Come to Marlboro Country Bob.

macphisto - 09 July 2008 08:49 AM

AM_DBR9_007 - 09 July 2008 08:45 AM

Seems like a sign of things to come. I hope Kimi stays on for 2 more years, but I won't hold my breath. Imagine Nando and Kimi.

Kimi said it would be "interesting" to race against Fernando in the same car. A typical understatement by Kimi. While I'd be happy for Alonso if this happened, I'd rather see the driving talent more spread out. Alonso at BMW for instance.

FerrariEnzo - 09 July 2008 08:48 AM

It would be highly competitive and very similar to Prost/Senna at McLaren. But I wouldn't expect see rift like we saw at McLaren last year between Hamilton and Alonso.

Yeah I don't think Kimi would disobey team orders setting off a firestorm within the team as Hamilton did. Ferrari would manage it better.

And hopefully Alonso wouldn't whine like a baby if he thought he wasn't number 1.

toronaga - 09 July 2008 09:49 PM

CerinoDevoti - 09 July 2008 02:39 PM

parmalat - 09 July 2008 02:19 PM

Sailqueen - 09 July 2008 12:48 PM

parmalat - 09 July 2008 07:22 AM

The most important thing to read in your post or the link is...

German magazine Sport Bild claims...

I tend to agree but will never forget the they were the first media source way back when, to claim Kimi had signed with Ferrari.....and we all doubted the source then too.

Yes, just keep throwing up names and eventually they will be right...

http://news.poland.com/result/news/id/609

Which team is going to choose Kubica in the next season? There is more and more signs which indicate that it is going to be Ferrari. Italian went ape over the Pole and they want to pay the BMW Sauber team even 50 million Euro for the transfer.

According to German "Sport Bild" money on purchase of Kubica is to give the main sponsor of Ferrari - Marlboro. The Pole would have to advertise their cigarettes on the market of Eastern Europe. The tabacco company estaimates that in this way money given on Kubica would pay back.

According to the daily "Sport Bild" the Pole in Ferrari team would replace Kimi Raikkonen.

...so it's Alonso and Kubica for next season at Ferrari.
I can't say I'd hate it.

As much as I love Kimi in the Ferrari, and have a soft spot for Massa, I feel the same way. Being that my allegiance lies with Ferrari first and drivers second, I'd have to agree that Kubica and Alonso wouldn't be all that bad to have in the drivers seats.

Kimi is irreplaceable. Fred is good, the Kub is alright, but unless Ferrari are going to be putting Lewis (Who will be the man once he gets it all together) in their seat. They need to hold on to Kimi for as long as possible. Phil on the other hand would most likely do awesome at Sauber once again!

Kubica and Alonso driving for Ferrari in 2009?

But what about Räikkönen's and Massa's contracts with Ferrari? Those papers mean nothing now?



And can we get some other sources for the Santander to Ferrari news? It doesn't look convincing to me as it is now. It might be, but as long as no better sources are shown, it will remain as one of those "look what I pulled out of my a**" things.

And the "Kubica to Ferrari" article quoted here is just as convincing.

Autosport is rporting the story now but say the switch isn't until 2010. They didn't just rely on the Bild story but did some investigating of their own.

http://www.autosport.com/news/grapevine.php/id/69061

Spanish banking giant Santander is set to become a Ferrari sponsor in 2010, high level sources have told autosport.com.

A Santander spokeswoman refused to comment on the speculation, but made it clear on Friday the company was committed with McLaren until the end of next year.

"We are not making any comments about this," she told autosport.com when asked about the Ferrari deal. "We have a contract with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes until the end of 2009."

I also did a little investigating and found something on the Santander website that is of interest.

Source

Santander and Team McLaren Mercedes announce a five-year sponsorship
agreement.Madrid, October 31th, 2006 - Ron Dennis, Chairman and CEO of the McLaren Group and
Team Principal of the Team McLaren Mercedes Formula One team, and Juan Manuel
Cendoya, Executive Vice-President of Santander and head of Communications, Corporate
Marketing and Research, today signed a sponsorship agreement for the bank to become an
official team sponsor (Corporate Partner category) starting January 1st, 2007.

Considering that it was Santander that made Alonso's exit from Mclaren possible (due to their agreement to stay with Mclaren). This would be the first signal holding water for the Alonso to Ferrari rumours.

2009 is too optimistic, but 2010 is a door wide open at this time.

So, according to what Parmalat quoted, Santander should be at McLaren to the end of the year 2011?

5-year deal means

2007
2008
2009
2010
2011

Did they cancel that when Alonso left McLaren? Do we have it documented somewhere?

But on the autosport.com article a Santander spokeswoman says "We have a contract with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes until the end of 2009." This would be fresh information so maybe they shortened the 5-year deal by 2 years (same as with Alonso, minus 2 years of the original contract) when Alonso's deal with McLaren was cancelled. It makes sense, if Santander was part of the negotiations then, they could've said to McLaren that "OK you can drop Alonso BUT our deal will be shortened as well as a result". So, do you guys know if this has been publicly stated?

anzie - 11 July 2008 04:01 PM

So, according to what Parmalat quoted, Santander should be at McLaren to the end of the year 2011?

5-year deal means

2007
2008
2009
2010
2011

Did they cancel that when Alonso left McLaren? Do we have it documented somewhere?

But on the autosport.com article a Santander spokeswoman says "We have a contract with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes until the end of 2009." This would be fresh information so maybe they shortened the 5-year deal by 2 years (same as with Alonso, minus 2 years of the original contract) when Alonso's deal with McLaren was cancelled. It makes sense, if Santander was part of the negotiations then, they could've said to McLaren that "OK you can drop Alonso BUT our deal will be shortened as well as a result". So, do you guys know if this has been publicly stated?

I am pretty sure it hasn't been publicly stated but the deal has changed from the way they presented it in the beginning. A manner to get out could have been in the original wording of the contract as that is something you often see. They would just have to let McLaren know at a certain date that they didn't wish to continue without having to specifically say its because of the Alonso situation. It would only be smart business sense to have this in the contract from the beginning, especially in a new relationship. So, though they reported it as a 5-year contract in the beginning, it was really a 3-year contract with an option for 2 more years.

Yes, it makes sense, as Alonso was supposed to be 3 years at McLaren. That Santander would only promise as much as Alonso did at first.

Here's another quote from the Santander spokesperson:

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/080714102519.shtml

"The bank has always wanted to be with Alonso but the sponsorship contract was done with McLaren and not with Alonso," the spokeswoman said.