Alonso Urges Renault Not to Scrap 2009 Campaign

Following Flavio Briatore's comments earlier this week, suggesting Brawn GP will cruise to both drivers and constructors titles this season, 2-time world champion Fernando Alonso urged his team not to abandon the 2009 campaign in favor of a head start for the 2010 season – as probably decided by other teams in F1 by now.

Renault have clearly upped their game race after race this season, as reckoned by both Alonso and team's technical director Bob Bell. The Spaniard took 5th place at Barcelona, thanks to the R29's new aerodynamic package, and is believed to be further developed for the Turkish GP also.

The Spaniard made it very clear what his stand on the matter is, as he wants a competitive car – able to challenge for race wins – in the following races of the 2009 season. He insisted Renault should not take the path of Brawn GP – who decided to scrap the 2008 programme in order to get a head start with the 2009 machinery – as it was proved it doesn't always work as scheduled.

“That is a decision of the team, but personally I am in favour of working until the last moments (of the season) and trying to improve. Looking back to Renault's experience of 2007, the project was stopped very early in June in order to have a guarantee of success with the new (2008) car, and it didn't work out. Next year will come and there is enough time (to prepare),” said Alonso, ahead of the Monaco GP this season, as reported by GMM news agency.

Another reason for Alonso to push for a continuance of Renault's 2009 programme is the fact that he might not stick around for the 2010 machinery next year. If rumors will confirm at the end of the year, the Spaniard is likely to replace Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari for next season. Pure speculations, of course...