Ron will Pay Alonso $ 17 M and Not allow him to drive next year. - Bernie

[raindancer]

How vindictive can Mclaren be ?

[Scott]

C'mon, that's just Bernie stirring the pot - Ron's not that much of an idiot, plus I don't think he has that much change left rattling around in his wallet.  Alonzo wants out as much as Ron wants him out (or more), so you know they will come to a 'mutually' agreeable arrangement - i.e. Renault picking up his retainer should do just fine.

[raindancer]

Sure ! Just stirring up the goose a bit.

[johnbull]

I can see Ron D coming out of this lot smiling.

The noises at the moment are that Ross Brawn will be replacing Jean Todt at Ferrari, and Alonso will be replacing Massa.

Ron knows all about adding 1 + 1. He will gladly accept - was the fine a hundred million dollars? - from Ferrari to release Alonso.

And Ferrari will have ended up paying the fine to their buddies the FIA.

And we'll chuckle again next season when Kimi p 1 sses all over Nando, and LH, with all the team's support will win his second World Championship on the trot.

[raindancer]

John ! You are one hell of an optimist or an astrologer predicting the future.

[Scott]

I read that Todt said that Alonzo will not join Ferrari next year because Ferrari honours their contracts, yet another story said that Luca wanted Alonzo, and that was why Todt's tenure was in jeopardy.  First of all, seems pretty silly to me that Luca would gamble Ferrari's future only on Fernando (i.e. with Todt gone, even with Braun there, Ferrari, the road car company would suddenly be captain-less).  The other twist was that Braun wouldn't return to the team unless Todt was gone.  So here's my solution to Luca - move Jean to FIAT, take over Ferrari again yourself, and bring back Braun, Fernando and anyone else you like.

I don't think Ferrari will pay $100m for Fernando - no chance.  I doubt even Phillip Morris will (who is reportedly paying Kimi's wage directly).

[Steven Roy]

Philip Morris have paid all the Ferrari drivers retainers for a very long time now. 

[raindancer]

Tobacco business is not exactly the flavor of the season Steven !

[jhbulldogboy]

Gettin back to the original post... Dennis seems to be a vindictive sort, and he may force Alonso' to drive next year, but it really looks like Alonso wants to drive for Briatore, wherever he is. As much as I dislike both of them...I have to admit that they were an excellent combination. Ultimately, Alonso will probably end up back at Renault, Flavio will get their act back together, and it will be a three or four team fight for the championship like it should be. It may not happen next year, but within a couple of years it will be so.

[rmassart]

Isn't Flavi switching to football with the mighty QPR? Maybe FA will be playing striker before too long...

[Steven Roy]

Make up your minds.  One is saying it would be vindictive to make Fernando drive next year and another says it would be vindictive to stop him driving. 

I have to say I have never seen Ron Dennis do anything vindictive.  As I have said elsewhere the only reason Alonso is not already world champion is because he dropped the car in China and behaved like a prat in Hungary.  If McLaren or Ron Dennis were vindictive they would have stopped him getting anywhere near that position this season.

[johnbull]

Alonso expected Macca to treat him as Number 1 but he didn't perform like a Number 1.

Simple as that. And I'm talking about his driving, not his mouth.