Formula 1's Latest Rumours and Talk: Fernando Alonso, Brabham, 3-Car Teams, More
Fernando Alonso's future is the hot topic in Formula One this week.
In less than five days, the Spaniard has been linked to four different teams—five, if we include his current employer, Ferrari. Amid a flood of rumours, it remains unclear what his plans for 2015 are.
Also unclear is whether he'll be racing in a two- or three-car team. McLaren racing director Eric Boullier says the teams won't have time to add a third car—but if enough teams fail, someone will have to.
Elsewhere, Force India are set to develop the VJM07 all the way to the final race of the year, and David Brabham wants to bring his father's old team back to the pinnacle of motorsport.
Read on for a full roundup of the week's top stories.
Fernando Alonso to Red Bull, McLaren, Lotus or Mercedes?
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Rumours that Fernando Alonso is set to leave Ferrari refuse to go away.
They've been flying around for most of the season, but got particularly heated at Singapore.
Reports swirled linking Alonso and Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel with a seat-swap. The Spaniard sounded displeased when he was asked about them, and was quoted in Autosport saying:
"I've been commenting about my future for now 13 months I think, so I have nothing new to say.
Sometimes Italy creates these strange rumours, which are not helping Ferrari, which we are all here to do.
"
But interestingly, he didn't deny there was any truth in the rumour. Nor did Vettel, and the "stories created in Italy" continued into this week. In less than five days, the Spaniard has been linked to no less than four different teams.
James Allen reported earlier in the week that Honda would be willing to buy out Alonso's contract with Ferrari—a sum given as €30 million—to secure his services at partners McLaren from 2015 onwards.
On Wednesday, a rumour reported on motorsport.com linked Alonso with a switch to a hypothetically under-new-ownership Lotus.
And on the same day, thejudge13.com theorised about a possible Alonso swap with Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton.
Williams, Sauber, Force India, Toro Rosso, Marussia and Caterham have, as yet, escaped the frenzy.
The most solid rumour at the moment appears to be the one pointing towards Alonso joining Red Bull. The talk of him going to McLaren has cooled somewhat, while the Lotus idea seems a little fanciful.
The dark horse coming up on the outside here is for Alonso to move to Mercedes and Hamilton to go the other way to Ferrari.
That one may make the most sense of them all...
David Brabham Targets F1 Return for Father's Legendary Team
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The Brabham name could return to F1 in the future if a new crowdfunding initiative takes off.
Twenty-two years after the team closed its doors for the last time, David Brabham—the youngest son of three-time world champion and team founder Sir Jack—plans to relaunch the brand.
And he's going about it in a very unusual way.
David Brabham is inviting fans to invest in the team via crowdfunding site Indiegogo, offering various perks for different levels of backing. Once up and running with the starting capital, the intention is to build a successful, self-funding business.
The initial aim is to enter the LMP2 category of the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2015—which will cost the team £8 million—but their future goals are loftier.
BBC Sport quotes David Brabham as saying, "I have dreamt of seeing the Brabham team back on the track, winning at the highest level. Who knows where that could lead? Back to Formula One, I hope."
The original Brabham team was founded in 1960 by then-reigning world champion Jack Brabham and designer Ron Tauranac. It first entered F1 in 1962, and won two drivers' and two constructors' championships before the decade was out.
One, in 1966, was for Brabham himself. He remains the only man to win the title in a car bearing his own name.
The team was sold to Bernie Ecclestone in 1971. Nelson Piquet won two drivers' championships with Brabham in 1981 and 1983, but a decline set in thereafter. Ecclestone sold up in 1988 and moved on to bigger and better things, and Brabham rapidly declined.
It shut down midway through the 1992 season, a sad shadow of a once-great team.
In spite of those final years, Brabham remains a legendary name, and there's a reasonable argument for leaving the departed legends where they belong—in the past.
But when a family member of the founder is involved, maybe the strength of that argument fades.
Eric Boullier Says 3-Car Teams Not Realistic for 2015
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McLaren racing director Eric Boullier believes there is insufficient time for teams to be ready to run a third car in 2015.
Speaking during a media phone-in session, he said (h/t F1Fanatic's Keith Collantine):
"I think the driver is the easiest to get on board, you know? And the chassis and third car logistics and people around—we would need at least six months’ notice.
I think it’s a debate which is in the wrong timing. We have to wait, obviously, [until] there is a need to run three cars and then we will see. So you can question many things about revenue, about whatever.
I think at the end if one day we are called and asked to help F1 and run three cars we have to.
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The prospect of three-car teams has gained traction in recent weeks, with F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone telling The Guardian's Paul Weaver before the Singapore Grand Prix:
"We’ll know after the next two or three races. It’s always been on the cards that if we lose up to three teams then the other teams will run three cars.
I think we should do it anyway. I would rather see Ferrari with three cars, or any of the other top teams with three cars than having teams that are struggling.
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But several teams have given the idea a lukewarm reception, including Force India's Vijay Mallya (h/t ESPN) and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff (h/t Adam Cooper).
Now Boullier has seemingly added his voice to the party. With only five months remaining between now and the start of winter testing, he's effectively saying it won't be possible.
It's still all speculation and rumour, with only one certainty.
That is, if F1 revenues were distributed more evenly to give the smaller teams a greater chance of surviving, no one would be talking about three-car teams.
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Force India Set to Fight to the Last Race
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Force India will continue developing their 2014 car all the way to the final race in their quest to hold on to fifth place in the constructors' championship.
Team principal Vijay Mallya has revealed that next season's VJM08 will be a close relative of the current car, so work done now will carry over into 2015. For the first time in their short history, Force India will work on upgrades all the way to the end of the year.
And Mallya is hoping this continued improvement will help his team hold off McLaren's challenge. He is quoted by Sky Sports' Mike Wise, saying:
"I know that there’s another upgrade coming later on this season and that’s all part of the plan
The only reason I’m approving this development right up until the last race—which I never did before in previous seasons—is because whatever we’re doing now in terms of development can be carried forward into next year’s car.
If it was full-stop at the end of this season and start again for next year, I may not have bothered to do what I’m doing. But because all the development that’s happening as we speak can actually carry forward to 2015, it’s an investment also in next year’s car.
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Mallya goes on to claim Force India are fighting McLaren despite having a budget only half that of their more illustrious rivals.
If his figures are true, what they've done this year is truly worthy of praise; or what McLaren have done is truly worthy of a good old-fashioned head-shake.
Or maybe a bit of both.
Monisha Kaltenborn Unsure of 11-Team 2015 Grid
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Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn admits she isn't sure all 11 teams will make it to the grid next season.
Citing F1's ever-increasing costs, she told ESPN.com:
"There's nothing being done and I think that some team principals, apart from myself, have said that something drastic needs to happen and then we'll react. But it's very difficult to explain to the people out there why we need that much money and we do have this image of burning cash here. Nobody can really understand that.
I think something will happen, but I don't hope for it to happen because it's not good for any team. Something will happen because you can't go on at this level and you don't know the next thing that is going to come up that will again mean more costs.
It's actually very depressing to see that we can't all agree on the fact that we have to reduce our costs, and by a lot of money.
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Particularly in the second paragraph, Kaltenborn appears to be hinting at one or more teams disappearing. The interviewer then asked if she thought all 11 teams would still be on the grid in 2015, and her response was, "I'm not so sure if that is going to be the case."
Kaltenborn's Sauber team—and it is partly hers, because Peter Sauber gave her a third of it—is one of the teams most frequently rumoured to be struggling financially.
Reports in Autosport around the Italian Grand Prix weekend suggested the team was close to being bought by Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, but any deal which might have been on the table appears to have fallen through.
Stroll, father of Ferrari Driver Academy youngster Lance Stroll, is rumoured to have turned his attention to other teams. The Daily Mail mentions an interest in Marussia, while Germany's Sport Bild (h/t auto123.com) reports efforts are being made to convince him to consider Lotus.
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