Formula 1 Roundup

Dennis has finally come clean, or at least, Martin Whitmarsh signed the letter of apology from McLaren that has hopefully brought the curtain down on the farce of the Stepneygate saga. President of the FIA, Max Mosley, seems to have been persuaded by the public humiliation of the British team and has now asked for the meeting scheduled by the World Motor Sport Council for February 14th next year to be canceled. If the meeting had gone ahead as scheduled McLaren might have fallen foul of the orders laid down by the Council, warning against any Ferrari/disputed technology being found on the plans for next year's Silver Arrows. It would seem that Max Mosley is giving up his so-called witch hunt for Valentine's Day. How romantic!

Alonso goes back to Renault

In a move that surprised no one but Heikki Kovalainen, Fernando Alonso this week inked a new two- year deal with his former team Renault which brought with it confirmation that Giancarlo Fisichella would lose his race seat (no surprises there) but also the bombshell that Heikki Kovalainen, the rookie sensation, would himself lose a race seat in spite of having been consistently the fastest of the two drivers during the last season. It was a matter of a few short hours before the true reason for Kovy's departure became known and, true to form, the old Spaniard had his role to play. Heikki's speed had been his own undoing as the former two-time world champion reportedly negotiated the removal of the Finn from the team to avoid the same kind of challenge he received from Lewis Hamilton this year.

The greatest champion of all time, as some Spanish media sources have named him on a number of occasions then, has to contend with 'just' Nelson Piquet jr, another rookie fresh from GP2. That should be easy enough, shouldn't it? Nelson Piquet's father doesn't seem to agree, saying that his son is certainly not in F1 to be a Number 2 driver. Oh dear Fernando, its not looking good for you this year, is it?

No harm though. Through all the hard times, McLaren hasn't lost its knack for spotting an opportunity as they confirmed the signing of one Heikki Kovalainen to partner Lewis Hamilton for next year. If they have a car that is. Here's hoping...

Champion Taxis

Michael Schumacher just can't keep out of the headlines, no matter how hard he tries. As confirmed by his spokeswoman, the former seven-time world champion, was in the back of a taxi on his way to the airport to jump on his private plane back home and, running late as they were, he asked the taxi driver if he could drive. The taxi driver dutifully stood aside and was treated to a first hand display of the German's mastery of his craft, in an Opel Vivaro! Storming through the traffic, a Schumacher specialty on track (and off, it seems), the Schumachers arrived on time for their flight and the taxi driver was paid his fare and a tip of 100 Euros... A good day to be a taxi driver in Germany.