Next customer please...

Prodrive, who own Aston Martin and run their Le Mans programme and Subaru’s WRC cars, now have to wait until October 24 to find out if their plan to run this year's McLarens in the 2008 Formula One Championship is a possibility.

The problem has come due to an intervention from Williams, who have questioned Max Mosley over the legality of the cars, despite the preliminary '08 regulations stating that 'customer cars' will be permitted next year.

In a statement today, Prodrive boss David Richards said: "We are in no doubt that the sporting regulations for the 2008 Formula One Championship clearly allow the use of customer cars, which is why our entire F1 proposition has been based on this fact since the outset.”

But as discussions over a new-for-2008 Concorde Agreement are still on-going and look likely to not be finalised before the end of this year, the current regulations governing the sport (which do not allow 'customer cars', ie, those purchased from another team) could be rolled over. This leaves the possibility that Prodrive's plans may yet be deemed illegal for '08

SO,

The understandable issue being raised by Team Willy is that as a customer team, Prodrive may not be able to run McLaren's next year under the current regulations, but if they are permitted to, then they should at least be unable to score Constructors Championship points as they are - by definition - not a constructor.

And, to some extent, they have a point.

The Formula One Constructors Championship has been in place since 1958, and I think that allowing a ‘race team’ not a constructor to score points is neither fair nor sporting.

Of course, the fact that they would be running the current batch of McLaren Mercedes' MP4-22s, a car which has shown itself to be the arguably the fastest and undoubtedly the most reliable in this year's championship, could mean that Prodrive's outfit are potentially point-scorers from the outset.

However, it is a tad hypocritical for Frank Williams to suggest that running some-one else’s cars is unfair, as his Williams team ran Henri Pescarolo in a year-old March 701 purchased from the French car builder in 1971. His team was eligible for Constructor points, though the car wasn’t quick enough to get any.

So maybe Frank needs to have a bit of a think before he starts getting funny about new teams not being constructors, as this was a situation he benefited from hugely in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.

We shall have to wait three weeks for the International Court of Appeal to decide the legality of Prodrive’s intentions to run another constructor’s cars next season, and whether or not Britain's newest F1 team will be on the grid next year.

But if Prodrive's appeal is granted in their favour, some of the sport's 'Old Boys' may have to face watching their cars trail home a repainted McLaren Merc, whether they like it or not!

And whether or not Frank is being hypocritical, I don’t want to see it either. Now Aston Martin F1…

That would be a different story.

No punishment for Lewis

SO,

The FIAs stewards have decided not to punish Lewis over his alleged causing of the accident between Webber and Vettel.

All I can say is thank God for that. We still have the promise of a rookie Champion on our hands.

Can't wait for China!

Webber hammers Hamilton

SO,

After his race ending collision at the Japanese GP, Mark Webber has criticised Hamilton for some questionably dodgy driving behind the second safety car.

Webber told today's pre-practice press session: "It definitely contributed to Sebastian hitting me up the back because he [Lewis] wasn't doing what he was supposed to be doing, clearly."

Mark was running in second when the third placed Toro Rosso of Sebastian Vettel smacked the rear corner of his RB3 and ended his race. Vettel and Webber were both distraught, with ITV showing Sebastian apparently crying, and Mark slated the young driver for 'driving like a fucking idiot' on air.

Webber added: "It was one of the lowest points of my career last weekend, in terms of being in a position to challenge for victory, and it was taken away not even in a racing incident.

"It was very, very hard to swallow. It's under the bridge, it's gone and we'll never get that back."

And now, courtesy of a spectator video, Hamilton is under investigation by the FIA stewards over his driving at Fuji.

STR's Franz Tost went to the stewards after being shown the footage with the aim of getting Vettel's ten-place grid penalty in China for causing the accident revoked.

He told Autosport: "You could quite clearly see that Hamilton slows down quite unexpectedly.

"Look at the video. Sebastian would have had to have gone between the cars and there was no chance. It was totally unexpected. It looked like Hamilton was stopping, that is why I went to the stewards."

But with the Championship taking a huge swing towards Lewis at the previous race, any penalty imposed on him could remove his current advantage and encourage a tighter finale to the Drivers' title. While a close finish would undoubtedly be a good thing for the sport, I just hope it doesn't serve to unfairly wreck Hamilton's chances of becoming the first true rookie champion.

What price a 10-place grid penalty?


NB - The YouTube footage of Hamilton's supposedly dangerous driving has now been copyrighted by Bernie's FOM, and is no longer viewable by the public.

Driver's Title Tainted?

SO,

Ferrari team President Luca Di Montezemolo now believes that should Lewis win this years' championship (which he surely will), he will have the Italian team to thank.

LDM told Italian sports publication Gazzetta dello Sport:

"I still think that in the [Stepneygate] spying affair it was a big mistake not to disqualify the McLaren drivers as well.

"It means that if Hamilton wins the championship, he will also win it thanks to Ferrari because there is a lot of Ferrari in his car."

Rubbish.

McLaren were punished on September 13 following new evidence from Alonso and Pedro De la Rosa - involving emails and text messages to and from Mike Coughlan about the Ferrari car - on the grounds that they gained some sporting advantage over Ferrari.

But there was only circumstantial evidence to suggest that there were any parts on the McLaren influenced by Coughlan's Ferari documents.

So for Di Montezemolo to suggest this is frankly bullshit.

While his team may be happy to win the Constructor's title for 2007 in the courtroom, there is surely no way that the integrity of the McLaren Group would bend enough for them to use a bastardised Ferrari to win any championship.

Luca is clearly a bitter man. Schumi and Ross Brawn left at the end of '06 and since then their importance to the Italian's infrastructure has come to light, with this year's car suffering the kind of weaknesses that neither man would have encountered.

And now he is resorting to desperate snipes at a McLaren squad that few believe were guilty of plagiarising Ferrari parts, and even fewer believe would have lost either of this year's titles.

The car is superior and so are the drivers.

So sorry Luca, but if (when) the horrendously talented Lewis Hamilton wins this year's Drivers Championship, as far as most people would be concerned, he owes your lot bugger all.

Rust in Piece....

SO,

Following Alonso's spectacular turn five cock up at a sodden Fuji Speedway, the odds of him clinching his third title seem slim at best, and I for one am frankly ecstatic.

At the point at which his McLaren - easily the best car on the grid at the Japanese GP's new home - aquaplaned its way into the wall, I leaped into the air in the knowledge that some justice had been done.

Fernando's blatant attempts to blackmail Ron Dennis by threatening to run to the FIA with some new information in the 'Stepneygate' farce if he wasn't granted number one status in the team proved the selfishness and ruthlessness of the man.

And seeing the remains of the reigning champions car (the number 1 most likely adorning it for just two more races) sat idle in the pouring rain just off the racing line while his sensational team mate sauntered calmly past, was a sweet moment.

It astonished me that, following Team McLaren Mercedes' unceremonious booting out of the 2007 Constructor's Championship and ludicrous $100million fine dished out on September 13, Dennis could even look Alonso in the face, let alone insist the team intend to keep treating it's drivers equally.

After the hearing, Dennis told Autosport's Steve Cooper: "We have multi-year contracts with both of our drivers, and there has been no discussion about varying them.

"We have two of the best drivers in the world, and our commitment to winning races is undiminished. That's what we exist to do - to win races.

"And if there is any variation to those contracts, it will be by mutual agreements."

But this alludes little to the general feeling at the factory, as surely everyone in the team would find it difficult to support Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, with the golden child still leading the title race, ahead of his teammate who has shown a potentially traitorous attitude.

And this is where the Fuji results fits in.

Surely now, with Lewis 12 points clear of Fernando, the Woking team have the perfect excuse to favour its most likely championship contender and, after Alonso's repeated mantra of deserving to be the teams established number one, do the unthinkable.

Ask Fernando to move over...