It's no secret that Alonso is far from overjoyed at the current atmosphere at McLaren. All the arrows point to him leaving prematurely at the end of 2007 to another team. Which team would that be? His options:
Renault: Old buddy Flav has welcomed back the Matador to the French squad but judging by Le Bleu's 2007 Performance, Alonso might be thinking that the old days of Renault won't be returning anytime soon.
Toyota: They surely have the cash to bring in Alonso but the team seems to be destroying more careers than making them.
BMW: They have 'confirmed' their two drivers for 2008, but nothing's ever out of the question. BMW have the cash to buy up Alonso and their car has the performance to do so.
Williams: Not a chance. Nico is their #1 priority and getting the car competitive takes priority over signing a mega-superstar driver.
So that leaves the Scuderia. Alonso after all did assist in handing Ferrari the championship this year. And he does know how to set up the Ferrari. There are rumors of pushing Jean Todt towards the door at Ferrari, which would leave his son (Massa's manager) in not the greatest position to keep Massa. To his credit, Massa is having a fair season, but nothing jaw-dropping. He has only won from pole and never seems to be able to 'race' when he needs to.
The Alonso to Ferrari move makes a lot of financial sense. Firstly, if Ferrari buy up Alonso, there needs to be compensation to end the McLaren contract. That money will either come from Alonso himself or Ferrari. And with that $100m bar tab to pay with the FIA, Ronzo could use some fast cash. He would be getting paid to get rid of a disgruntled employee. Not a bad deal.
That would leave Massa to dry and then he would go off to replace Ralf at Toyota. It all sounds fairly harmonious in the tabloids but perhaps not in practice.
ed. thanks chris for the picture!
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