Sports
Alonso dismisses Ferrari departure speculation
Alonso dismisses Ferrari departure speculation
Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso poses with Angel, a child who is suffering leukaemia, during the presentation of a campaign to raise funds through the purchase of bracelets in order to fight leukaemia in children in Madrid, Spain, yesterday. (EPA)
DPA/Stuttgart
Former world champion Fernando Alonso has reiterated that he has no intention of leaving Ferrari although he is likely to miss out on the Formula One title again this season.
Alonso, 33, told broadcaster Sky Sports yesterday that the season has so far been even more frustrating than past campaigns at the Italian team, but that he plans to fulfil his Ferrari contract until 2016.
“It’s not my intention at the moment to move, I want to win here and finish the job that we started some years ago,” Alonso said.
“There has been a lot of talk since last summer but from my mouth there never came any interest to leave Ferrari or any words saying I would join another team. There was a lot of speculation, which is not disturbing but it created a little bit of tension and stress. Yet you also feel happy and proud that the best teams have an interest in you.”
Alonso has been linked with a return to McLaren, where he drove in 2007 in a fierce rivalry with Lewis Hamilton.
Alonso was world champion in 2005 and 2006 with Renault. He moved to Ferrari in 2010, and finished second behind Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel in 2010, 2012 and 2013.
This season he is fourth with 121 points, 99 points behind leader Nico Rosberg of Mercedes, going into Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix in Monza, Ferrari’s home race. His last race win dates back to the Spanish Grand Prix in May 2013.
“Our season has been frustrating because we had high hopes with this year’s new regulations and starting from zero with all the other teams, we thought we could have an advantage with all our facilities and input from everybody. But we have found ourselves not in the right position and not competitive,” Alonso said.
“We are further away from the leaders than during any other season this year, we are sometimes one-and-a-half seconds away from Mercedes.”