Fisichella and Webber to swap seats?
“I’ve no idea where it came from," said Zanarini. “For sure you’ve got to have two drivers agreeing and wanting to swap. I don’t know if Webber wants to swap or not, but we certainly don’t.
“It’s a very strong rumor, but we’ve never discussed it with anybody, we’ve never discussed it between ourselves, we’ve never discussed it with management, and the management has never discussed it with us. It’s never even put in the picture. There’s no swap."
08/10/05 If you're a dedicated follower of the formula one rumor-mill, then here's a whopper — Renault boss Flavio Briatore is evidently arranging a 2006 'seat swap' for Mark Webber and Giancarlo Fisichella.
Given the latter's failure to consistently shine in the front running R25, the Italian principal is reportedly keen to give Webber – a driver he manages – a shot in a blue car next year.
The Australian driver, contracted to Williams, is known to be frustrated at the team's loss of works BMW support and a lack of performance from the FW27 car.
28-year-old Webber, though, has no doubt driven away from such Paddock innuendo. In the three week August break, he's on holiday. ''I think the whole paddock was looking forward to a breather,'' said Mark. He said he would travel, for example, to Edgbaston to watch his countrymen take on the England team in a cricket match.
08/08/05 Flavio Briatore is reportedly negotiating a straight trade between Renault and Williams, where Giancarlo Fisichella and Mark Webber would switch seats for the 2006 season. Besides being Renault's team principal, Briatore is also Webber's manager. The decision-makers at Williams – read Sir Frank and Patrick Head – have for a while already let it be known in the F1 paddock that they have been mostly disappointed by the Australian's performances this season. SPEEDTV.com