01-02-2015, 00:37
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/31066300
Fernando Alonso locked into McLaren, says Ron Dennis
By Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer
McLaren chairman Ron Dennis insists there is no possibility Fernando Alonso could join Mercedes for 2016 as a replacement for Lewis Hamilton.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has described Alonso as "the top alternative" should the world champions fail to agree a new deal with Hamilton.
But Dennis told BBC Sport that Alonso was locked into his new McLaren deal.
He said: "No McLaren driver has ever had performance clauses in his contract and that's the case with Fernando."
The 33-year-old Spaniard, rated by many insiders as the best driver in F1, signed a three-year deal to return to the team he left in acrimonious circumstances at the end of 2007.
Alonso asked for a release from his Ferrari contract two years early to join McLaren for this season because he believed their new engine partnership with Honda would ultimately give him a car with which he could win a third world title.
Fernando Alonso 'very different' from 2007 as he returns to McLaren
Hamilton's Mercedes contract runs out at the end of 2015 and, despite saying that they would sit down and negotiate a new one at the end of last season, he and Mercedes have not yet done so.
Hamilton earns $31m (£20.6m) a year plus bonuses, and a stumbling block in talks could be a potential disparity in his assessment of how much he should earn in his new contract and Mercedes' willingness to pay it.
The team start the season as favourites and, if they can repeat their dominant form of last year, Wolff has a strong negotiating position.
Dennis also denied persistent rumours that his future at McLaren, which he has led for 35 years, could be in doubt.
Fernando Alonso locked into McLaren, says Ron Dennis
By Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer
McLaren chairman Ron Dennis insists there is no possibility Fernando Alonso could join Mercedes for 2016 as a replacement for Lewis Hamilton.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has described Alonso as "the top alternative" should the world champions fail to agree a new deal with Hamilton.
But Dennis told BBC Sport that Alonso was locked into his new McLaren deal.
He said: "No McLaren driver has ever had performance clauses in his contract and that's the case with Fernando."
The 33-year-old Spaniard, rated by many insiders as the best driver in F1, signed a three-year deal to return to the team he left in acrimonious circumstances at the end of 2007.
Alonso asked for a release from his Ferrari contract two years early to join McLaren for this season because he believed their new engine partnership with Honda would ultimately give him a car with which he could win a third world title.
Fernando Alonso 'very different' from 2007 as he returns to McLaren
Hamilton's Mercedes contract runs out at the end of 2015 and, despite saying that they would sit down and negotiate a new one at the end of last season, he and Mercedes have not yet done so.
Hamilton earns $31m (£20.6m) a year plus bonuses, and a stumbling block in talks could be a potential disparity in his assessment of how much he should earn in his new contract and Mercedes' willingness to pay it.
The team start the season as favourites and, if they can repeat their dominant form of last year, Wolff has a strong negotiating position.
Dennis also denied persistent rumours that his future at McLaren, which he has led for 35 years, could be in doubt.
Fernando es de otro planeta