Albers to McLaren or what?

[Dutch chap]

I don’t know what’s going on with Albers, but it appears that he has a contract for 2007 and it’s not wih Spyker. Albers was on Dutch televison, smiling, and said he has made his choice and only the future will tell us if he made the right one. So, what’s it going to be? Replacing one of the Toyota drivers? Is he going to Honda? Is it a McLaren testing role? Actually racing for McLaren, or should I say Mercedes, looking at his DTM contacts? I’m not making any predictions, but something is going on here. Looking at the circumstances it could be that he got a Mclaren drive for one year with Hamilton as a tester, to prepare Hamilton for 2008. What do you think?

[deejay]

Not so far fetched maybe. De La Rosa isn't really coming on in the race seat - seems to be falling further behind Kimi rather than getting closer. Not sure Dennis will want to chuck Hamilton straight into a race seat either, so the question is, who else?

I don't have much of a guage on how good Albers is though. Slightly better than Monteiro is hardly a ringing endorsement.

I don't think they really have anything to lose by giving Hamilton the seat next season.

[Alwaysfirst]

McLaren would be stupid to give the drive to Albers next year when they have the services of Hamilton, de la Rosa & Paffett at their desposal. Why would they want an, at best, average driver whenthey have a couple of potential winners on their books?

[Bononi]

It can be Mclaren, but certainly Ron Dennis has more options in his hands right now.

[Dutch chap]

Originally Posted by Alwaysfirst

McLaren would be stupid to give the drive to Albers next year when they have the services of Hamilton, de la Rosa & Paffett at their desposal. Why would they want an, at best, average driver whenthey have a couple of potential winners on their books?

De la Rosa was more than slightly disappointing, when compared to Kimi. I don't see Paffet as being better than Albers. They were about equal in DTM and Albers has quite some F1 racing experience by now, so that's an advantage for him. Hamilton is definetly a future McLaren star, but maybe it's wiser to let him do some testing first. Don't get me wrong! It's not that I'm all behind Albers as him being a fellow Dutchman, but to me it makes sense to give him the racing seat.

[Raven]

It'll be either de la Rosa or Hamilton alongside Alonso at McLaren next season.

Hamilton is the man they'll want to promote, but have Pedro as the fall back option if they feel it'll be too much, too soon for the rookie.

As for Albers, well, I don't really rate him to be honest, not above Pedro anyway... He'll do well to land a drive with MF1/Spyker or Super Aguri. Failing that it'll have to be a test driving role.

We had to put up with all these silly rumours coming out of Holland with Jos Verstappen who was, in the cold light of day, a very average driver. Same can be said of Albers in my opinion - he's good enough to make up the numbers but he's never going to amount to much more.

[Molotov]

If Albers lands a Mclaren drive next year I will officially start to doubt the driver choices in F1, both JV and JPM get drop but Albers gets a top drive? That's non sense

[Skam85]

I mentioned this in one of the many silly season threads, about 6 months ago...

[Down F0rce]

Never gonna happen.

Hamilton, Paffet and de la Rosa are the only three drivers in contention of a McLaren seat for next season.

[rallycrosscraig]

thats what you call a case of (extreme) Dutch optimism

[Chatters]

Albers isn't going to be driving a Toyota, Trulli and Schumacher are both locked in for next year and beyond...

[Alfa Fan]

Originally Posted by Chatters

Albers isn't going to be driving a Toyota, Trulli and Schumacher are both locked in for next year and beyond...

I don't think Albers has any chance at Toyota, but the contracts with Ralf and Jarno may not be as secure as people believe.

[newoutsider]

Originally Posted by Alfa Fan

I don't think Albers has any chance at Toyota, but the contracts with Ralf and Jarno may not be as secure as people believe.

Interesting statement. Have you any evidence or is this pure speculation? The reason I ask is because it has so far been presented as a done deal for both.

[Bononi]

Can't see no reason why it wouldn't be. If it was, at least, a case of hiring a top driver like Kimi or Alonso, then I would understand paying bills for breaking contracts, but not in this case...

[ralf fan]

To be fair to Albers he has done a great job this year. His drive at Turkey was sensational..... however i doubt he's got a MClaren drive....a Mclaren tester is more likely....

[Frank_White]

Mystery solved! Albers to Spyker.

http://f1.racing-live.com/f1/en/head...13100051.shtml

[N I Tram]

So what was the point of this thread? Was Albers lying, or was someone simply misinterpreting his words?

[Dutch chap]

Originally Posted by N I Tram

So what was the point of this thread? Was Albers lying, or was someone simply misinterpreting his words?

As I stated before, Albers denies to have signed a contract with Spyker. He did however mention that he has signed a contract a couple of weeks ago for 2007 and that it will be revealed on oct 8th. He also stated that it would not be logical to 1) sign a contract with Spyker while the take over had not taken place yet and 2) for Spyker to put out a statement revealing the take over but NOT the contract with Albers.

[Dutch chap]

Originally Posted by Frank_White

Mystery solved! Albers to Spyker.

http://f1.racing-live.com/f1/en/head...13100051.shtml

Since when are this website and the Salzburger Nachrichten reliable sources?

[deejay]

Originally Posted by newoutsider

Interesting statement. Have you any evidence or is this pure speculation? The reason I ask is because it has so far been presented as a done deal for both.

Ask JPM and JV about that. Just because they have contracts doesn't mean Toyota have to use them - it just means they have to be paid.

If MS wanted to move to Toyota I'm sure they'd drop Ralf in a second.

As that's unlikely to happen I think Jarno and Ralf are both quite safe for starting next year at Toyota at least.

[Alwaysfirst]

Albers will almost cerainly be in F1 next year but if not as a race driver at Spyker then as a test driver for somebody. Not sure who though. Renault have 2 testers, Ferrari 1 with options for more in-house testers, McLaren 2, Toyota 1, BMW 1, Williams 1, possibly 2, Honda 3 or 3, Red Bull 1, & that just leaves the smaller teams. Toro Rosso won't take anybody else from out side Red Bull (probably) & Super Aguri have several drivers trying to get in already. And that leaves...Spyker.

[Andrew2001]

They should have raced Wurz when they had the chance, a championship challenger is what I think of him.
I think Hamilton needs a year in a midfield car first, they should try grab Heidfeld, that would be a neat combo, Alonso/Heidfeld, or Alonso/Wurz.

[Bononi]

Heidfel is BMW property...

[shiny side up!]

Is there any chance he could be headed to Prodrive? I haven't heard any noise ( although I could've missed it! ) about any of the new team's details... but the precedent has been set where a completely new entry like Toyota does a year of solid testing before entering F1... is there a similar plan for DR's team in 07?

I'm not sure how technically minded Mr. Albers is or how well he would fit the role, but it seems prodrive is going to have to go find a couple of drivers with some experience to flog their test mule for a few months... perhaps Klien would be in the picture as well?

[kipper]

Originally Posted by shiny side up!

Is there any chance he could be headed to Prodrive?

Whilst I would expect Prodrive to be testing next year (probably towards the end of '07), I doubt that it would be Albers. Given the commercial linkages between Albers and Michael Mol, as well as a personal connection with another of the F1 team's backers, Albers'll be staying put.