Dodgy Business

Suzuka. No sooner had Michael finished his hugging and Fernando taken the chequer than the press room cynics were at it.

"Well, that's it then," someone said, "Ferrari's Interlagos tactics are pretty straightforward. We might as well paint the target on Ferdy's gearbox tonight..."

The Renault and Ferrari press officers, Bradley Lord and Luca Colajanni are about as enthusiastic over the sport and their teams as you could find. Bradley wore a smile as wide as the Grand Canyon and, in the paddock, quaffed champagne and intermittently punched the air.

Back in the media centre, there was the odd 'what can you do?' shrug from Luca as he quietly distributed his press release. He was ripe for the mickey-taking.

"So, that'll be Norberto Fontana in at Interlagos, will it?" someone joked as he went by. Cue look of resigned father with perennially misbehaving child.

Norberto Fontana (Sauber C16 Petronas) © LAT

The Fontana reference goes back to Jerez '97 when, amid the championship decider, the Argentine Sauber driver came out of the pits in front of the title duellists, promptly let Schumacher by and proceeded to hold up Jacques Villeneuve for 2.5s. Fontana later admitted that he had been operating under instruction. Sauber, of course, was using Ferrari engines.

"Hmmm," someone else chipped in. "I wouldn't say it's over yet. Plenty of scope for Alonso to have a mishap in Brazil. He's going to have to watch his step whenever he goes near a Ferrari, a Red Bull, a Toro Rosso or a Spyker."

That's going a bit far. Can't quite imagine David Coulthard getting involved in any funny business or tripping over himself to help out Michael.

Schumacher himself had conceded defeat, saying that heading to Brazil hoping for someone else's retirement was not the way he wanted to win it.

"Surely he doesn't expect anyone at Renault to buy that?" someone said. I'm sure they won't but, in the circumstances, his final appearance, I'm sure Michael's genuine enough. A head-to-head between two true greats would have been a great way to finish it.

If Schumacher wins in Brazil, he will bow out with 92 wins to his name - exactly the combined total of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost - a mind-boggling stat. For what he's brought to the sport over the past 15 years, I'd love to see him pull off that eighth title.

But if he did, it would be amazingly tough on Alonso. Renault has valiantly fought against a second half Bridgestone tyre swing, the mass damper ban and the Monza nonsense and Alonso hasn't made a driving error all year. All against the backdrop of a driver going elsewhere in '07. It has been a fabulous performance and both driver and team deserve the titles.

Schumacher's performance has been just about as good, Monaco and Turkey notwithstanding, and both of those were not so much driving errors as errors of judgement, if errors just the same.

When you start to think about Michael's situation, and Renault's, as a journalist you start to feel uncomfortable.

I know what he has said but Michael Schumacher, to me, is not looking or driving like a man who is ready to hang up his helmet. You hear that Ferrari was going to make an announcement in Monza come what may, and you hear that perhaps Michael wasn't quite ready. You also hear that with Kimi signed at Ferrari, perhaps Schumacher didn't have quite the same contract extension terms open to him as he enjoyed previously.

Alain Dassas, President Renault F1 Team © LAT

And then you look at Renault. How world-beating would Renault's season have been if they had not had Fernando? Ditto Ferrari's year with Michael. You need an ace. The loss of Alonso is pretty much a disaster for Renault.

New head honcho Alain Dassas said earlier this year that the company was recommitting to F1 and that they would have one of the top three guys in their car next year.

Currently, they stand to head into 2007 with Fisichella and a rookie, albeit the highly rated and promising Heikki Kovalainen. Pat Symonds says he's not sure yet but that it wouldn't surprise him if Heikki turned out to be another Fernando. It's just that it's not going to happen immediately.

The relationship with Alonso, Pat says, has not been strained by his decision to leave for McLaren. It might have been if it had been a tough year, but in the fight for the championship, next year is precisely that.

They've not been above making fun of Alonso though. When Pat recalls Fernando making one mistake last year and none this time, he always adds the rider - except joining McLaren!

And, on a recent visit to Fuji, next year's new Japanese Grand Prix venue, Symonds and Alonso walked the track.

Alonso found the layout quite interesting. "It's not immediately obvious what levels of downforce I'll be running," Fernando mused.

"Yes it is," Pat grinned. "McLaren levels..."

Speaking of Fisi's season, Symonds said this: "It's been mixed. Just as Fernando has made no mistakes, Fisi has made rather too many. It's psychological. Fernando has just got the winning mentality and Fisi hasn't. But he can win and has won and I'm really hoping that next year he'll rise to the challenge. Fisi has never been slower than his team mate until he met Fernando. And he tells me it every day! That's a hard thing to live with and to reconcile."

Eddie Irvine knew all about that with Michael at Ferrari. He famously described it as like being hit around the head with a cricket bat every two weeks. You had to readjust your sights, he said. If you finished a Sunday afternoon within 20s of Schumacher you had to realise you'd done a bloody good job.

Balancing his earlier comments about Fisi, Pat added: "I really hope that next year we see Fisi back as we know him. The last year he drove for us the first time, 2001, the guy just worked his nuts off and did things with that appalling car that he should never have been able to. It's there. He hasn't lost it but I think he's just lost that little bit of confidence this year and needs to get it back."

But put yourself in Renault's position and ask Chris Tarrant's question, 'Confident?'

Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen © LAT

You wouldn't be. You'd probably phone a friend. Especially if his name happened to be Michael Schumacher.

Let's just spell this out. The likely double constructors' champions do not have an ace driver. The best in the business, whose body belongs to a man 10 years younger, does not currently have a job. Would you stake your life on Renault starting 2007 with a Fisichella/Kovalainen line-up?

Renault and Schumacher. There would be no questions of team or driver. At Ferrari, meanwhile, very experienced men have hinted that Raikkonen may not have the commitment to deliver as Michael did at a Brawn-free Ferrari (We're expecting to hear confirmation of Ross's plans for a sabbatical this weekend). And, at McLaren, there will inevitably be some questions about a car without Adrian Newey's input.

"The reality is that our engineering team is 160 strong," McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh told me last week. "But, I was instrumental in both Adrian and Peter Prodromou (the former aero chief who joins Red Bull on November 1) being recruited. We have the likes of Paddy Lowe, Neil Oatley, Tim Goss, Pat Fry and Mike Coughlan - tremendous strength in depth - but aerodynamics has undergone the biggest change.

"We have a team of 80 aerodynamicists with some pretty good guys. When people leave, others blossom, and that's been happening. But the truth really is that the aerodynamic definition and layout of this year's car came from Adrian and the test will be next year."

That message is clear enough. We will have to wait and see. And so will Alonso.

And so, how attractive would a Renault seat be to Michael?

The one thing that makes me think it won't happen is the words spoken by Michael about his family in Monza. Schumacher's a decent sort and it would be kind of difficult to turn around and say family doesn't matter that much after all. If he had a doubt, you figure Michael would have been smart enough not to say it in the first place.

Unless, of course, we get to next February and find Schuey's missing it all too much and Corinna's so sick of him moping around the house that she tells him to go back off and play...