First, Alonso has supposedly been told he can leave at the end of the season:

McLaren tell Alonso he can go`
Tuesday 7th August 2007
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McLaren are reportedly so "p***ed off" with Fernando Alonso that they have told him he can leave if he wants to.

Alonso and his team-mate Lewis Hamilton suffered a complete breakdown of their relationship in Hungary this past weekend after Alonso illegally held Hamilton up in qualifying, preventing the rookie from getting pole position.

However, that only happened after Hamilton first disobeyed team orders telling him to let Alonso passed at the start of the third and final qualifying segment.

The result was that neither team-mate was talking to the other after Sunday's grand prix, which was won by Hamilton.

And now, according to The Times, McLaren are ready to say goodbye to Alonso at the end of the season.

'Fernando Alonso has been informed by Ron Dennis, the McLaren Mercedes team principal, that he can leave at the end of this season,' the newspaper reported.

"My understanding is that he's been told he can go because they're so fed up with him," a 'well-placed source' said. "Ron is just very p***ed off with both of them."

As for where Alonso will go, The Times speculates that it could be to either Ferrari, at the expense of Felipe Massa, back to Renault, he would probably replace Giancarlo Fisichella, or even to BMW.



Next, Ferrari are supposedly on the hunt for Hamilton, to the tune of 17M pounds/year (vs. his measly 250K pounds per year at McLaren)
Ferrari big bosses want Hamilton
Tuesday 7th August 2007
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It's not too late, point scoring starts at the Bahrain GP. Click here.

Ferrari have reportedly been told to swoop for Lewis Hamilton by their bosses Fiat.

According to the Daily Mirror, the Italian car manufacturer want their F1 team to make a £17million raid on McLaren for the young British sensation.

Hamilton once again showed off his breathtaking talent by extending his lead in the title race with victory in Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix.

But afterwards all the talk was of the rift between him and McLaren team-mate Fernando Alsono.

The Spaniard's future appears to be in doubt, but the Mirror claims it's Hamilton that could be the man being targeted for a move.

It claims Fiat are hoping Ferrari can capitalise on the internal strife at McLaren to lure Hamilton away to Maranello.

The British rookie is earning just £250,000 in his first season in Formula One, and the Italian giants would be happy to make him one of the world's highest-paid sportsmen.

Current Ferrari number one Kimi Raikkonen rakes in £22million per year, but Hamilton could even top that.

Would serve the Ronster right for continuing to give drivers equal status in the team when he really should have given more support to Alonso in my opinion, and that is not b/c I like him, in fact, I prefer Hamilton.

 

Yep, you're right, he should've given Alonso more support. Problem is that Hamilton has been in the McLaren family since he was 10 & it seems that Anthony Hamilton (his dad) & Ron have become friends over the years.

It'll definetly be interseting to see how this whole thing plays out but Alonso did say "It's Hamilton or me!"

 

If so, it seems he got his answer.

 

It's hard to see either one acutally leaving the team. The relationship between Dennis-Alonso-Hamilton-Dennis is in complete meltdown. However, both drivers know that the McLaren car is the best on the grid, at least for this moment.

 

I completely agree.........

 

Yeah, but doesn't it seem that all drivers' motivations spoken on the record when leaving one team for another is "that fill in the blank team is giving me the best chance to win the championship next year with its car" when really what they mean is fill in the blank team is giving me the most MONEY and I can deal with whatever they give me to drive???

 

In the end, it is all about the $.

 

Very interesting,....

I hope they lose either Alonso or Hamilton, and get the hammer from the FIA on the stepneygate appeal.

I would like to see Alonso go to BMW and have the BMW competitive for race wins so next year there could be a battle with Kimi at Ferrari. I like Kubica and Heidfeld though, so they have to have a drive too.

Ya,.....I dislike Ron Whiney Dennis and Mclaren.

 

RD pisses me off too Steve but, why is he "whiney?" It's not him that is appealing to ISC on Stepney/Couglan. He should sue the everlivin' piss outta both of those flaming assholes for getting his team involved tangentially in the whole debacle. Ron has every right to be completely pissed off currently. His chief engineer was trading proprietary info w/ another engineer; hamilton doesn't listen and cusses RD's ass out; Alonso doesn't listen and won't talk to the team; he doesn't score any points at the race probably costing him a lot of $$$$ and he has to defend his integrity for the world to scrutinize. I'd be out if I was him.

 

Call this American wishful thinking, but I would like to see Alonso go back to Renault w/ GF getting the boot and an American (Scott Speed perhaps?) getting a top tier ride with McLaren and being teammates with Hamilton.

 

I wouldnt mind seeing either of them 2 replace massa at ferrari.

 

It would be amazing if Honda can get Alonso! Doubt it's going to happen when they're one of the worst teams right now.

 

Tripp and alex, you both are trippin! Alonso to Honda?? Speed is done, I doubt he'll be anything more than a test driver if he's lucky.

 

No no no, I didnt mean in regards to the stepneygate issue or this other nonsense that just happened. I just meant form stuff he has said in the past,.........ie at the start of this season he was whining about something (forget what, but it was stupid).

 

fernando is not gonna go to ferrari - him and kimmi??? that's mclaren part2 for 2008.

my bet is he'll go running back to renault,..."flavio! take me back!..."

 

Oh, I know Speed is done being a race driver in F1, but I merely hope for the day an American will land a premier seat in F1. I don't see it happening anytime soon, but I long for the day the United States national anthem is played while an American stands on the podium.

 

I see both of them stayin' @ McLaren @ least next year.

Fisichella is overrated & the '08 lineup needs to be Kovalainen / Piquet Jr.

 

I'd dissagree with that. Fisichella is one of the most underrated drivers in F1, but his best days are clearly behind him. He is one of those great talents that never got a great car at the right time.

 

F-C. Fisico was always in the wrong car at the wrong time, except for the last two at Renault but then he was overshadowed by Alonso. I say Alonso back to Renault, Hamilton stays if the Ronster comes up w/ some serious cashola otherwise off to Ferrari-land, Massa to McLaren.

 

kimi and hamilton at teh Ferrari!

 

No way, the McLaren is a superior car to the Renault. They'll both stay put & Fisichella is out....

 

I hope the whinger Ronny D loses them both. I personally don't want to see either of them at Ferrari, Kimi and Massa will do fine next year. FA back to Renault and Hambone to BMW would make me grin all day long, likely only one of the two will happen.

 

-Superior- as of this season. Who would have guessed that Renault would fall to mid-pack this season, after dominating for the past few ones. Next year it might be a whole new ballgame, perhaps with Honda fighting near the top.