Schumacher may not be able to keep away from the sport that rewarded him so generously over the years, but one driver who may find he has to in 2008 is
Fernando Alonso, for whom another door seemingly closed yesterday as
Honda made it clear there was no room at the inn for the Spaniard. With a much-hyped return to former team
Renault hinging on today's World Motor Sports Council hearing in Paris, and
Red Bull Racing and
Toyota both denying they are ready for a double world champion just yet, Alonso could find himself with nowhere left to go.
It's a tricky one for him, Coulthard agreed. If he left [McLaren] because he felt he wasn't winning enough, he now doesn't have the option to be with
McLaren or
Ferrari, and based on this year's performance they were the only two winning teams. It's going to be quite difficult now to get a car that he's going to win races in, so I don't quite understand the strategy.
I can understand that he wasn't happy there, and therefore you've got to follow your heart and your head. He was in a difficult situation I think from the British media point-of-view, because it obviously coincided with the emergence of Lewis in
Formula 1 and his great achievements, so he probably got more of a rap and a hard time from them than he would have done otherwise. That said, it still is a slightly strange way to manage your career.
It's going to be interesting. He's obviously got limited options, so we just have to be patient and see where he decides to go. Clearly he's a talented driver, and it's just a question of who can accommodate him. Time will tell ultimately where he ends up.
I don't think it would be a problem for him to take a year out [Alain] Prost was the last guy to do that, and he came back and won the world championship. If you can get yourself into one of the best two cars, then of course you've got a great chance of winning the championship.
