News Round-up

In only 48 hours after one of the most fantastic end-of-season races, the news hasn’t stopped and there is a lot to talk about. For now, here are the best bits of what has been happening since Massa won, Alonso became champion, and Schumacher said ‘Goodbye’.

Fisichella Did Damage Schumacher’s Tyre

Ferrari – and that is worth repeating, Ferrari – have said that the cause of Michael Schumacher’s puncture at turn one of the Interlagos circuit last Sunday was due to contact made between Fisichella’s Renault and the Ferrari. Schumacher, desparate to move up the field after a disastrous qualifying, made a bold move on the Italian, and ended up with a flat rear-left tyre. This incident effectively ruined Schumacher’s race, although his comeback to fourth (from pretty much last place) was incredible. While Ferrari did state that is was a racing incident and that there was no foul play, they did emphasise that it was disappointing and probably lost them the Constructors title.

You win some, and you lose some, I guess.

Ross Brawn – is he staying or going?

With the departure of Michael Schumacher (from racing, at least), a lot of questions are being asked about the future of Ferrari’s Technical Director and the man behind many of Schumacher’s wins – Ross Brawn. It has been rumoured that Brawn would like to take a break from the demanding sport of Formula One, and who could blame him? Brawn has worked with Schumacher for most of the German’s career, and has worked tirelessly for Benetton and Ferrari. Some of the decisions that Ross has made on the pitwall have directly led to Schumacher winning races he really shouldn’t have.

Ferrari have stated that thy will make an announcement this week as to the future structure of the team, which does imply changes are being made. Will Brawn take a year out to tend to his garden? Or will he retire completely? He could remain and help Raikkonen, of course, but all the signs in the media do suggest Ross is taking a break at minimum.

Michael Schumacher Will Remain Loyal To Willi Weber

After the retirement from Formula One, one would expect Schumacher to go back to his Swiss castle, put his feet up and enjoy a nice cup of cocoa. But it seems that Schumacher will remain busy over the coming months and years, as his long-term manager and friend – Willi Weber – has stated that he is still employed by the seven times World Champion, and will be for the coming years.

We work together for the next years and we will see what we will do. We have a lot of things still to do with our sponsors and partners. I’m not so unhappy. Willi Weber.

Interesting… Is this because Michael still has promotional work to do with sponsors, or is Michael planning on working in an area where Weber will be useful? I don’t think we have seen the last of Schumacher, not for a while anyway.

The War Of Words Has Already Begun

Despite there still being 144 days to the start of the 2007 season, Ferrari and McLaren are already hyping up the media frenzy by stating that they will be challenging for titles next year.

I feel that for the next three years, also at McLaren I will have the opportunity to have a good car. Fernando Alonso.

And Ferrari have joined in, stating that they cannot afford to lose points at the beginning of next years campaign.

We have about five months before we will start another championship, so we will do our best to start better than we did this year, because we know how important it can be to score points at the beginning of the championship. Jean Todt.

I’m sure the words will only get more and more hyped as the months progress, but we’ll let testing times do the talking in early 2007, and then see the relative pace of the two cars in Australia in March.

Feel free to comment away on any of these stories – just because the season has ended doesn’t mean BlogF1 will go into hibernation. News will still be reported, and I have some interesting posts lined up to keep you all occupied before I start the build-up posts to next years season. As ever, you can subscribe to the feed to keep updated of any new posts, although you should occasionally visit (the kettle is always boiling) as some of the design elements and features of the site will be fixed/updated over the Winter – as ever, suggestions welcome via the Contact Page.