Also in the driver market, Sir Frank
Williams has backed
Lewis Hamilton to make the step into an
F1 race seat next season, saying that he wouldn’t hesitate to give the young Brit the second seat at
McLaren if he was in Ron Dennis’ shoes, while
Anthony Davidson could finally earn a place on the F1 grid – with speculation suggesting he could be named as partner to
Takuma Sato at
Super Aguri for the 2007 season as early as this weekend.
Meanwhile, as the relationship draws to a close, Spanish newspaper reports suggest that
Fernando Alonso feels that some members of the Renault team wouldn’t be too upset if he didn’t beat
Michael Schumacher to the drivers’ crown, comments the team have moved quickly to deny.
NEWS FROM THE TEAMS:
Renault – Fernando Alonso (#1), Giancarlo Fisichella (#2):
For
Renault, losing the Chinese Grand Prix was a bitter blow in their quest to retain both the driver and constructor titles this season - even more so because it was a race they knew they could and should have won.
Indeed, with Michael Schumacher and
Ferrari both on the back foot after qualifying, this should have been an easy win for Fernando Alonso and Renault, but of course circumstances eventually told a different story, even if it was a plot the team could have prevented.
Still, there are positives to draw from Shanghai. Alonso was arguably the quicker driver on the day for the first time since Canada and were it not for the tyre dramas, he would have been the comfortable winner.
However, the tyre dramas happened and Alonso is not in the lead of the championship standings for the first time since the 2005 Australian Grand Prix. Forever positive though, Alonso is confident ahead of Suzuka, a track he has always been quick on, even if the results aren’t so compelling, his best result being third last year.
“First of all, I think the people wanted a close championship this year – and they’ve got it. The performance between both cars is very similar, so the last races will be dominated by the tyres.
