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Alonso 2008 deal to be announced
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Alonso 2008 deal to be announced
"Fernando Alonso's deal with Renault for 2008 is set to be revealed imminently and it may not be for just one year.

According to Spanish reports, the double Formula 1 World Champion will return to the squad with whom he claimed both his drivers' titles and, what's more, it will make him the highest-earner in the sport for the first time.

Renault has won the race, declared Spanish daily newspaper El Mundo. Alonso will return to the team where he amassed his glory.

Despite also having been linked to Red Bull Racing, Honda and Toyota, it would seem the 26-year-old and his former team have finally been able to agree terms. Until now, the major sticking point had always been the Spaniard's wish for a one-year contract, and the Regie's determination to tie him down to a multi-year deal, something Alonso had been loathe to do given his apparent wish to move to Ferrari in 2009.

However, the final agreement is believed to be for two years, to include minimal sponsor commitments, an exit' clause and clear number one status. The deal is reputed to be worth $50m a season, making Alonso higher paid than even Ferrari's recently-crowned world champion Kimi Raikkonen.

Current Renault test-driver Nelson Piquet Jnr is set to be promoted to a racing role alongside Alonso, with fellow Spanish newspaper El Pais stating McLaren boss Ron Dennis will await the French outfit's final decision before deciding who shall partner Lewis Hamilton at Woking next year. Heikki Kovalainen was believed to be the favourite to fill the seat, but recent rumours suggest Dennis is now leaning more towards McLaren tester Pedro de la Rosa.

Alonso split with McLaren two years prior to the termination of his contract at the beginning of last month, following an acrimonious season blighted by public rows with team-mate Hamilton and Dennis."

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so Alonso gets everything he wanted. he'll be the #1 driver at renault, with a rookie #2 who looks up to and supports him, instead of disobeying team orders and trying to thwart his ambitions as hamilton did. the haters will obviously hate this, but i'm glad it's happened, because now 2008 will be a true test for alonso. either he will regain a dominant position, or he wont, and if he doesn't he wont have an easy excuse.

it will be very interesting to see what happens at mclaren. i think they need to find someone with no ego at all, else risk another year of drivers fighting with each other. did you catch hamilton's comments after his recent test session in jerez? while everyone else was talking about "the car", he was going on about "my car", as if he had anything to do with building it.

bummer for kovalainen though. i hope he finds a seat.
Quote from evilgeek : now 2008 will be a true test for alonso.

Absolutely. And the Renault is not likely to be the pacesetter either, so he'll be fighting for every inch of ground in the upper midfield.

Quote from evilgeek :i think they need to find someone with no ego at all

Well F1 isn't the place to be looking then.

Seriously though, De La Rosa is the wise choice. He isn't the fastest driver out there, but he's a consistent test driver and will accept a de facto #2 status against Hamilton. That way Lewis won't have to deal with the stress of a very fast, equal-status teammate distracting him and he can focus on driving the hell out of the car and winning the championship.

Quote from evilgeek :
bummer for kovalainen though. i hope he finds a seat.

Yeah that's too bad for him. He's a respectable guy and I hope he manages to find work somewhere in F1 to keep his career alive.
We got Piquet Jr. now, we only need Bruno Senna and one of Mansells Sons, but they went to America i read somewhere, atlantics series. Then we have Nicolas Prost, still a few years away. And we are back to the 80s

Senna Nephew, Piquet Jr, Mansell Jr, Prost Jr and Rosberg Jr
The Mansell sons won't get far... Have they actually ever won a race?
Quote from Rdcranno :"...to do given his apparent wish to move to Ferrari in 2009....

I always get angry when I read that :bananadea
Quote from Intrepid :The Mansell sons won't get far... Have they actually ever won a race?

I've only seen them racing middle of the pack, their daddy buys them the best racing seats, they never seem to do anything with them though.

Back onto the Alonso topic, I am annoyed that they got rid of Heikki Kovalainen simply because he is too fast for Alonso. I can't think of any other reason to get rid of him, they just went for a rookie who will accept absolute #2 status, rather than a guy who is able to win the championship given the machinery.
Quote from ATC Quicksilver :

Back onto the Alonso topic, I am annoyed that they got rid of Heikki Kovalainen simply because he is too fast for Alonso. I can't think of any other reason to get rid of him, they just went for a rookie who will accept absolute #2 status, rather than a guy who is able to win the championship given the machinery.

Well, Kovalainen said during the season, when the speculations were on that he won't sign a contract where he is the second driver. He said that he doesn't want or need to be the only 1st driver in a team he is driving, but only given equal car, treatment and service. I would say that McLaren would be a good choice for him, really don't know why he should be scared of Hamilton. If you can't beat him with the same car, the chances are you can't beat him at all. Kovalainen is a good driver.
Kovalinaen has said "I have two options that are better than Renault". The other one is probably Toyota. If goes to there, goodbye successful F1 career. Too bad.

Also Alonso has a quite big paycheck, Piquet Jr. then again has lots of sponsors that Renault needs.
Kovalainen has only a few choices, Mclaren, Honda and possibly Red Bull.
Honda and Red Bull are sticking with their current line-up, he could take a year out and get a seat at either of those 2.
Kovalainen goes to McFerrari! Nice to see how he compares with Haemitlon
Hamilton will eat Korvalining for lunch, and twice on Sundays mark my words.
Quote from Mazz4200 :Hamilton will eat Korvalining for lunch, and twice on Sundays mark my words.

Quote from Mazz4200 :Hamilton will eat Korvalining for lunch, and twice on Sundays mark my words.

But Kimi will eat both them

Alonso 2008 deal to be announced
(16 posts, started )
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