Japanese GP - Ferrari rule out Alonso switch
Eurosport - Mon, 01 Oct 08:23:00 2007
Ferrari team chief Jean Todt has re-buffed claims that Fernando Alonso will move to his team for next year's Formula One season.
With the Spaniard currently not on good terms with either his McLaren boss Ron Dennis or his championship-leading team-mate Lewis Hamilton, rumours have grown that he could quit the team at the end of the year.
But Todt said that even if the double world champion, who is less than a third of the way into a three-year contract, does leave McLaren, he will not be on his way to Maranello.
When asked how likely a swoop for Alonso, was, Todt said: "Zero percent!
"We have two fantastic drivers in Kimi (Raikkonen) and Felipe (Massa). We are very happy with them and they are under contract.
"I would respect a contract for a guy cleaning the floor, so you can imagine that I will respect a contract with them. If we have a contract, we respect it."
Alonso's situation at McLaren took a turn for the worse when he publicly slated the team after the North-American double-header in June for not getting preferential treatment over Hamilton.
And with the Hungarian Grand Prix debacle and McLaren's $100 million fined over Formula One's spy scandal, he is said to be looking for an exit, although the driver denies this.
Todt admitted that he was alerted to Alonso while he was racing in Formula 3000 in 2001, but was not impressed by what he saw, but said his attitude has changed since then.
And he even stated that he would welcome the chance to sign Alonso in the future, even though next year was not a possibility.
"I didn't like the way he acted with me. But since then he has won two world titles and he's now fighting for the third," said the Frenchman.
"He's got a lot better. He's strong physically and mentally. As a driver I have great respect for him so I say 'never say never'."
"People have said that while I'm at Ferrari, Alonso can't come. That's not true." If at some point I knew Ferrari was interested in signing Alonso, I'd say okay."
Ferrari team chief Jean Todt has re-buffed claims that Fernando Alonso will move to his team for next year's Formula One season.
With the Spaniard currently not on good terms with either his McLaren boss Ron Dennis or his championship-leading team-mate Lewis Hamilton, rumours have grown that he could quit the team at the end of the year.
But Todt said that even if the double world champion, who is less than a third of the way into a three-year contract, does leave McLaren, he will not be on his way to Maranello.
When asked how likely a swoop for Alonso, was, Todt said: "Zero percent!
"We have two fantastic drivers in Kimi (Raikkonen) and Felipe (Massa). We are very happy with them and they are under contract.
"I would respect a contract for a guy cleaning the floor, so you can imagine that I will respect a contract with them. If we have a contract, we respect it."
Alonso's situation at McLaren took a turn for the worse when he publicly slated the team after the North-American double-header in June for not getting preferential treatment over Hamilton.
And with the Hungarian Grand Prix debacle and McLaren's $100 million fined over Formula One's spy scandal, he is said to be looking for an exit, although the driver denies this.
Todt admitted that he was alerted to Alonso while he was racing in Formula 3000 in 2001, but was not impressed by what he saw, but said his attitude has changed since then.
And he even stated that he would welcome the chance to sign Alonso in the future, even though next year was not a possibility.
"I didn't like the way he acted with me. But since then he has won two world titles and he's now fighting for the third," said the Frenchman.
"He's got a lot better. He's strong physically and mentally. As a driver I have great respect for him so I say 'never say never'."
"People have said that while I'm at Ferrari, Alonso can't come. That's not true." If at some point I knew Ferrari was interested in signing Alonso, I'd say okay."
Labels: Formula1
posted by ipank @ 11:36 AM
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