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Alonso did his own deal, says Renault manager
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-12-22 07:11
LONDON: Renault team head Flavio Briatore has denied masterminding Formula
One world champion Fernando Alonso's shock move to McLaren for 2007.
McLaren stunned the sport on Monday by announcing that Spaniard Alonso,
managed by Briatore, had signed to join them at the end of next year.
"I was at no time directly or indirectly involved in the conduct of these
negotiations," Briatore said in a personal statement on Tuesday.
"Fernando made a personal decision that his future lies outside the Renault
team when his current contract expires at the end of 2006.
"He contacted and negotiated with McLaren at his own instigation."
Monday's announcement, less than three months after Alonso became Formula
One's youngest world champion at the age of 24, prompted immediate speculation
about Renault's future intentions in the sport.
It also cast a question mark over the flamboyant Briatore, an astute paddock
politician who had apparently negotiated the lucrative departure of his own
team's star asset to their greatest rivals.
The Italian did not say at what point he had become aware of Alonso's
intentions or whether he had attempted to persuade him to stay.
Double coup
Alonso's decision to leave, with his team still celebrating their double
triumph on the track with the constructors' title also won this year, left many
in the sport wondering what was going on behind the scenes.
"From Briatore and Alonso's point of view the timing of this announcement is
all wrong," said Britain's former driver and ITV television commentator Martin
Brundle.
"Why would they allow McLaren to announce this now, the
week before Christmas and a full year ahead? Why would Renault accept it just
when they want to milk the marketing for the championship success?," he said on
the ITV website.
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