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Could he be competitive after 6 years away from F1 ? He’s definitely been missed…..

Renault F1 say he is not on the list for 2018, but they did give him a test in an older F1 car, in which, over 115 laps, he outpaced the teams current reserve driver, Sirotkin….

Apparently his injury is healed sufficiently to drive an F1 car – fast – they may have to modify the shift paddle arrangement so that he can operate it one handed, but that’s not thought to be an issue at all.

Being “not on the list” is a bit like saying “there are no plans at this time” – an attempt to shut everyone up and deflect speculation……

What a story if he came back !

Thoughts ?

Personally, I think this is a great PR initiative from McLaren (reportedly it was their idea) – it comes at a time when McLaren really need some positive press.

Alonso is a truly class act, thought by many to be the most complete driver in F1…..I think he could win it, if unreliability doesn’t intervene.

He has the Andretti team behind him, and Gil de Ferran as his mentor, so its up to him really ! I’ll definitely be watching it this year.

Thoughts, people ?

UNDER 20 hrs to go before you have to be registered for GP PREDICTOR 2017 – Fantasy Formula One !

The opening race is this weekend, so if you want to join our free “racing is everything” league on the gp predictor, just jump onto www.gppredictor.com and copy/paste this code when prompted. It’s easy.

World champion motorcyclist 4 times and F1 world champion too. F1 team owner and supporter of emerging talent. Apparently a really nice guy too – will be sadly missed. RIP.

Here’s a “tyre adjusted”  (to the soft tyre) schedule of the fastest testing times achieved by the 10 teams entered for the 2017 F1 championship. The reason for adjusting the times in this way is because with medium, soft, supersoft and ultrasoft tyres in use, we have to see a level playing field if we are to draw ANY conclusions as to who is going to be quick…

Having said that, fuel loads and sandbagging / inter team mind games all have a part to play ! We won’t really know until say FP3 at the Australian Grand Prix in a few weeks……

1. Ferrari 1:19.0

2. Mercedes 1:19.8

3. Red Bull 1:19.8

4. Williams 1:20.4

5. Toro Rosso 1:20.9

6. Renault 1:21.0

7. Force India 1:21.2

8. Haas 1:21.4

9. Sauber 1:22.0

10. McLaren 1:22.3

Sad to see Mclaren at the bottom, but good to see it’s tight at the top (or so it seems) – I predict a classic year anyway…..

It seems to be a done deal then – Valtteri Bottas is going to Mercedes FI to partner Lewis Hamilton for the 2017 season. It’ll be interesting to see if the Finn can “push” Lewis – I’d say he’ll be closer to Lewis than Rosberg, but LH is VERY hard to beat after all.

There’s something no-one predicted – Rosberg wins the title and immediately retires…….strange decision, but Nico is his own man, and it’s up to him, pure and simple…….in my view he has secured the title and was highly unlikely to secure another one……just saying !

Watch this space I guess.

After a “see saw” season so far, during which Lewis Hamilton, when compared to Nico Rosberg, has been the fastest and also the unluckiest driver – who is going to raise the crown in 2016 ?

If Lewis wins all three remaining races, and Nico is second – Rosberg is the champion. So Lewis has it to win, and Rosberg has it to lose…..

Lewis already has 3 F1 championships. Rosberg is vying for his first, so is also highly motivated…

Answers on a postcard please….

So – what the chances of both Mercedes drivers being all smiles at the end of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend ?

Easy for me – Eau Rouge, Spa. That is all !

How about you ?