Ferrari confirm 2010 Santander deal, stay tuned for Alonso announcement…

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Santander were behind Alonso at McLaren in 2007

Ferrari have confirmed Banco Santander as a major sponsor for the 2010 F1 season.

The deal has been rumoured since last year, and is soon expected to be followed by confirmation that Fernando Alonso will race for them next year.

Alonso’s move has been something of an ‘open secret’ in F1 recently, with McLaren’s Martin Whitmarsh even acknowledging it publicly a few weeks ago.

Ferrari have lured Santander away from McLaren after the Spanish bank has spent the last three years with the company. Although Lewis Hamilton features heavily in adverts for their British brand Abbey, they clearly want to be associated with Alonso again. The two developments should reunite Santander and Alonso for the first time since 2007.

There’s an element of tit-for-tat involved as well, as McLaren captured former Ferrari sponsor Vodafone at the beginning of 2007.

Who will Alonso’s team mate – or team mates – be in 2010? Both Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen are contracted for 2010. It is not yet known whether Massa will return to the cockpit at the start of next year – although he won’t race again this year. Ferrari is understood to be trying to buy Raikkonen out of his contract, despite his recent resurgence in form.

Giancarlo Fisichella, who races for the team this weekend, has been tipped to become the team’s test driver in 2010. But Luca di Montezemolo is lobbying the FIA and the other teams to be allowed to run a third car for Michael Schumacher if he is able to drive.

I’m not keen on the idea of three-car teams, but a Schumacher-Alonso-Raikkonen line-up would give Ferrari a squad with ten world championship titles between them…

More on Ferrari in 2010

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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109 comments on “Ferrari confirm 2010 Santander deal, stay tuned for Alonso announcement…”

  1. What a shame.

  2. But Luca di Montezemolo is lobbying the FIA and the other teams to be allowed to run a third car for Michael Schumacher if he is able to drive.

    but a Schumacher-Alonso-Raikkonen line-up would give Ferrari a squad with ten world championship titles between them…

    Why does he want to run Schumacher? We will definitely have FOUR world champions next year. When was the last time we’ve had four champs race together? Not even during the piquet-prost-senna-mansell era. This could be the dawn of a new era & yet maddy luca di monty wants back the “pastmaster” ? Why?
    Why do they want to involve schumi in everything they do? Is it a veto or something?

    Why are ferrari so reluctant to look to the future? Why give schumi another drive? Isn’t 7 Wdc enough? its a mad mad mad idea that deserves to be heralded to trash.

    I think we must stop discussing about the three car theory. It will never happen. No one, except Ferrari are in favour of it. Big Boys Merc have made it very clear its nonsense, Once Ferrari faithful R.Brawn will not have much of a say in this matter, Merc have seen to that. I personally think ,schumi after all these years of cheating has lost his soul, its the perfect time for him to be doing some soul searching. Instead he chooses to stand & block upcoming drivers. What a pathetic man.

    1. Don’t be one-eyed man! :)

      1. You don’t be blinded :D

    2. When was the last time we’ve had four champs race together?

      Hill, Schumacher, Hakkinen and Villeneuve was the last time.

      1. It was meant to be a trivia ;) good! you’ve won it :D

    3. Isn’t 7 Wdc enough? its a mad mad mad idea that deserves to be heralded to trash.

      Because it is a competition, not a thing that everyone has turns at. If he came back and bet his team mates, to win a WDC then good for him and too bad for his team mates. It would be a fantastic pairing having all those drivers for that team, it would be extremely interesting. However, i would rather have two car teams.

      1. I think that ferrari just want to fill up the grid in thier favour, if 3 ferrari cars end up in the points, that means that there is one less spot in the point scoring 8 to go around the rest of the feild, 3 car teams would be toatally unfair to the smaller teams and out of sync. with the fia’s cost cutting plans of trying to get spending down to a early 90’s level.

        And its stupid! do ferrari now think that it is impossible to win with just 2 cars, there is no piont in it. if they want to win fair they should run the race with the same amount of cars as everyone else, or have 3 cars and only 2 of them can quailfy for the race, id be happy with that.

        I would like to see a legal battle if ferrari are not alowed to have 3 cars and Massa, Kimi, and eyebrow man can have a scrap in court on who will drive the scarlet cars.

        Massa has been rumered to be at renault next year as Ferrari do not think that he will be on pace for the beginning of 2010.

        I think that Luca thinks that he might be God!

        …… and who will be McLarens new sponsor? a british brand? or maybe a german brand? (Rosberg or Hulkenburg?) Norbert repotedly in talks with Williams over buying Rosberg or Hulkenburg for next season?

        Thanks. Rant over!

    4. Even if the third driver is not allowed to score points, he’d be a most useful development driver. I’m having a hard time imagining that the smaller teams could be persuaded to consent to this.

  3. I think it’s Banco De Santander is it not?

    I suspect Massa’s popularity within the team and in the F1-watching public wasn’t so great he would have been the one getting binned.

    1. I think it’s Banco De Santander is it not?

      Originally the Bank’s name was Banco De Santander, meaning this bank came from Santander (Spanish region).

      But today the name is just Banco Santander.

  4. Do you think Alonso will be confirmed today? Any chance?

    1. Surely they’ll wait till after monza?

    2. No, 13th November at Cheste, Spain, Ferrari’s season closing party for the first time out of maranello…
      For me this “first time out of Maranello” speaks itself, do you remember the Mclaren party at Valencia in 2006?
      Cheers.

  5. Wow dot com :)

    Awaiting Alonso confirmation now.

    I can imagine a match between Kimi’s manager and Alonso’s manager is taking place as we speak.

    Or is the Renault scandal delaying the confirmation in case Alonso gets implicated as well?

    Ali
    God > infinity

  6. 3 cars with Alonso \ Raikkonen \ Schumacher?
    I wonder who would get the new parts first and who would get priority for tyres when it suddenly rains?

    1. Scummy of course, who else would the red mafia favor?

      1. … and then rather in the interest of themselves, the other two would be made to do what’s best to help Schumacher.

    2. If Kimi moves out from ferrari, I really, REALLY like to see him in Mclaren´s cockpit once again. As I like ferrari much, I still believe that Mclaren and Kimi is better mix. Kimi has said that when he was with Mclaren, his freetime was very limited what he can do or not. Now when Ron Dennis is no longer there, I believe there´s no such problem anymore.

      Actually I somehowe wish that happens. Next year there will be Ferrari/Mclaren battle again, and it would be nice to see Kimi beside Lewis and Alonso next to Massa. I put my money for Mclaren in that case…..!

      1. Mmmmm:
        And Kimi in an Brawn or Alonso in a Brawn?
        Now they have got Mercedes money….

    3. I am assuming the 3-car idea is for Massa/Raikkonen/Alonso.

      Surely, running a 3rd car is cheaper than buying Raikkonnen’s costly contract.

  7. if they’ve signed Alonso, I hope they announce it today or early Friday – so he has the full benefit of being mobbed all weekend as next year’s Ferrari driver!

    It was a shame Kimi missed out on this – he was named after the race, when Schumacher’s retirement was announced. Then again, it wouldn’t have made a blind bit of difference to Kimi…

  8. Massa should have been shown the door years ago.

    1. Mussolini's Pet Cat
      10th September 2009, 16:23

      unkind, considering he’s pretty much out performed Kimi over the last couple of seasons.

      1. Considering Raikkonen won the title in 2007 – how do you figure Massa did a better job? Raikkonen also had 2 car issues causing retirements to Massa’s one retirement.

        1. Massa also surrendered a win for Kimi, the team decided quite early to but its weight behind Kimi. Finally, Mclaren handed the championship to Kimi.
          Kimi is a good driver, but he isn’t a great driver. He isn’t consistent even when sometimes he has a very good car underneath him.

        2. tEQUILLA sLAMMER
          11th September 2009, 9:16

          Raikkonen only just managed to win the title in 2007 because McmoRons chucked it away!!! moRon needs a spell in the funny farm after the way he mis-managed a double world champion and a rookie!!! Shamilton may be fast but speed alone doesnt win titles……..#:)

    2. Wrong, Massa has performed very good for Ferrari, he helped Kimi when he needed it He almost won last year when Kimi could get no traction and he was doing better than kimi this straight up.

  9. Kimi is coming back home :) Together with Lewis he’ll kick some Red a** :)

  10. I wonder why EVERYONE here takes this Alonso-Ferrari move as a certainty. Even Keith is aching to see Fernando in one the the reds, as he’s writes like it will happen, but it may not… well, I just hope it doesn’t. I can’t stand it anymore. Alonso would hate to share the atention with Massa/Kimi/Schumacher. Whoever he parterns up with, it will not be someone like Nelson Piquet or Romain Grosjean. Either will be a World Champion or a driver who is loved by everyone within the team. In the end, he will just cry (like he did in McLaren) when he start getting beat by his team mates.

    Santander would also love to have Massa in 2010, since Santander became one of the biggest banks here (they even bought Banco Real), but there’s always room to improve, and Massa is such a cherrished person here… Would be a outstanding marketing move.

    1. agreed

      1. It will be a sad day in f1 if alonso is given the red car seat.
        He is the most undeserving driver out there.

        1. If winning two WDC isn’t deserving..then only Michael Schumacher deserves a seat in Ferrari.

    2. what about Fisi?
      if Raikkönen’s contract will be terminated, and Massa won’t be able to return to the cockpit, Alonso will have the teammate he always wanted and beated during the Renault years.
      If the Alonso-contract is clinched a while ago, as we assume, then Alosno could have negotiated a teammate of his choice, and that could be also be the casue of Fisi’s move to Ferrari…

    3. Even Keith is aching to see Fernando in one the the reds

      No, I said he’s expected to join Ferrari, which is pretty much the case.

    4. Glad to find someone else who supports my move.

      Alonso joining Mclaren was definitely a big reason why Santander joined Mclaren in 2007. It wasn’t the other way round. Alonso was not brought on board to please Santander. Santander also did not move away from Mclaren after 2007.

      No reason, why Alonso would now be brought to Ferrari to please Santander. Santander are now associated with the biggest name in formula 1, FERRARI. Surely, having or not having Alonso makes little difference to them.

  11. Can’t wait to see Alonso get out of the blocks in the red car come March! It’s time to watch real racing people! Alonso in a Ferrari, Hamilton in a McLaren! No reason to whine against team unfairness. It’s two great racers doing what they do best against each other. It’s an all out fair war now! I cannot wait!

  12. About time they announced it! I hope they announce Alonso just so we don’t have to keep guessing!
    Massa is a legend to me so I can’t wait until he comes back and possibly partners Alonso at Ferrari and hopefully would get a WDC or at least give Fernando a run for his money (I know I may be being optimistic).
    Big Kimi fan too and as much as I dislike Mclaren I do think he just fits well there and the prostpect of an Alonso-Massa- Ferrari against a Kimi-Lewis Mclaren is fantastic, like an odd jumble of the 2007 season really lol.

    1. Good point – I would like to see that too!

    2. I dont think alonso will like being in any team that has a driver that is able to compete and truly challange him. It didnt work at mclaren and it wont work at ferrari. He wants to be the only one the team is working for.

  13. Meanwhile, new Singapore investigation leaks indicate that the evidence reflects that Flav, Symonds, and PIQ met over coffee on Race Sunday morning to plan out the crash. Recall that the team has issued no denials—they were obviously caught in clear lies in Spa, I expect, and are hoping for mercy.

    As for Santander and Ferrari, that plot is hella thick right now. Consider the timing where Alonso is claiming today in the press that he knew nothing. That is because Ferrari and the Banco obvs need to hear that on the record before annoucing his Ferrari drive. Heads would roll at the bank if they announced a mega deal on Sept 10 and then Alonso is banned on Sept 22. The embarassment as well as the financial loss would be hideous. They would definitely back away from the deal and Ferrari would be financially screwed.

    Let’s presume Alonso innocent. But let’s just remember that Alonso swore up and down he knew nothing about a certain leaked/stolen Ferrari dossier until a couple hundred texts showed up reflecting his ruminations on the same.

    1. Ferrari must ready themselves for an alonsogate in 2010. Good on them that they’ve signed a bank as their title sponsors. They are going to need a lot of money ;)

      1. hasn’t Santander been hit badly by the recession?

      2. Ferrari must ready themselves for an alonsogate in 2010

        Ferrari must ready themselves for an alonsogate in 2010

        No and No

        1. hasn’t Santander been hit badly by the recession?

          Sorry, wrong second quote!!!!

      3. sad but probably true as conflict and drama follow this guy wherever he shows up.
        Remember time wounds all heals.

  14. “Ferrari is understood to be trying to buy Raikkonen out of his contract, despite his recent resurgence in form.”

    — Keith, are there any news recently about it? I hope, you don’t write unless you know something… can you please share some links if you’ve any?

    1. That’s not new, I first read it weeks ago and must have mentioned it here at least once.

  15. Yep. Renault-gate seems to be much more important now than any drivers’ moves speculations.

  16. Quoted by Hamilton:-(source F1-live)

    Alonso’s former McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton however clearly expects the 27-year-old to make the switch, as he spoke at an appearance at the Homeless World Cup in Milan.

    “It will be great to race him as a Ferrari driver and to battle with him to share out the next ten Formula One World Championships,” the British driver is quoted as saying on Thursday by Gazzetta dello Sport.

    It will happen & Kimi’s coming back to Woking :)

  17. If Alonso moves to Ferrari, The next season can be very promising, with Lewis,Brawn and the Redbulls…like in the old days.
    I just hope the Renault-gate doesn’t spread s… all over Alonso, to me he is a decent chap and a great driver.

  18. I think I remember reading somewhere that Vodafone wanted to become title sponsors at Ferrari but Ferrari stuck with Marlboro even though all the teams had agreed to drop tobacco sponsorship after 2006, so Vodafone ended up with McLaren.

    It seems to me that in the UK Santander make better use of their McLaren sponsorship, at least through TV ads, than Vodafone do, considering Vodafone are the title sponsor.

    1. The EU senators are a bunch moron hypocrites. Did the banning of tobacco advertising on f1 cars bring down cancer deaths? Or have tobacco users shied away from using it? I personally am against tobacco products, but the tobacco based livery cars were the best looking cars in history . They were so soothing on the human eye. I think EU must chuck this rule. Tobacco & F1 are synonymous.

      1. That’s the kind of mentality responsible for kids smoking and drinking at ages of twelve and girls getting pregnant while they should be kidding with dolls! That’s all due to propaganda, because these things are acessible to everyone at every age.

        Tobacco propaganda on Formula One car liveries have associated speed with smoking, and smoking itself sells a vision of “reckless life”. It’s a whole chain of effects which indeed cause deaths, and not only by cancer. No, no one stopped smoking because there are no more tobacco propaganda, but it may prevent someone to start smoking because of Formula One. It helps F1 image generally. And you want those cigarette stickers back on the cars just because you think they were beautiful? Please… Do anyone miss Mild Seven logos? Or West? Lucky Strike? Abolishing them made any difference for the worst? It only did good, as far as I can see.

        There shouldn’t be any tobacco propaganda in any motorsport series IMO.

        (sorry for getting off-topic like these guys…)

        1. Great post Teixeira, great post. Any relation to Mark? ;)

          1. If we want nice paint jobs maybe the home country of the team shoulds start painting their current competitor for the Miss Universe pagent onto the cars. lol.

          2. lmao man I thought the same thing, Yankees almighty switch hitter :D

        2. Your kind of mentality is why we have pregnant teenagers. Children need to be raised by their family (being a mother and father) and not by the community deciding what is best. I grew up in a family of smokers , but yet I dont because my father showed me why it wasnt a good idea. My daughter is now 22 and was never pregnant, because my wife and I showed her the proper values. Dont try to blame it on tv and other propaganda, that is a fools cop-out.
          Tobacco is a legal product just like alcohol and other things yet society has deemed it a bad product now, but wont make it illegal. I bet you all love the taxes that are generated by the tobacco industrie though.
          My family lives in the middle of a region where tobacco is the single largest cash crop yet none of us smoke now. I dont care for smoking but I dont go crazy if someone else does.

          I would love for the govtments and motorsports to get off this hypocracy about tobacco and let them go back to advertising and get even more money from them.
          For all the rules against the advertising and ban on smoking in certain areas the rate of smoking still goes up..

          1. I didn’t mean that ONLY propaganda draws people up to smoking. My father smokes too, seven of my uncles are smokers and lot of my cousings are smokers too, but I’ve never put a cigarette in my mouth. I agree with you that the family has the greatest input on how their children will raise. But that’s too due on how their parents were raised. Their level of education, neighborhood, etc etc. In my case, and yours too, our parents gave us enough education to realize how stupid tobacco is.

            But bear in mind, it is all relative. There are some people who don’t even care about their children, therefore have no input on their behaviour. They let those kids get their “life experience” by themselves, which may lead them to the wrong way.

            I mean, here in Brazil there’s just a lot of sexual-inducing things on television (like TV Globo’s novels) and “music” (like Rio de Janeiro’s ‘funk’, which is a complete and utter disgrace). But anyway, kids and teens are drawn to it. They find it cool, because it is a adult thing, and kids at this age really want to be like adults (resulting in smoker kids and pregnant teenagers, and maybe even the criminal of tomorrow). Don’t take your own daughter’s example, because this may not be the reality in other families.

            When I joined high school, at the age of 13, I was just devastated to see kids at the same age of mine smoking.

            In the end, if the parents doesn’t have a proper input over their kids, who has? You guessed it: propaganda. Of course the parents shoud do they part, but the community and the media (including sports advertising) should do too.

      2. @mp4-19b I’ve read your comments over the past months with some amusement and the odd wish that maturity would catch up with you. Your age betrays you in most of your posts, but this latest proves that you are young enough to have neither contracted cancer, nor lost anyone close to you due to that awful killer. That you would place what you consider to be a pretty car over a slow and painful death, preceded by chemotherapy or radiation treatment, is really rather petty and pathetic.

        I wish you the best of health and a rapid growth spurt in brain function and experience. Perhaps then a little wisdom will intervene between your brain and fingertips.

      3. That is the biggest pile of rubbish I’ve read in a long time. Do you really think tobacco companies would spend millions of pounds each year for advertising that had no effect whatsoever? Do you know anything about the effectiveness of advertising at all?

        Do you know anything about the change in the rates of smoking over the last 20 years? Well here’s a fact for you to chew on: tobacco use has significantly decreased since the ban in advertising this murderous product. Yeah, those EU senators are a bunch of idiots for saving all those lives. Yeah. Totally. You idiot.

        You think the cars look beautiful? Well beauty is in the eye of the beholder but what about the cars before they had sponsorship in the 50s? Did they look worse?

        1. Hey Arnet..I think he’s a kid! Probably a teenager..hahaha

          I agree that Cigarettes should not be advertised or endorsed, people who want to take up smoking should decided for themselves, it should not be imposed on them.

          Having said that..the paint jobs were great back in the days, no doubt about it. Aesthetically, the cars were brilliant. Marlboro-Mclaren’s were distictive, JPS-Lotus was sleek, Rothmans-Williams was iconic and my favourite of all time Gaulloise-Prost..very suave.

          1. Hey Arnet..I think he’s a kid! Probably a teenager..hahaha

            I’m not a Kid for heaven sake!!! You can go back generations in my family & yet find no smokers. I think you did not read my next post down below before commenting. I said I hate tobacco products . I know only too well about the ill effects of tobacco on human body. But it was wrong of you & Arnet to tell me off!! Especially Arnet. If someone in his family was so dumb enough to get carried away by Tobacco propaganda & succumbed to it later, isn’t exactly my problem. It his he who should have advised them. People like Arnet are hypocrites. Real strength of character lies in self-control, You cannot push every thing under the carpet & say every thing is fine. If Arnet is was really concerned bout his health all he needs to do is to stay away from tobacco products like me. But i still reiterate my stand on tobacco products: I hate them!! But the Pseudo attitude will only lead to more cancer deaths.

            @ Arnet: I understand your vicious intentions. Wishing someone bad isn’t ethical. but i have no problems with it ;)

      4. @mp4-19d

        I’m not sure whether you read english very well or not, but if you re-read over my post, I wished you the best of health. I would never wish what I have gone through on anyone, despite their ignorance. You seem to have an unnatural talent for reinterpretation. I confess to needing some help in understanding your spin.

        It’s true, young people often don’t have your super-human ability to just say no to harmful products. That is why advertising has been curtailed in most civilized areas of the world, to protect the vulnerable. You seem to imply that people with addictions deserve the consequences.

        As for the appearance of the cars, this really has less to do with the brand, and more to do with the modern age of product placement. It was a group of blind idiots within AIG that approved Renault’s latest colour scheme. The same group could easily have been working for Mild Seven. JPS looked cool? Who’s to say Nike wouldn’t come up with the same gold on black? The problem is the crowding in of other sponsors. What I’m hearing is that people miss the clean look of a single sponsor. Those days are over, child.

  19. i don’t want to see Alonso at ferrari, I’ve always seen him as a great rival to ferrari (i.e in 2005/6) It would feel like John Terry moving to Man U.

    1. But Juliano Belletti scores an own goal & alleges that Carlo Ancelotti & Roman Abramovich have told him to do so!! So John Terry has no choice. He’s going to man u cuz Owen is heading back home, to liverpool where he belongs :)

    2. Or seeing Brett Favre in a Vikings uniform..who ever thought we’d see the day?

    3. I agree with you! it would be like seeing lewis at ferrari, if that ever happened id probably be sick!

  20. I think EU must chuck this rule.

    It’s a good rule because as a kid watching F1 and looking at the cars it always made me think ‘god I want a cigarette and get lung cancer…’
    EU thinks we’re all thick and can’t think for ourselves and ruin the nice liveries.

    1. Exactly! I was 6 years old when i started watching F1 in 1993. I’ve seen them all,marlboro,rothmans,west,windfield,lucky strike,mild seven,555 etc. But never ever did i develop the slightest inclination towards tobacco products. But still i found them to be very cool :) In fact i own all the tobacco based livery jackets & shirts. Managed to get rothmans jacket with very great difficulty, even had Nacional stitched separately by a tailor. I love tobacco based liveries, but hate tobacco products.

  21. ‘Saint Luca’ in Autosport:

    “…I was always pleased with my drivers. We have the world champion of two years ago, and we have the driver who, when he crossed the finish line in Brazil, he was world champion for 15 seconds – unfortunately only 15. So we have really fantastic drivers…”

    Q. What about the rumours about Fernando Alonso?

    LDM: You are very young, I am very old, and this is old news. Every year it is the same. We have two drivers, now three, plus also we are close to having Michael so we have a lot of drivers – this is not a problem for us now.

    1. I hate this self-righteous b****** !!!!

  22. The language of a timid media:
    “X is understood to have …”
    “X is widely believed to be …”
    “It is argued that …”
    “Many consider …”

    This language allows plausible deniability if things later turn out to be false. Nobody has the cajones to come out and say “I believe X”

    I hate to see a personal blog sink to using such language, even while acknowledging that F1F is increasingly influential in the media. It’s just slimy.

    1. I think the headline makes it pretty clear where I believe Alonso is going.

      I don’t like weak rationalisations any more than the next man, but I’m not going to pretend I have my own source confirming a story when I don’t. That’s slimy.

      1. right on Keef.

      2. Thanks for replying Keith.

        Ferrari is understood to be trying to buy Raikkonen out of his contract, despite his recent resurgence in form.

        If you don’t have your own source, then the statement above should link to a website that you think does (and whose source is traditionally reasonably correct). Otherwise it just looks like you’re protecting your own source, or worse, making it seem like you are. Why else would you use such language?

        Because you can simply say:

        “Autosport/ James Allen /(pick one) has been reporting that Ferrari is trying to buy out Raikkonen.”

        And a link to the right article/post would be nice to have (but not necessary, just a name would be enough). You could even say “Autosport and others …” if there are more than one.

        Including a name or seconday source allows your readers to judge whether or not the sources you judge to be trustworthy, are in fact accurate or not as reality unfolds. Not including a name exposes you to the accusation that you don’t want to be called out if/when your formerly trustworthy source turns out to be wrong.

        So why don’t you go ahead and tell us who actually “understands” that Ferrari is trying to buy out Raikkonen?

        Needless to say, this is all meta stuff and your writing is spot-on in the first approximation and is much appreciated.

        1. If you don’t have your own source, then the statement above should link to a website that you think does

          It’s not a new piece of information, I referred to it on here ages ago. I can’t remember if I included a reference to where it was first reported, but I’ve seen it in multiple places since (probably not all online). That said I take your point and will bear it in mind in future.

          1. Yes, you did link to Autosport and James Allen back in January:
            https://www.racefans.net/2009/01/02/why-id-buy-the-alonso-to-ferrari-story/

            Cool. Would be nice to see more of that, unless you want to protect your sources (like with your scoop on the Bourdais thing).

    2. Nobody has the cajones to come out and say…

      Certainly not! I haven’t seen any person having “Drawers” (Cajones)

      Maybe “Cojones” would work better! :-)

    3. It’s a blog, not Reuters Hakka.

      Blogs are about peoples opinions as well as cold hard facts. That’s the beauty of the infomation super highway ;)

  23. Most Important story of the decade on Becken Lima’s blog .

    1. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind part 2!!! Never ever have i seen anything like this! This might be the biggest scandal of all time !! Ooh this has to be the mother of all scandals. This will be spoken for years to come. Everything pales into insignificance before this!!OMG, we are all f up!! What a sham. Even Mario Puzo couldn’t have written this script. Its a thriller letter, Dan Brown must bend his head in shame !!

      1. I’m devastated as an f1 fan. :(

  24. For news that are released here in Brazil, Felipe is recovering very fast and does not rule out the possibility of driving at Interlagos then I believe he will return to lead his ferrari at high level of competitiveness, such as it has done until before the accident

    1. Are we playing Chinese whispers? A Google translation to English from Portuguese when the original English is available on the very same page :)

  25. OK, Heres what will happen.
    Kimi sees out his contract through 2010. Fernando stays w/Renault through 2010. 2011 Alonso to Ferrari and Kimi goes rallying. Massa stays w/Ferrari through 2012 and then leaves ’cause he won’t be able to get along w/Fernando. Not sure who goes to McLaren ’cause Rosbergs going to Brawn at the expense of Barrichello.

  26. Next step: Fernando Alonso to Ferrari

    1. Indranil Dudhane
      11th September 2009, 13:52

      …or is he really coming?

      “For next year we have Raikkonen, Massa, Fisichella, Badoer, Gene, and I hope Michael Schumacher, so we have a bench as long as Real Madrid’s.

      “We have two great champion with the 2007 champion and the man who was 2008 champion for 15 seconds when he crossed the line. So I think we have two extraordinary drivers.”
      -Luca di Montezemolo

        1. Yes, I was going to mention that too. It looks like he is confirming Räikkönen and Massa next year.

  27. I agree with Leaf,, anyway we can see that nobody has any sure information. If Alonso goes to Ferrari only reason is money. It’s bid sad that he have to buy his seat – Felipe and Kimi didn’t and they are making better job like professionals, not acting like teenagers

  28. I’m not keen on the idea of three-car teams, but a Schumacher-Alonso-Raikkonen line-up would give Ferrari a squad with ten world championship titles between them…

    I think it’s more likely they want Alonso-Raikkonen-Massa, and are just using Schumacher’s name to get them three cars. By Ferrari’s own statements following his successful operation, after all, it seems that Massa has first dibs on any seat.

  29. I repeat here:
    Alonso’s anouncement:
    13th November at Cheste, Spain, Ferrari’s season closing party for the first time out of maranello…
    For me this “first time out of Maranello” speaks itself, do you remember the Mclaren party at Valencia in 2006?
    Cheers.

    1. So the main sponsor Santander has nothing to do with this?

  30. Prisoner Monkeys
    10th September 2009, 22:37

    I don’t think the presence of Santander guarantees Alonso as a driver. Luca di Montezemolo has commented on several occasions that sponsors do not determine driver lineup.

    1. For sure :), but perhaps driver lineup determines sponsorship?

      1. Prisoner Monkeys
        11th September 2009, 5:28

        Only if Santander was Alonso’s personal sponsor … which they’re not.

  31. I read this title and thought it said Shumacher deal confirmed.

  32. “Ferrari is understood to be trying to buy Raikkonen” WHY His recent performance has not been bad.

    Schumacher-Alonso-Raikkonen thats BONKERS

  33. Ferrari has said just on thursday that their sponsors do not choose their drivers, means spanish bank dont mean spanish driver.

    i do not understand how many times Ferrai has to repeat themselves before people believe that Alonso is not going to Ferrari 2010..

  34. so, ferrari will have over stock of driver then :D

  35. Paige Michael-Shetley
    11th September 2009, 6:10

    Ferrari would make the mistake of the century dumping Raikkonen for Alonso.

    Raikkonen has shown time and again throughout his career he’s quicker than Alonso, and when he’s motivated and focused, he’s probably the best driver in F1 with the exception perhaps of Hamilton and Vettel. With better luck, he would be a three-time champion already, perhaps even a four-time champion considering all of the points he lost from incidents and mechanical failures that were not his fault and poor strategy calls Ferrari inflicted upon him last season. Raikkonen had all of Ferrari placed on his shoulders once Massa went down, and he responded by showing just how great he is with three consecutive podiums and a win in a car that hasn’t been upgraded during that time.

    I don’t see any argument whatsoever for Alonso being a better driver than Raikkonen. In fact, I really don’t see much of an argument for Alonso being much, if any, better than Massa, based on what they’ve accomplished when they’ve been in similar circumstances. Ferrari have a great situation with two of the top-5 drivers in F1 work work harmoniously, and they’d be dumb to make a change for a guy who’s shown what he can do to a team when he’s not happy.

    As a McLaren fan, I do hope Ferrari are dumb enough to make the change. I’d love to see Raikkonen back at McLaren. A Hamilton-Raikkonen pairing would be one of the best in F1 history.

    1. Indranil Dudhane
      11th September 2009, 13:58

      and when he’s motivated and focused

      “when” is a problem..

    2. The problem is, Ferrari are Ferrari. Their expectations are phenomenally high. The bottom line is that Kimi could have won the Championship in 2008, but he didn’t get close. That’s a sackable offence when you’re a Ferrari’s #1 driver on £25m a year.

  36. We hava plan. Michaela will cook sphagetti whilea Alonso will preparea the salada and then Fisi will poura the winea for the guests. Kimi will maka the spumoni ‘causa he’sa icea colda. Massa will sitta at the head ofa the table becausea he isa the guest of honor.

  37. I wonder which sponsor McLaren have lined up to replace Santander…

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