Alonso's future? Wait until September...

Fernando is all mum about his f1 future, at least until after the Italian Grand Prix in September, when he will announce which car he will drive for the 2009 season.

"I think (I will decide) after the summer when all this period of races, then the break and then Belgium and Monza are over," said Alonso.

"They are very important races for us to try to get this fourth position in the constructors' championship. And after that will be time to think about what the possibilities are for next year."

"We need to work as soon as possible on next year's car, but this year's position at the end of the championship is very important for the team," he said. "It's not the same if you finish seventh or you finish fourth, which is the area that Renault is moving towards now.

"We are seventh in the constructors', but we know that our target is to finish fourth and we can do it. So that will make a big change in the budget and everything for next year, so we need to push in two parallel projects, the R28 and the R29, as hard as we can I think."

If Renault fail to get into the top three in the constructors championship, Alonso has the option of leaving the team at end of the year.

The most likely place where Alonso will go is to Ferrari where he may take over Felipe Massa's seat. But with Massa picking up the pace and some wins, not to mention the lead in the drivers championship it looks very unlikely that Alonso will be in a Ferrari. But two other teams are looking at getting Alonso's services: Honda, where there motto is "We always work towards next year" and Red Bull Racing. Both have drivers that are at the twilight of thier carrers and both could use a guy like Alonso to help get thier teams on track.

Alonso to decide future after summer [Autosport.com]

Raikkonen still thinking about his future

Defending Formula 1 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen is still deciding on how much longer he will be in the sport. As of now, Kimi’s contract with Ferrari goes to 2009 and Kimi has yet to rule out retirement from the sport at that point.

"There has been rumours like that many years," Raikkonen said during Thursday‘s press conference in Montreal. "I always say I have a contract until the end of next year. I haven't made any decision if I'm going to keep going or not. That is the last contract I have and we will see what happens this year and next year."

"I wouldn't stop if I felt I would miss it afterwards. For sure I would find something else to do and maybe that I would enjoy more. I don't know what is going to happen after next year, I haven't made my mind up. Who knows maybe I make my decision this year. I think I will race as long as I enjoy it, it is the right thing for me. It could be in four years' time. It is too early to say,"

Raikkonen also admits that the reason he may be retiring is because he doesn’t enjoy Formula 1 as much use to. "I like the racing and the other stuff is not always the best thing," he said. "Everyone in F1 is here because they love racing and driving, but when there are too many things that you don't enjoy or too many things you don't want it is time to go away. It can be anything. When you find something you don't want to do or don't enjoy... If there are things like that or don't work out anymore. There can be many things apart from racing, then probably it is the best time to go away."

Raikkonen still undecided on future plans (Autosport.com)

Sour Grapes

Max Mosley may have survived a confidence vote on Tuesday to keep his job as FIA president, but that still hasn't stopped many people from calling for his resignation. Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone is one of them.

"Max should stand down in November," Ecclestone told The Independent newspaper. "For me it's a difficult situation because I run the Formula One Group of companies, and the teams - the manufacturers - are violently opposed to him."

"I knew he would win (the vote), there was no way he could lose. But I still don't think it's good for him, or for the FIA, to be honest. He said he wanted to finish at the end of 2007, and then the end of this year, before all this happened. What highlights the problem he may still face is what happened in Monaco. Prince Albert made it very clear that he did not want him on the grid, and that he would have security around him so that if Max did appear they could not be seen together."

"I've always said that Max will be the president until he dies," he added. "What many people don't understand is that he enjoys confrontation. He likes argument, these things stimulate him."

Ecclestone isn't the only one calling for Mosley's head. Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo also thinks that Mosley should quit. "I believe he himself should understand that at times it is necessary to say 'I must leave the place for reasons of credibility." di Montezemolo said to the Italian news agency ANSA.

This a bit of a change from when di Montezemolo was aksed the question back in April. "I think it's objectively unlikely, but I believe it depends on him and his sensibility." di Montezemolo told the Italian newspaper, Gazzzetta dello Sport. "However, I can say that the day Mosley, for whatever reason, decides to leave, the FIA will need a leader with the same level of experience, competence, personality and balance."

"If I look at what Max has done these years on the issue of safety, at the speed with which a verdict was produced in the spy story, and other stuff, my judgement on him can be nothing but positive. If he leaves, in his place we'd need someone like him."

Funny how the mind can change.

Ferrari president: Mosley should quit (Autosport.com)

Ecclestone: Mosley should still resign (Autosport.com)

Kimi Raikkonen's Monaco Grand Prix could have been much worse

Apparently there was a bit of a whoopsie made by officials at Monaco last week. We all know that Kimi Raikkonen was penalized for not having his tires properly fitted at the three minute signal. Raikkonen was given a drive through penalty for it early in the race, but with all of the carnage early in the race the penalty didn't hurt him that much. Surprisngly, that penalty wasn't supposed to happen. Instead Raikkonen should had started from the back of the grid or from the pit lane and no that's not my opinion that is what the rules say.

Rule 38.5 in the F1 sporting regulations reads: “When the three minute signal is shown all cars must have their wheels fitted, after this signal wheels may only be removed in the pit lane or on the grid during a race suspension. Any car which does not have all its wheels fully fitted at the three minute signal must start the race from the back of the grid or the pit lane. Under these circumstances a marshal holding a yellow flag will prevent the car (or cars) from leaving the grid until all cars able to do so have left to start the formation lap.”

So there you have it. Now we could sit here and get into one of those "what could have happened" talks if Kimi had to start from the back, but I certinally won't because it would give me a headache, but go ahead conspiracy theroists start your "engines."

Raikkonen's penalty that never was (Speedtv.com)