For the moment, court proceedings are underway, with Nigel Stepney and Mika Coughlin both in the dock over alleged ‘intellectual property’ swapping from
Ferrari to
McLaren. Both claim their innocence, meaning the row is likely to drag on for yet more weeks…
After some sharp criticism over the last few races and rumours of his impending dismissal ever present at
Silverstone, Christijan Albers has indeed been axed from the Spyker team with immediate effect. Although the word was that sponsors owed the team money, Albers has struggled in comparison with his more inexperienced team-mate
Adrian Sutil this season.
As such, their test driver Markus Winkelhock will make his long-awaited
Formula 1 debut this weekend at his home round, although it is unclear whether the DTM driver will retain the seat to the end of the year. Indeed, second test driver Adrian Valles has hinted he is in-line to race in Hungary, while
Red Bull refugee and current
Honda tester Christian Klien has also made himself a strong candidate by testing for Spyker at Spa.
NEWS FROM THE TEAMS:
McLaren – Fernando Alonso (#1), Lewis Hamilton (#2):
Second and third positions in the British Grand Prix last time out saw McLaren retain the lead of the constructors’ championship, while Hamilton and Alonso both also kept their positions in the drivers’ standings, but the entire operation knows that it cannot stand still for an instant as Ferrari shows signs of clawing back the deficit built up around the North American 'flyaways'
"We arrive at our home grand prix with a positive balance from the first half of the season as, in the first nine grands prix, Fernando and Lewis have achieved 15 out of 18
possible podium finishes, and McLaren is the only team to score points in every race with both drivers," Mercedes' Norbert Haug commented, "However, the most recent
races in Magny-Cours and Silverstone showed that we have to improve further, and everybody in the team works to achieve this in a disciplined manner and with all their power."
80 years on from Mercedes' first win at the Nürburgring - taken by Rudolf Caracciola in the Mercedes S sportscar - Alonso is confident that recent testing performances will give the Woking team a push in the right direction.
