Fernando Alonso might have the driver’s championship in the bag, but Renault and McLaren will battle for team supremacy at the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend. Rivals Toyota and Honda will also want to beat each other and come out on top on home soil.
Fernando Alonso might have the driver’s championship in the bag, but Renault and McLaren will battle for team supremacy at the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend. Rivals Toyota and Honda will also want to beat each other and come out on top on home soil.
McLaren have won the last five grands prix and has a two-point lead in the constructors’ championship, but with only two races remaining on the calendar the battle could go either way.
“In terms of performance I think that it similar because when you have the helmet on, you close the visor and you go for it,” said Alonso in regard to how he will approach the concluding races of the season. “In Sao Paulo I tried to win the race, but obviously in some parts of the race, at the start, maybe when (McLaren’s) Juan-Pablo (Montoya) overtook me on the second lap, maybe you are a little bit conservative because that isn’t the time to take risks and maybe it will be more difficult to overtake me.”
One championship may be over for Raikkonen, but obviously there’s still more to play for. “There are still two races to try to win the constructors’ championship but we will do the best that we can for the last two remaining races,” said the Finn.
As for next season, Raikkonen – who this week dodged the issue of his reported contract with Ferrari for 2007 – aims to clinch his first world title with McLaren in 2006. “We will try to fight for the championship and try to win it but with all the new rules we don’t know what’s going to happen,” he remarked. “But I think we will have a good package anyhow and hopefully it will be good enough for winning races and fighting for the championship.”
Renault boss Flavio Briatore wants the constructors’ title as much as McLaren counterpart Ron Dennis but if it doesn’t happen for the French squad this time, Briatore is satisfied with Alonso winning the drivers’ championship. “We know that the McLaren are very very quick and at this moment we need to try our best to win the constructors’ championship,” he said.
“We are making the best effort between Fernando and Giancarlo (Fisichella). But on the other hand, we are very happy with the drivers’ championship. If we don’t win the constructors’ championship, then congratulations to McLaren.”
As far as Raikkonen’s team-mate, Montoya, was concerned, Renault stood no chance of beating McLaren: “Renault might have a little bit in their hand, but I don’t think they’ve got enough. On a circuit like this, we should blow them away!”
On Friday, Toyota’s third driver, Ricardo Zonta, took over at the top of the times in the second free practice for the Japanese Grand Prix. In a session disrupted by rain in the latter stages, Zonta did a best lap of 1:30,682, Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari was second fastest and McLaren No.3 Pedro de la Rosa was third. De la Rosa’s top time in the morning remained the best of the day, a tenth and a half up on Zonta’s quickest of the afternoon.
Judging by Friday’s time sheets, Toyota seems to have the upper hand over BAR, which was bought out by its engine supplier, Honda this week, at the moment. However, it appears that Honda will pull out the stops to beat Toyota in 2006.
Following revelations by Takuma Sato that the Nipponese driver would be in a Formula One race seat next year despite not securing a drive with any of the current teams, former F1 driver Aguri Suzuki’s ‘Super Aguri’ racing company has been linked to the emergence of a new, Honda-backed, F1 team. In the Suzuka paddock, there were rumours that the possible 11th F1 team will be backed by a Japanese group – the Dome company.
BAR Honda team boss Nick Fry on Friday revealed that the unveiling of an eleventh Grand Prix team for next year could be less than one month away. “I think there is a 65 per cent chance of it happening,” he said at Suzuka. “If it wasn’t that likely, we would not be saying anything (about it). But it is a tall order to put this type of thing together in six months.”
The suggested team is in talks with Bridgestone and would be supplied by Honda engines and supported in its technical development by Honda.
“It is going to be tough, no doubt about it, but Honda would not have mentioned this unless it was relatively credible,” Fry commented. “Discussions with Honda have been going on for a few months already and I am sure the potential new Formula One team has done its homework before that.”
“You don’t come out and say these kind of things without a fair bit of activity having happened previously. It is going to be very difficult to do it next season but we will try to do it and see what happens. We have been asked numerous times about the nationality, but we are not giving that away at this stage because it would point in a certain direction, but these are credible people with motor racing experience and the financial backing to do the job.”
