Alonso will not drive for Ferrari in 2010

The president of Ferrari, Luca di Montezemolo, confirmed to the Italian press yesterday that Fernando Alonso will drive for Scuderia Ferrari sooner or later. Montezemolo, while not confirming anything, implied that it will not be for the 2010 season…

Every end of the season, the debates are the same: “Will Alonso drive for Ferrari the following season?” The year 2009 is no exception, especially knowing that the Spaniard’s contract with Renault ends this season and the French team has not yet returned to its best level. However, some issues always hinder the transfer.

The Spanish bank Santander – which has followed Alonso in F1 since his beginnings – has signed a contract with Ferrari for the next five seasons, thus insisting on bringing the Spaniard into the Italian ranks. However, Montezemolo confirmed that for now, he had too many drivers to give Alonso his chance.

« Sooner or later, I will make this transfer possible. We will see when », commented the president of Ferrari at Monza to Spanish and Italian journalists yesterday. « For next year, we already have Räikkönen, Massa, Fisichella, Badoer, Gené, and I hope Michael Schumacher. Our bench of substitutes is soon as long as that of Real Madrid… »

« We already have two champions in our lineup with the 2007 world champion [Räikkönen] and the one who became world champion for 15 seconds in 2008 [Massa]… So we already have two extraordinary drivers. »

« The fact remains that I have always liked Alonso because he is a very good driver, whom I had already approached when he was at Minardi. He then won two titles, and I have always thought that sooner or later, all great drivers pass through Ferrari. It’s just an anecdote, but a few hours before his race in Imola, Ayrton Senna told me he wanted to end his career with Ferrari. It’s also the case for Prost, Lauda, Mansell, or Michael [Schumacher], so we will see. We still have time. »

For information, Ayrton Senna raced for Williams-Renault in 1994. He died at Imola but was supposed to sign with Ferrari for the following season.