Well the worst kept secret in F1 seems to be seeping out of the box finally. Fernando Alonso had been refuting rumors that he would be leaving the Ferrari team at the end of this year for greener pastures and had go so far as to say “It’s sad when these rumours are created in Italy. It’s a shame as it’s not helping Ferrari…”. Well it is starting to sound more and more like the rumours are a lot more than just rumours surrounding the man who has done more than his fair share of gruntwork in keeping Ferrari relevant near the front of the grid this season.
Ferrari Japanese GP
While Alonso was still speaking of doing everything he can to help Ferrari get better and compete with Williams for the third spot in the Constructors’ Championship it is starting to come to some actual fruition that he will be with McLaren next season. Sources close to the action say there isn’t an official deal in place but talks with McLaren are far along. There has been nothing official on the release of Alonso from his contract with Ferrari for next season but sources are also indicating that will be resolved in the next few weeks, possibly by the time the American GP comes along in November.
All that excitement and the grand prix weekend has barely started! Contracts, cold brakes, tight corners, mechanical grip and now you can add typhoon to the list of things the Ferrari team will have to overcome this weekend in Japan at the Suzuka Circuit. With a typhoon expected to hit the area Sunday or Monday there is a definite concern for the weather. They have talked about possibly moving the start time of the race though nothing has happened officially as of the writing of this article.
The Ferrari drivers, Alonso and Kimi Räkkönen, have been timing out in the middle of the top 10 in the practice sessions so far and that seems about where they have been qualifying for much of the season. They are expecting somewhat similar results to how they finished in Singapore at the last race, Alonso fourth and Kimi eighth, since Suzuka also lends a hand to Ferrari’s struggles with straight line speed. While Singapore and Suzuka are ultimately very different tracks Ferrari found they have made some gains on finding mechanical grip and front downforce. This will help them greatly in trying to navigate through the ‘S’ section of the track where plenty of both will be one of the main keys to success for anybody trying to run well at Suzuka.
The drivers and teams don’t know yet if they will be setting up their cars to run in the dry or the wet on Sunday but rain or shine I’m sure to be tuned in to see how it all shakes out.
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