Ferrari Dismiss Alonso Rumors

Stefano Domenicali

As expected, Ferrari dismissed all speculation concerning a potential confirmation of 2-time world champion Fernando Alonso as 2010 race driver for the prancing horse. Earlier this week, Spanish newspaper Diario AS revealed the Scuderia will make an official statement regarding Alonso's 2010 driver during the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, on September 11.

The report did not mention who Ferrari will get rid of in order to welcome the Spaniard, as both Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa have ongoing contracts with the Maranello based team until the end of 2010. Under the circumstances, it only felt natural for the Italian marque to dismiss the Alonso allegations, in order to give its drivers a peace of mind until later this year.

“We are not going to waste our time commenting on speculation. Everyone should remember that Massa and Raikkonen have contracts which include 2010,” Ferrari's spokesman Luca Colajanni was quoted as saying by Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport.

The Spanish publication also revealed Alonso's confirmation will come with the official partnership between Ferrari and Grupo Santander. The Spanish banking group will end its sponsoring deal with McLaren Mercedes at the end of 2009 and will return to sponsoring Alonso at Ferrari.

Another announcement, this time official, to support the Alonso rumors was that Ferrari will hold it's first “World Finals” event – scheduled in mid November – in Spain.