Autosport.com and Grandprix.com both announced that McLaren has signed Kovalainen (from Renault) to replace Alonso. I think this is a great move for both McLaren and Kovalainen (and Hamilton). Kovalainen seems to be a much more level headed guy than Alonso so hopefully we won’t have all of the tantrums we had this past year. [...]

Posted in McLaren, Renault No Comments »

Espn.com is reporting that Alonso’s new deal with Renault will reportedly pay him $51.3m a year. This is for driving a race car in 17 races, or $3.1m a race. This is for a guy who couldn’t beat a rookie with exactly the same equipment this year.

Posted in Renault 1 Comment »

As reported at Grandprix.com (as well as many other places), Alonso is returning to Renault. This isn’t exactly the biggest surprise, but what is interesting is that he will be partnering with Piquet Jr. It will be interesting to watch if Piquet turns out to give him as much competition as Hamilton did this year. [...]

Posted in McLaren, Renault No Comments »

As reported at ManipeF1.com, Renault (and other teams) are not happy with the McLaren-designed, and now required, ECU.  Renault technical director Bob Bell says it is “obvious” that teams including McLaren will begin the 2008 season with an advantage over their rivals. Coinciding with the traction control ban, every team next year must use a [...]

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As reported at Autosport.com, Renault has now been summoned to the FIA concerning spying charges. Will this story never end. In addition, as also reported at Autosport, the FIA has started to look at the McLaren 2008 car to see if it contains any Ferrari secrets. I have no idea how this is going to [...]

Posted in FIA, McLaren, Renault No Comments »

As reported at ManipeF1.com, Fernando Alonso and Renault are close to reuniting ahead of the 2008 formula one season. Although Alonso wanted a single season contract, and Renault wanted a 2-3 year contract, they are apparently close to agreement. It will be a multi year agreement with an out clause based on performance (or lack [...]

Posted in BMW, Ferrari, Renault No Comments »

As reported on Grandprix.com, the suggestion that the Spanish bank Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) is one of the supporters of the plan to get Fernando Alondo into the Renault F1 team has led to questions about the validity of the rumours.

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As reported on ManipeF1.com, Renault has pooled an incredible (US) $90 million to try to woo Fernando Alonso back to the French team in 2008 and 2009. The problem is that Alonso apparently only wants a one year contract hoping to join a better team (Ferrari?) in 2009. This doesn’t make a lot of sense [...]

Posted in Ferrari, Renault No Comments »

As reported on ManipeF1.com, Heikki Kovalainen competed in the New York Marathon on Sunday, finishing with a time of 3 hours, 36 minutes and 56 seconds, nearly an hour and a half behind the winner but nearly 25 minutes quicker than Trulli had managed in 2000. He placed 592nd in his age group, 4,571st of [...]

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