Ferrari does not need Alonso now, certainly not while being well in the hunt for both Driver and Constructor's championship. Commenting today, Ferrari president Luca Di Montezemolo is also ambivalently...cool about the Asturian. There is no mention of 2010.
I think the truth about Alonso's future will be revealed with his drive announcement for next year. If he stays at Renault another year then he still has hopes to go to Ferrari in 2010. If he announces Honda then that's pretty much it for Fernando's career arc.
After the jump, wide ranging excerpts from Di Montezemolo's interview in today's Gazzetta Dello Sport.
Can Fernando Alonso still be confident in a Ferrari future?
For sure that means he can be at ease that, at the moment, Ferrari's doors are closed for the Spaniard.
Later, during a walk on pit lane, Montezemolo met and warmly greeted Alonso and then went to visit Lewis Hamilton with whom he shared an embrace.
About Raikkonen, Montezemolo commented.
Montezemolo goes on to say "Kimi is motivated and we have to work hard to put him in the position to start further up the grid, especially on these new circuits I detest and are bad for Formula 1, you cannot pass and nine times out of ten are won by whoever is on pole."
And Felipe?
"I would define him a product of our farm system and now mature enough to win the title"
But what about a number one and number two driver, who do you choose?
"It's the old refrain that goes back to the time of Lauda and Regazzoni, the hierarchy is only determined by the stopwatch not the president. Any driver, be it a Schumacher, Barrichello, Raikkonen or Massa in the end is a Ferrari employee"
He's sorry that so many points were lost to reliability but concludes:
"For the last eleven years we have won or come in secont in the championship and given the number of teams that have come and gone during the same period, this is quite an achievement, we will be in the hunt up to the end this year as well"
from Gazzetta dello Sport
photos: ANSA
I don't really get the decision. Massa has been more consistent and successful this season than Kimi.
ReplyDeleteDo yoou mean about not declaring Massa #1 for the rest of the year?
ReplyDeleteLet me put my tin foil Arai on and see:
1. Last Year at this same point in the season Kimi was even further behind.
2. THere might be something in his contract about being #2.
3: The... tin foil-lingnest of them all. If Kimi wins WDC this year he might actually decide to pack it in making the decision to hire Alonso easier.
4. Massa is the Rodney Dangerfield of F1.