Ferrari ’sign’ Alonso?

UPDATE #3 This rumor is downgraded to 'false.' Ferrari's Jean Todt quashed speculation Ferrari were interested in signing Fernando Alonso and said he had his eye on other talented young drivers. "I certainly don't have a 'stand-by-Schumacher' who could suddenly jump in (if Schumacher retires)," Todt said. "But we're not sleeping. There are several talented drivers. They all have contracts.

"Who keeps saying we want Alonso?" Todt said. "He's got talent, okay. But there are other drivers, even very good ones. I can tell you this: Alonso is not at the top of our list.

"Even if this may not sound very respectful to Alonso, I consider a young man who drives for a German-English team to be the better choice," Todt said. When asked by Bild am Sonntag if he meant McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen, Todt laughed and said: "Next question." Reuters

04/12/05 Fernando Alonso will never drive for Ferrari so long as seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher is in the cockpit, Renault team chief Flavio Briatore said today. Alonso has been linked with a move to the Italian team but Briatore insists the 24-year-old is not willing to play second fiddle to German Schumacher. "While Michael Schumacher is there, Alonso will never drive for Ferrari," Briatore told Motorsport Aktuell magazine. "Ferrari is not the only team that Fernando could go to. Indeed Renault can hold on to Alonso by providing him with the most competitive car." 04/05/05 We are hearing that Ferrari were very keen on acquiring the future services of Fernando Alonso, but there was only one thing preventing them from signing him – Flavio Briatore, his manager. The powers that be within the team absolutely did not, for whatever reason, want to deal with him. For this reason, this rumor could go to 'false.' 04/04/05 F1's man-of-the-moment, Fernando Alonso, may already be destined for a scarlet future. The Spaniard, contracted to rapid Renault only to the end of 2005, is rumored to have already signed an open-ended 'option' to join Ferrari in 2007. Why '07? Because, then – for the first time in more than a decade – Maranello could be without 'wunderkind' Michael Schumacher.

''No, we don't (have a contract),'' a source close to the 23-year-old's management replied to the speculation.

Ferrari boss Jean Todt, though, is now an open and public admirer of the little Spaniard, who on Sunday won a second GP on the trot. The Frenchman told Spanish newspaper ABC: ''We will have to see if he drives with us in the future.''