ALONSO HINTS AT FERRARI MOVE
Former world champion Fernando Alonso is already looking to leave Renault, just two races into the new season.
The Spaniard left after just one year into a three year contract at McLaren last season after a rift between him, teammate Lewis Hamilton and McLaren boss Ron Dennis after the Mercedes-backed team refused to grant "preferential status" to the former world champion, placing him on a level footing with young F1 debutant Hamilton.
After switching back to Renault, the side with whom he won the 2006 World Championship, Alonso has now hinted that he may leave the side at the end of the season, with Ferrari touted as a possible destination.
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"I'm at Renault because I wanted to get back to
winning, like in 2005 and 2006, if not this year then next year," Alonso
told Spanish newspaper 'As'.
"But I have an option to leave so I can be in the best possible car, and it is clear Ferrari is one of the best."
Ferrari's current drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa are both under contract for 2009 although there is speculation that Ferrari bosses are losing patience with Massa after he failed to finish either of the opening two races this season due to driver errors.
But Alonso cooled speculation linking him to Ferrari, saying it was inevitable following a poor start to the season by Massa, who has retired from both races following driver errors.
"It's early to talk about moves and rumours, but Massa has had two bad races with mistakes and that has kicked off speculation," Alonso said.
"It's logical, but it's too early."
Alonso, who ended last season just a point behind Raikkonen, finished as the last points scorer in eighth place in Malaysia on Sunday but was not surprised bu the result.
"It was more or less as we expected," said Alonso, who was fourth in the chaotic season opener in Australia.
"We knew that finishing in the top eight was going to be difficult and if it hadn't been for Massa's retirement we wouldn't have made it.
"That's the reality and that's what the situation is like, it was no surprise. In a normal race, with no retirements, we were ninth in qualifying and eighth in the race.
"Before Barcelona we will have some improvements for the car, but the same ones all teams will make, so the championship is going to stay more or less the same.
"We saw it last year and we see it every year. The cars that win the first two or three races stay on top. We are not going to see big surprises during the year."
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