Alonso moves to Mclaren for 2007

[arig]

McLaren get Alonso on line for 2007
Alonso has decided to quit Renault


Fernando Alonso [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT] World champion Fernando Alonso will quit Renault once he has defended his Formula One title next season after accepting a "too good to miss" offer to drive for McLaren from 2007.

The British-based team's announcement that it has secured the services of the hottest property in motor sport came just days after McLaren revealed that they are to be backed by mobile phone giant Vodafone from January 2007.

Alonso said: "To become part of a team with such a desire to succeed and passion for performance is a dream come true for any Formula One driver. It will be a new beginning for me and a tremendous challenge and from what I have heard about this exciting new partnership there is something to look forward to."

"Obviously I will be sad to leave Renault but sometimes possibilities come along which are just too good to miss. I'm pleased that we are able to make this announcement already now as it will allow my current team and I to focus 100 percent on defending the world championships next year."



McLaren boss Ron Dennis added: "Its great that our strong belief in the strength and competitiveness of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes package has been further endorsed by the world champion."

Vodafone withdrew from their 23-million-pound-a-year deal with Ferrari this year and will back McLaren from 2007.

"We always make it clear that we want to be the best and the only way of achieving this objective is by attracting the best people, the best drivers and the best sponsors."

McLaren's announcement means that they will have to part company with one of their two current drivers, Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya.

Dennis said he had begun talks with both drivers about what would happen once Alonso arrives and hinted that they will effectively be racing for their jobs next season.




Fernando, Kimi and Juan Pablo... "Our aim for next year remains absolutely clear to everybody within the team -- we want to win races and be in a position where we might have two Formula One world champions driving for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes in 2007," Dennis said.

Alonso's seven Grand Prix wins made him the youngest driver at 24 to win the Formula One world championship this year and broke the Ferrari and Michael Schumacher monopoly.

Renault also wrapped up the constructors' title depriving the Italian powerhouse of the crown it had made its own since 1999.

Raikkonen also won seven Grands Prix for McLaren in 2005 but McLaren have not won the world title since Mika Hakkinen's second championship in 1999.

They won three world titles with Ayrton Senna and three with Alain Prost when they dominated Formula One from 1985 to 1991.

They also won the world title with Niki Lauda, Emerson Fittipaldi and James Hunt.


Alonso will try to win with another team
Statement from Fernando Alonso

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Fernando Alonso Statement from Fernando Alonso following his decision to change teams at the end of 2006.

"As everybody will now be aware, I have taken the decision to leave Renault after the 2006 season. I achieved my lifetime ambition with Renault this year, and for my career, I felt that it was time for a new challenge. That will be to try and win with another team."

"At this point in time, though, I am concentrating on 2006. Renault brought me into Formula 1, brought me my first title, and I will be working to repeat that success next year. The signs so far are very positive on every level. I am confident the chassis will be quick, and the engine team are doing a fantastic job on the new V8. I am looking forward to a very successful 2006 season," Fernando Alonso added.

[dalyduo]

Woof.......

[MJAmok]

KR and JPM fighting for their jobs?!?!

My prediction... Kimi wins the title and Juan crashes out of a minimum of 8 races!

[sydude]

No need. Kimi's almost certainly already signed for Ferrari, and on the small chance he hasn't, he will soon. Yeeha, so the 2007 seat is JPM's. Go Il Monstro!

[rhpearson]

I think you're right on that Sy. The KR to Ferrari rumors did start a while ago.

[MJAmok]

As if that is going to change the way either of them behave?

Anyone up for a wager? I'll take Kimi as champ and JPM as most DNF's due to 'incidents'.

[CMitchell]

Fernando, Kimi and Juan Pablo... "Our aim for next year remains absolutely clear to everybody within the team -- we want to win races and be in a position where we might have two Formula One world champions driving for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes in 2007," Dennis said.

I can only wish that this statement is implying that Raikkonen will be with the team in 2007. It's fairly evident that Ron Dennis and McLaren view Raikkonen as the lead driver in the team, although they would never care to admit it. However, with this mentality, Kimi's certainly got a better chance at the WDC than JPM does...in which case, the two world champions in 2007 would be Raikkonen and Alonso.

KR and FA is an absolute dream team...and I sure hope that it will happen. I would hate to see Raikkonen move to Ferrari.

[mlv53]

One thing is for sure Kimi will not go to ferrari if schumacher is there. Kimi would not leave mclaren to be a number 2 driver I will promise you that.

[gmg321]

How you been Matt?
Kimi doesn't have to worry about that because "The Doctor" will have completed his "testing" in '06 and will create the biggest circus Italy has ever seen. Rossi in '07!

[sydude]

Interesting update:

Dennis reveals truth about Alonso capture
Friday March 24 2006
PlanetF1.com

Ron Dennis has finally revealed the details behind McLaren's shock capture of Fernando Alonso.

According to Dennis, despite frantic efforts to contact Flavio Briatore, it took six weeks before Alonso was able to inform the Renault boss that he had signed a deal with McLaren. With a face-to-face meeting "impossible" to arrange, contact was eventually only made via the telephone.

The apparent breakdown in communications between the pair, formerly depicted as having enjoyed a 'father and son relationship', hints at one crucial factor in Alonso's shock defection.

Speaking to F1-Racing magazine, Dennis remained coy on the events leading up to Alonso putting pen to paper on a long-term deal with his team. He refused to say who instigated the talks between the two parties, or when first contact took place.

However, from Dennis' admission that the triumphant press release of 19 December which announced Alonso's capture was issued - against Briatore's wishes - immediately after the Spaniard had spoken to the Renault boss it can be assumed that negotiations were completed in the first week of November.

Briatore has strenuously denied having any role in Alonso's transfer and according to Dennis the driver was represented by "his manager Luis Garcia Abad, his lawyers and family. On our side it involved one key director, which was Martin [Whitmarsh], plus Nobert [Haug] and some other Mercedes-Benz board members. And, after Fernando had signed, but still prior to any public announcement, it also involved a few of our sponsors' senior board members. So, within 24 hours of him having inked his signature, I'd say roughly 25 people knew."

Remarkably, despite the obvious dangers of a leak, the story was kept quiet for the six weeks in which Fernando then failed to make contact with Briatore.

"They all understood the commitment I'd made to Fernando that his signing would have to remain confidential until he'd had the opportunity to inform Flavio," Dennis told the magazine. "Equally, it was understood that, as soon as he'd informed Flavio, I'd inform our drivers - because, obviously, I wanted them to hear it from me, and, equally obviously, one way or another, it would leak. And then, after I'd told our drivers, there would be a press release.

"But four weeks went by, and, owing to factors outside Fernando's control, he couldn't manage to meet Flavio to tell him the news. He tried quite a few times, but a meeting proved impossible to arrange. In the end, after six weeks of trying, and being very keen to inform Flavio before the news was leaked, Fernando had to inform him by telephone."

There's no explanation for why Fernando and Flavio were unable to meet, although the apparent breakdown in their relationship will be inevitably regarded as a partial explanation for Fernando's shock decision to leave Renault.

Once Briatore had been informed, Dennis moved into news-management mode. First to be told of the news were his drivers, Kimi Raikkonen and Juan-Pablo Montoya.

"It was late in the evening when Fernando advised me that'd he broken the news to Flavio. Despite the late hour, I decided that I should telephone our drivers immediately. That was particularly hard on Kimi, because he was in Finland and therefore three hours ahead of UK time. But he took it fine, as it happens."

Kimi's sanguine reaction will no doubt be seized upon by those in the paddock who are already convinced that the Finn has opted to leave McLaren at the end of the season for Ferrari.

The Colombian, on the other hand, appears to have responded with a fiery burst of that famed Latin temper.

"His reaction was, well, predictable. His initial reaction was curt - maybe he thought his 2007 seat had just disappeared. But that isn't necessarily the case, of course."

Yet Montoya's disappointment must have paled alongside that of Briatore's.

"Flavio telephoned me and asked me to delay the press release by a week, but I was in an impossible position," says Dennis. "By that time, a large number of people knew. Keeping it secret was no longer realistic. I didn't want the news to go public via a leak. So the next day we sent out a press release."

[arig]

OF COURSE THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED!! I needed a good laugh.

[AZRCD]

1) Does anyone else notice a creepy resembelence to between F. Alonso and Michale Jackson?
2) For all you KM fans out there who hope to see him stay at the silver arrows, realize that he is already gone. They have not in a season and two races been able to provide him with a reliable enough car to win raceses. Think of all those from the back to the podium drives KM has put in. Also remember his obvious annoyence last season at all the technical problems the car kept having and how they kept putting him at the back. Face it KM will leave McLaren wherever he ends up.

[arig]

when you write "km" you mean kimi raikkonen, correct?

[AZRCD]

Yes the pissed off mumbly Finnish kid comming fast from the back..