Todt rules out Alonso move to Ferrari

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By Jonathan Noble Sunday, September 30th 2007, 04:30 GMT


Ferrari team principal Jean Todt has ruled out any talk of reigning world champion Fernando Alonso moving to his team next year.

Speculation since the Belgian Grand Prix has been rife that Alonso could be on his way to the Maranello outfit in the future, with serious doubts emerging that he will remain at McLaren.

But speaking to ITV before the start of the Japanese Grand Prix, Todt ruled out any change in Ferrari's driver line-up of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa for next year.

"We have both drivers, Felipe and Kimi, under contract with Ferrari for 2008 and we respect our contracts," he said. "Both did a fantastic job.

"Alonso is a great driver, he's now fighting for a third drivers' world championship. He's a great driver, I have a lot of respect for him as a driver, but we are very happy with our contracted drivers."

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Todt remains open about F1 future

By Jonathan Noble Sunday, September 30th 2007, 12:54 GMT


Ferrari team principal Jean Todt insists he remains open about his future in Formula One, although has suggested that any decision to remain at Ferrari is not strictly his.

The Frenchman, who has been at the helm of the Maranello team since 1993, has in recent weeks been linked with both retirement and a possible switch to Toyota.

When asked about the speculation regarding his future at the Japanese Grand Prix, Todt said that he could see himself remaining in F1 for up to another five years - although did not completely commit himself for that length of time.

"I could stay not all my life in Formula One, but why not the next five years? I will stop when I feel I'm happy to stop, which is a fantastic privilege because I can decide that I can stop now if I want and I could live the way I live until the end of my life with the people I love. Or, I can more forwards.

"Of course, talking about Ferrari, the decision is not only depending on me, because Ferrari... you know it's the same when we speak about Alonso: 'Todt does not want Alonso.' It's stupid.

"Ferrari does not belong to me?Ferrari belongs to Fiat and there is a president, (Luca di) Montezemolo, so a decision of this importance is not something I decide myself. But I give, of course, my opinion and my opinion has probably some influence on the final decision."

Amid rumours of possible increased political tensions within Ferrari, Todt admitted that his future at the team may not entirely be in his hands.

"Of course, some people could decide that they are not interested having me in the company any more which is something that I already mentioned?It doesn't belong to me, but then I could still decide to do other things.

"That's quite an easy situation, in a sense that at the moment, there is no official decision about the future and when the proper time arrives, which can be sooner or later, then we will announce it."

Todt also reiterated that there was no chance of world champion Fernando Alonso switching to the team next year.

"No, zero percent, zero percent, zero," he explained. "We have two fantastic drivers, Kimi, Felipe, we are very happy with them, and they are under contract.

"As I said before, we will respect a contract for a guy cleaning the floor so you can imagine that I will respect a (drivers') contract."