Christijan Albers not at Spyker MF1 in 2007?

By Huw Alban
September 12 2006

I have to say that since the F1 season kicked off properly, the rumour mill surrounding the team has been pretty quiet. Yes, we've had the usual 'Alex is going to sell' stories, but now even that one has reached a final conclusion. Since Sunday however, the jungle drums have started beating again...

... and their beat is talking about the remaining seats in the sport, especially after Michael Schumacher's announcement on Sunday.

Fan talk on our forum echos those conversations taking place in the Formula One paddock, and up until today the feeling was that Christijan Albers was secure at Spyker MF1 for next year. In fact the majority of the talk on the forum centered around the future of Tiago Monteiro and where he is going to be.

Today CAdani told us on the forum that, "(A) couples of minutes ago Christijan Albers said on Dutch TV (that) he won't (be) driving for Spyker 'cause he signed another deal 4 weeks ago. At the end of the interview they showed the back of BAR Honda."

CAdani was also kind enough to post a link to the TV interview on the forum so that all visitors can see the content. OK, so it's in Dutch and I haven't got a clue what was said but the clip does conclude with the back of a BAR Honda disappearing over the hill after Copse Corner at Silverstone. If we take CAdani's words faithfully, then this does strongly suggest that the Dutchman is off to a Honda backed team next year.

Not so long ago news broke that Aguri Suzuki had offered Albers a race seat in his team, and at the time Christijan laughed the offer off. However, talk suggests that next season Super Aguri will be using this years Honda chassis and let's not forget that this is a chassis that has won a race this year. Has this caused Christijan to suddenly sit up and re-evaluate his future in the sport?

One thing is certain, if Christijan does leave Spyker MF1 then it will leave a big hole in the teams package for next year and not help with regard to maintaining any kind of stability within the team.

There is, of course, plenty of new young fresh talent out there to take his place. Giorgio Mondini has done an excellent job as third driver at a number of race weekends this season, and who can forget the stunning performances or Adrian Sutil? With the team now having a predominantly Dutch flavour at the top it is understandable that fans would look to a replacement Dutch driver. Robert Doornbos has got more than one mention, but Jos Verstappen's name seems to be gaining momentum especially as he was very positive in his comments towards Christijan and the team a few weeks ago after the Rotterdam demo...

... can't help but wonder whether there is a coincidence there. Can you?

Show your support for Spyker MF1 Racing by clicking on the banner above and signing up.