New Driver, New Team, Can't Drive

[Storm]

Just read that Dennis wants Renault to release Alonso early so he can test next week in Spain...oh btw there is a Johnny Walker ad on TV here with Kimi in it, that ad would have to be scrapped pretty quick if he is going to be released before his time eh

Just saw the news that Kimi was at Jerez meeting up with his new team:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/55937

Couple of things about this:
1 - how daft is it that he "was not allowed to speak for contractual reasons"
2 - Both Alonso and Raikkonen are contracted to their 2006 teams until the end of the year, but why isn't the contract written so it ends after the last race? It seems a bit daft that Alonso & Raikkonen couldn't start work with their new teams almost immediately the season finished.

It's probably due to marketing. In the case of Alonso, Renault are probably still plugging his 06 championship win.

The longer they can keep him out of Mclaren overalls, the longer they can get away with the only photographs being of him in Renault overalls.

It would be a marketing own goal had Renault let Alonso dress up in Mclaren gear in the evening following the Brazilian GP.

It's the price of success. A driver that is released prematurely doesn't have this problem, but then nobody cares since that driver has no marketing value.

[ArrowsFA1]

It's probably due to marketing.

I'm sure you're right although F1 Racing magazine had a piece this month illustrating just how little Renault were using Alonso to celebrate their 2006 championship successes, almost certainly because he's off to McLaren.

So the contracts are in place for marketing purposes, but the team doesn't want to market their driver because he will be racing for a rival next year :

[555-04Q2]

I also read that Ferrari didn't even ask to get kimi early!

Probably cause Massa is gonna win the WDC next year

[Mark]

I'm sure you're right although F1 Racing magazine had a piece this month illustrating just how little Renault were using Alonso to celebrate their 2006 championship successes, almost certainly because he's off to McLaren.

Indeed. But you can imagine Renault would not be too happy if he's Alonso was appearing wearing McLaren overalls, just days after winning the championship with Renault.

I remember back in 1996 when Schumacher et al moved teams, they allowed them to test for their new teams as long as they wore plain white overalls and drove cars with a plain white colour scheme. That seems fair to me.

[Ian McC]

Well the drivers signed a contract, not unreasonable to expect them to honour it.

[Donney]

I believe they still have some sponsor related acts and that may be one of the reasons they are not allowed to fully move into the new team.

[wmcot]

I'm sure that teams write the contracts to the end of the year in order to keep an advantage if a driver leaves. If he can't test for 2-3 months, he can't become familiar with the new car and team as soon as he would like to. This is an advantage for the team losing the driver. In this case, it's a bit stickier sinc Ron Dennis has his candle lit on both ends this year. He doesn't want Kimi testing at Ferrari and Renault won't let Alonso test for McMerc...

[eloyf1]

Just a question... A think the answer is "No", but, Kimi and Fernando could drive a "black livered" car, that's to say, a car without sponsors???

[samuratt]

The contracts are usually signed on a year basis for taxes purposes... probably the marketing has something to do with it too, but when it comes the time to pay your government they do prefer you to have a single employer than two!