McLaren summoned to FIA hearing on July 26, 2007

The FIA has called McLaren to appear before the World Motor Sport Council to answer a charge of breaking the sporting regulations by possessing confidential Ferrari data.

Information belonging to Ferrari was discovered at McLaren´s chief designer, Mike Coughlan home during a search of it. Ferrari has named Stepney as the source of the documents received by Coughlan.

The two men made a joint approach to Honda in the hope of joining its technical staff but these documents were not offered. 2007 the battle between Ferrari and Mclaren - the rivalry between Alonso and Hamilton, Raikkonen and Massa to win the drivers title and now this - can it get any better?

Alonso not 100% comfortable at McLaren

Fernando Alonso has revealed that he has not felt truly comfortable at McLaren since joining the Woking squad last winter.

In an interview with Spanish radio station Cadena Ser, Alonso admitted that he is finding it hard having a British team-mate in a British team – but said he had never expected it to be an easy situation.

“From the first moment, I wasn’t comfortable with everything,” he said.

“It's completely understandable that the results of each Grand Prix are going to provide both the British and the Spanish media with an opportunity to hang on every word that the drivers say - and sometimes quotes are taken out of context which can put a completely different spin on an innocent remark,” Dennis told McLaren’s official website.

At Indianapolis on Thursday, Hamilton told a news conference that he was surprised by Alonso’s comments.

“I find it strange he said that because I feel that ever since he joined McLaren, the team have been extremely motivated to push us both toward winning,” he said.

However this blog has noticed the body language of both drivers for a few races now and they indicated to me that all was not well.

A Spanish friend of mine thinks that Fernando will eventually join Ferrari. I personally think that the amount of media attention on Lewis is being overdone and that maybe this is having an effect on Fernando´s mental attitude. A win at Indy is what the doctor ordered Fernando

Grand Prix du Canada. Gilles Villenueve - 10 June 2007

Race weekend report , Q1. Q2 . Q3 and race times click here

The Race
Please Please said Lewis Hamilton as he came out of the last corner yesterday hoping that he could get his first F1 pole position. Hamilton was slower away off the line than and Alonso looked set to sweep around the outside of the sister McLaren going in to turn one or maybe forced onto that line by a rapidly starting Heidfeld. Alonso outbraked himself and decided to cut across the grass at the first chicane but appeared to damage the underside of the chassis which was to cause problems for the rest of the afternoon, Jenson Button stalling at the start, no gears,having been confident on the grid of picking up some points this afternoon. Lewis had opened up a substantial lead and made his
first pit stop when the first safety car came out when a Spyker crashed into the wall at turn 4.

This was the first of 4 incidents which caused the safety car to come out the worst being on lap 29, when the race went green, the Kubica had an enormous crash after touching the right-rear wheel of Jarno Trulli’s Toyota on the 180mph approach to the hairpin. Prior to this Alonso and Rosberg mistakenly made a pit stop when the the safety car came out, were investigated and given a 10 second drive through penalty. Later Massa and Fisichella as they went to re-join the circuit, they jumped a red light at the exit of the pit lane, whilst Kubica waited, an infringement that led to the Ferrari and Italian driver being black flagged with just 19 laps to go. (Later it was reported that Kubica had sustained a broken
leg).

To cap a quite extraordinary afternoon Sato challanged Alonso in the closing stages out braking Alonso into the final chicane with two laps to go to take sixth, Fernando Alonso possibly yielding rather than making in issue out of the place, attempting "damage limitation" to the afternoon. Fernando said afterwards mistakes were inevitable as he tried to make up lost ground, out-braking himself at turn one for a four time, the last time letting Kimi through. He added about Lewis win - “Very lucky as well as we were on very similar strategies and if the safety car comes one lap before the stop we would have been eighth and ninth today."

There is a "refran" (saying in Spain) that men commit the same mistakes twice, and it would appear that if he had indeed tried to take Hamilton into the first corner that he had made the same mistake as in Barcelona. The team, and drivers, are trying to play down the pressure between the two drivers, but it can only increase. Lewis Hamilton drove a faultless race despite all the pressure and deserves being "nominated driver of the day", but close must be Nick Heidfeld and of course Alexander Wurz who had started twentieth on the grid and in the poles Sato was second favorite for this nomination. Monday - Sato overtakes Hamilton as Driver of the day 60.1 % (3178) v 28.97 % (1532). Walker Murray reckons that Lewis Hamilton could be the 2007 World Champion who says that he is "onanother planet". Will Bernie be running an event on Mars in the not too distant future?

Monte Carlo Grand Prix Monaco 27 May

Race weekend report , Q1. Q2 . Q3 and race times click here

the race
Lewis wanted it - Fernando needed it - the public said Lewis would take it, but in the end Fernando Alonso delivered it. Fernando regained the lead in the world championship today, won the race, set fastest lap, took his second consecutive win at Monaco and his second of the season. The body language of both Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton before and after the absorbing duel between them during the race told the story.

Lewis Hamilton maturely tucked into Fernando Alonso going into Ste. Dovete and this year there were no incidents on the first corner and even when Vitantonio Liuzzi hit the barriers (Massenet) 2 laps in, but the safety car was not called out. Fernando Alonso had pulled out a lead on his team mate but this incident allowed Lewis to close it again as Fernando went very slowly around the incident, whereas Hamilton did not have to so. Fernando Alonso then pulled out a gap of 8 seconds before coming upon back markers and the lead came down to 3. Then it was Hamiltons turn to go into traffic.

It was thought that Lewis was carrying more fuel than Fernando and that the Spaniard needed to be at least 5 seconds in front of the second McLaren by the first pit stop to win the race. He managed to be in the lead after Lewis made his first pit stop so the calculation had been correct. It was thought that Lewis would go longer in the second session but this was not the case and so Fernando Alonso took the win showing both his physical and mental strengths, Lewis Hamilton looking a bit ragged in the third session. Felipe Massa managed to keep up with the two McLaren´s in the first session and could not match them in the last two as the team tried the "super soft" tyres in the last two sessions, but the Italian team reckon that in both Canada and America that they will mix it with the McLaren´s. Giancarlo Fisichella drove a good race the circuit suiting their chassis. Alex Wurz registered his first top eight finish since his return to Formula 1 racing with a strong seventh place with Kimi Räikkönen taking the final point after. Scott Speed took a worthy ninth place for Toro Rosso, capitalising on an excellent start and solid pace throughout the race.

They call it the 2007 F1 "Hamilton Effect" with a 60,000 crowd at Monaco today, but today it was Fernando Alonso that was deservedly voted "Driver of the Day". It is estimated that the race brings in a revenue of 60 million
pounds to the Principality. Might we see land reclamation here?