Cops block Damon’s F1 blast

By Jonathan Gill

31st July 2006

Reigning F1 world champions Renault attempted to mark the British Motor Show’s return to London with what should have been a spectacular stunt in the presence of Tony Blair.

As part of a special reception hosted by the Prime Minister for senior motor industry figures, Damon Hill was supposed to entertain the VIP guests with some dramatic demo runs in Downing Street behind the wheel of Fernando Alonso’s title-winning car.

Despite clearance from all the various authorities, it appears nobody told the police on duty outside Number 10. They pointed out that the Renault racer was far from road legal - and prevented former world champion Hill from putting the R25 through its paces.

While refusing to comment on the Downing Street debacle, Renault has come clean about its attempts to sign Kimi Raikkonen to replace the McLaren-bound Fernando Alonso in 2007.

“It’s no secret that signing Raik­konen is our priority for next season,” admitted Renault F1 president Alain Dassas. “We are speaking to him about a contract and if we could sign an agreement, we would be very happy as he is one of the top drivers.” Even though the French company appears prepared to smash its salary cap to secure Raikkonen’s signature, the smart money is on the Finn being with Ferrari in six months’ time.

The Italian team is giving Michael Schumacher as long as he needs to decide whether or not he’s going to retire at the end of this campaign before con­firming its driver line-up for 2007.