chance.

But I hope most of all we don't get the politics of this year. Thats all I ask is we have the racing on the track, not in the court rooms.

Who else deserves recognition for their achievements this year?.
Well for me Rosberg, Heidfeld, Button, Kovalienen(on his good races, lets hope his consitency improves), Vettel seems to be getting better and better too.

Team wise, I still can't believe that Toyota and Honda are languishing down where they are. 6th and 8th place (7th and 9th if you forget McLaren penalty). Hardly great in a field of 11.... at least honda did just manage to beat Super Aguri....

So people thoughts????

TiG

[this_is_gav]

Well first off, traction control's gone! Yay! Won't make much difference, but then that's another reason why it shouldn't have been in in the first place.

McLaren won't be as strong next year - not because of this year, or because of where they are in the pitlane, but because McLaren haven't been able to stitch 2 seasons together this millennium. Ferrari should have a good lead, and I feel that they've a lot to learn from this seasons cars basic design, namely the wheel base.

You'd expect Renault to be in the same boat, losing out this year because their initial design was way out with weight distribution for the Bridgestones. They'll not be able to make all of the gap up, but they should be back challenging for podiums occasionally. BMW will be their biggest thorn. They'll continue to make steady gains, perhaps even stealing a win.

Red Bull will carry on where they left off 2007, also making inroads, but I feel they'll not quite be able to break the top 4 teams, and that unreliability needs a serious looking into - that's been dire, and not by even by modern standards.

Honda don't have a prayer. They're lost. They appear to have tracked down what they thought was the problem (poor calibration of the wind tunnel), but there's hardly been an improvement. For a team renowned for not being able to make big steps forward, they've got very little hope of anything more than the occasional point again.

Toyota's season will depend entirely on whether they can persuade Alonso should he leave McLaren, and it's rather unlikely. No star driver, no desire to move forward. Looks likely that Sutil will be driving for them in 2008, which is well deserved.

Rumours have it that Williams are in the process of designing a cracking car. Rosberg's apparently really excited about it. It'll not be a winner, but it'll be nice if they can break into the the top 4 and challenge them occasionally. Shame that it looks like it'll either be Nakajima or Schumacher in the car.

Should Alonso leave McLaren I feel that Schumacher will be a great partner for Hamilton. He'll be unlikely to challenge him consistently, but he's got the ability and experience to set up a car well. I feel McLaren need someone like him now that Friday 3rd drivers aren't allowed. Still, if Alonso were to leave, everything's pointing towards Renault, and a swap with Heikki - Heikki didn't exactly do much to dispel those rumours on Sunday. My gut feeling is that Alonso will still be at McLaren next year though, which will be fun.

All in all it'll be more of the same, hopefully without the politics, and while we had an unbelievable championship, some of the races were extremely poor. I can't see that changing in a hurry.

[TiG]

Wasn't there talk about 3rd drivers coming back next year due to the complete lack of talent being able to be developed and experience F1 cars and give them the opportunity to get proper track time in real race weekends?.

TiG

[kalniel]

I think Alonso will end up at Renault, who I think will come back strongly next year - especially if they have a driver who seems more than willing to use data from other teams to try and gain an advantage..

Hamilton might not do so well next year - I think the FIA will be doing their best to ensure the McLaren is as slow as possible, and he'll probably have a harder time as well. As to his teammate - I bet they would have loved to go for Heidfeld or Rosberg, but both seem to be wrapped up. Ralf Schumacher is a possibility on a 'free' contract, Kovali is obviously a possibilty, but I think they'd rather not. Maybe it'll be Parfett.

Ferrari I expect to be strong - as long as they don't loose Todt. They need some experience high up to do well. Assuming things stay the same and/or Brawn comes back I think they'll be the guys to beat next year, and Kimi for the title.

BMW will continue to improve.. unless they do a Honda and take a big step in the wrong direction. I think they will have a good battle with Renault and McLaren next year.

I don't think Redbull have the resources to be both reliable and fast.. so it'll be one or the other again.

Who else deserves recognition for their achievements this year?

Rosberg, Heidfeld, Vettel and Sutil in my eyes. Not sure Button achieved much - sure his car was bad, but he has a role to play there as well.

A question from me: Will Prodrive enter next year?

[kalniel]

Wasn't there talk about 3rd drivers coming back next year due to the complete lack of talent being able to be developed and experience F1 cars and give them the opportunity to get proper track time in real race weekends?.

TiG

I think there are going to be some exclusive test days for drivers who have done less than X amount of racing.

[Tumble]

Hopefully Honda will turn things around - they're so good at making real cars, they should be able to knock out a decent F1 machine. I think the boffins will be starting from scratch over in Tokyo - lets face it the car can't be any worse than it was this year. Big up to Jensen for putting up with it so stoically though.. he's a quick enough driver but if the car won't turn he hasn't got a chance has he?

[this_is_gav]

Rosberg, Heidfeld, Vettel and Sutil in my eyes. Not sure Button achieved much - sure his car was bad, but he has a role to play there as well.

They've all done well (not sure on Vettel in the dry mind), but Rosberg's been awesome. My man of the year, even above Hamilton.

A question from me: Will Prodrive enter next year?

I think it's already been confirmed they won't, as negotiations have fallen through with McLaren. Bernie certainly seems to think there won't be a 12th team in 2008 now, and apparently he's against the idea of customer teams too. Where that leaves STR and SA I've no idea...

[ACiD303]

I don't really see Ferrari slipping up as much as they did at the beginning of the 2007 season. Now Kimi's more integrated into the team, and with the mistakes learnt from over the course of the season, expectations will be high for the next season. I hope Massa improves as a race driver - he's bloody quick, and he can lead races and win from poles, but I've yet to see him drive a spirited race where he's had to fight for positions.

It would be interesting to see how McLaren do next year. With their 2008 car subject to approval from the FIA, and other factors working against them I guess only time can tell us.

It'll be interesting to see how Lewis will bounce back. As Martin Brundles mentioned, when you're a rookie in F1 you just go for it because you have nothing to lose - it's when you have something (say, a potential WC), then you start "thinking" instead of "doing" which leads to downfall. With this in mind, will he just be able to hit a reset, retain his experience just past, and come back stronger like he said? It's interesting, it's just a matter of time of when his time comes.

I'm in two camps about the Alonso moving back to Renault. Primarily because I don't think Renault will have improved as much as BMW have this year - and expectations of BMW will be the next best thing....again. Although look at what happened to Honda - could happen to anyone. Anyway, no to Alonso moving to Renault because I want to see all the 2007 title protagonists fight it out in championship winning cars - but then that whole thing about McLaren's penalities imposed may have an impact.

Yes to moving back to Renault, because he can hopefully build that team up again and keep them competitive. He might be a difficult person to work with, but I think in the right environment he can do just that. Renault don't really have much to lose really.

So if Alonso goes, who to replace him at Mclaren? I'm not too sure which over Rosberg or Kovalainen. Both are young stars and I wouldn't really fill my championship contending team with all young blood. I wouldn't put Ralf Schumacher in there either. I'm sure either Rosberg and Kovalainen would be good partners with Hamilton . . . but to be honest, if I was any F1 driver, the last team I would want to join right now is McLaren. Other than the fact I'm a Ferrari fan, the one thing I thought I respected McLaren for was their impartialness. Now, professionally, they can do it....but when you know they have their own boy wonder protege for years and years sitting in the other car, gelled with the team as it has aged, who is the personal favourite? I like Rosberg and Kovalainen, so ultimately, I'd rather their current teams kept hold of them and just do better overall.

Driver line up wise, I think Torro Rosso have an interesting pair - Vettel and Bourdais. Vettel was already praised before even making his BMW debut and, Fuji aside, has started to shown pace (given the lack of testing) in an otherwise dismal car. Bourdais has always wanted to be an F1 driver but has only had the chance now. Being the most successive Champ Car champion (4 consecutive titles) it is a shame that he wasn't placed in a car further up midfield. So youth vs experience for racing in general, hopefully they can effectively capitalise on any mishaps further in front.

Red Bull could improve reliability...but that's just wishful thinking in the hope that Webber and DC can show everyone they're not past it and can still put up a good fight.


Force India . . . I don't mean to cause offense, but the name sounds naff - it's like something out of a budget 80s movie. If they were to call it Force UK, especially on that car, I'd be petitioning to rename it. I can barely remember how many incarnations this team have gone through, but it seems to be doing worse and worse. Hopefully the new owners will be around longer to introduce a bit of stability, but I'm really not holding out for much.

[chuckskull]

For actual racing, this year has been one of the best in a long time, lets hope they keep it up next year and don't get dragged into more backroom drama again.

Over the last few years the mclaren/ferrari domination has been challenged quite a lot, hope that continues next year and gets more fierce, makes for great racing.

[dkmech]

There are rumors that Alonso could sit out a year and join Ferrari with Massa getting the boot despite his contract till 2010. The funniest thing about this was what Ferrari's president Luca di Montezemolo said about Alonso to the Italian press on Monday, describing him as "a world class driver in every sense".

If he thinks that of someone who kept slagging off the team, was actually involved in the spying scandal (unlike pretty much anyone else in the team), blackmailed his boss and was a right primadonna throughout the season... Looks like Ferrari and Alonso are indeed made for each other. Scheming ftw? Oh, and will he expect Raikkonen to roll over for him too ?

[this_is_gav]

I can't see Alonso moving to Ferrari. There's been plenty of hugs and open chats to suggest such, but the very reason he wants away from McLaren is the lack of a clear number 1 status. He'll never ever get that at Ferrari with Kimi there, especially now Kimi has won a title.

Alonso wants a team and car built around him. If he's moves teams to get what he wants then he's restricted to Renault, Toyota, Red Bull or Williams (the last extremely unlikely given their reluctance to pay large salaries throughout their time in F1).

[Deathwish2000]

I don't see Alonso going over to Ferrari either. I think that Renault is his only 'offer', but I don't know if even he would go back due to their lack of pace. Every driver wants to win, Alonso just a much, and I don't see him moving just to spite Ron.

[GoNz0]

i wonder where there going to put the headlights for the night race

[MadduckUK]

alonso should go to ferarri, and massa should go to mclaren, because he seems a thoroughly nice chap and him and Hamilton will be the polite assassins, complimenting each other all the time and generally getting along