Alonso For Heidfeld or Kubica?

The rumors about Fernando Alonso appearing in BMW Sauber drag next season are starting to take shape with the admission that BMW Sauber are indeed in talks with Alonso for 2009. The targeted seat may or may not be for Nick Heidfeld’s seat. Gigi Corbetta, the communication director for BMW Spain told Spanish radio that talks are indeed taking place.

“And the news of the renewal of Raikkonen (at Ferrari) has accelerated the process,” Corbetta is quoted as saying by the Spanish newspaper Marca.

“Now it is necessary to wait until the end of the season.”

The source is pretty remote to the team, but nevertheless it is a source and he may have spilled the beans a little to early than Mario Theissen had planned and we don’t even know what the specifics are.

Anyway, the way I look at things is a little different. I don’t believe Nick is having a poor season. Lately he’s done as well or ever better than Robert Kubica, especially the last 2 races in Belgium and Monza. My thoughts revolve around the car more than the driver in this case when a driver like Robert Kubica can’t qualify or finish nearly as well or as consistent as he did early in the season. The last 2 races were wet races and the F1.08 simply doesn’t drive well in the wet (Robert has mentioned this more than once), but once the track dries enough for a tire change and more grip, the car goes through a dramatic change allowing both drivers to quickly move through the field. This is the reason for Nick’s 2nd place finish and looks to be the reason for the 3rd for Robert and 5th for Nick at Monza. If both Spa and Monza were dry races I don’t believe the pace of the F1.08 is nearly where it should be to be competitive and neither Nick or Robert would have made podium.

Now on to next season. The dramatic rule changes for 2009 are resulting in a completely different F1 car than we have been use to of late and the problems Nick has had with the F1.08 this season may well completely disappear next year. If you base his ‘poor performance’ this year on this year’s car, then you can’t entirely blame the driver.

Now I don’t jump on the Alonso bandwagon like many other do. Yes he is a good driver but not a miracle maker. He caused havoc at McLaren in 2007 and has had issues while at Renault as well. Is Alonso worth the risk?

There is also the talk about how critical Robert Kubica has been with the team and that he may consider moving for next season despite stories he’s signed on at BMW Sauber for 2009. Again I reserve judgment on that one, but if you believe it could be Kubica, the team would be giving up one of the top drivers in F1.
If Heidfeld vacates his seat for Alonso, how would a Kubica – Alonso teammate scenario work? Certainly Robert is a number one driver and we know Alonso would not accept a number two role, so this scenario could (based on what happened at McLaren) only serve to tear the team apart.

Mario Theissen says he will wait until the end of the season to make his driver announcement and Fernando Alonso says his future will not be clarified before Singapore.