McLaren denied that it was in talks with twice world champion
Fernando Alonso about the Spaniard's possible return to the Formula
One team that he left only last month.
McLaren's Formula One
driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain is helped by members of his team
during a training session at the Jerez racetrack in southern Spain
yesterday.
"McLaren is unaware of any current discussions with Fernando or
his management," the team said in a statement.
Spain's AS daily sports newspaper reported that McLaren had in
the last few days offered Alonso, who has yet to announce his plans
for 2008, a one-year contract with the same terms and conditions as
before.
It said Alonso would only consider returning if McLaren agreed
in writing to various changes, including being able to follow his
own race strategy apart from teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Even then, it said, a return was unlikely with Alonso unwilling
to return while Ron Dennis remained as team boss.
McLaren has yet to announce a replacement for Alonso, who fell
out with the team's management in a fraught season dominated by a
spying controversy that cost the team a US$100 million fine and the
loss of all its constructors' points.
Britain's Hamilton, 22, ended his rookie season in second place
and ahead of Alonso on race placings after the two finished level
on points and behind Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.
Meanwhile, both Renault and McLaren will be in the spotlight
when the International Automobile Federation (FIA)'s World Motor
Sport Council meets in Monaco today.
The French team faces charges of unauthorized possession of
confidential McLaren information while its Mercedes-powered rival
is still under scrutiny for an earlier spying controversy involving
Ferrari data.
Renault, which is accused of having McLaren data from September
2006 to October of this year, says its cars were untainted by
information brought to them by former McLaren employee Phil
Mackereth, who has since been suspended.
However McLaren believes its rival - champion in 2005 and 2006
with Alonso - gained an unfair advantage. A note leaked to
reporters last month revealed that the information concerned 780
individual drawings "outlining the entire technical blueprint of
the 2006 and 2007 McLaren cars."
It also alleged that up to 18 Renault employees, including seven
engineering bosses and heads of department, had discussed the
information.
Renault, which failed to win a race this year, faces potentially
the same penalties as those imposed on McLaren earlier in the
year.
Alonso is widely believed to be awaiting the outcome before
committing himself to a return to Renault.
If his former team is heavily penalized, then the Spaniard may
switch his focus elsewhere with Renault-powered Red Bull seen as
the most likely alternative despite having both Australian Mark
Webber and Briton David Coulthard under contract.
The World Motor Sport Council is expected to reach a decision
today before turning its attentions to McLaren's 2008 car.
The FIA said after punishing the team in September that it would
investigate further to ensure that no Ferrari data appeared in next
year's car.
FIA president Max Mosley has suggested that any further
sanctions could take the form of a "negative points allocation" for
McLaren at the start of next season.
However Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone distanced himself
from such talk.
"What Max said after the last World Council Meeting...was that
if they (the FIA) found anything on the (McLaren) car, they could
be (penalized)," he said last week.
"But they have got to have found something in there for a start
and then the World Council has got to agree it."
FIA inspectors have been to the McLaren headquarters at Woking,
with Mosley saying they would be looking for design ideas that
could be traced to Ferrari rather than just copied components.
A McLaren spokeswoman said the team had no comment on either
hearing.
(Agencies via Shanghai Daily December 6, 2007)
