With Christian Horner confirming that Vettel is off to Ferrari, Alonso was suddenly heavily pressured as to his future plans. With Daniil Kvyat already confirmed as Vettel's replacement, Alonso's only realistic destination appears to be McLaren, but he insisted he has not been backed in to a corner.
“Whatever I want to do I will do in the moment that I want to do it, and I will race more or less in whatever place I want,†Alonso said. “After that the others will move their position probably. When I finally make my decision we'll see what it is.â€
While his bravado was akin to an injured animal trying to ward off predators, there was another cryptic comment that creates further intrigue: “For the last two or three months you should understand already in which direction I'm moving but you didn't get it. When I tell you you will understand: 'Right, we should have known it'.â€
Allied to that, Crash.net was told by one senior driver that he has heard Alonso will end up “in a silver car†but not a McLaren.
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The topic of three-car teams was big news during the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, but overshadowed by moves in the driver market at Suzuka. However, the focus is likely to switch back to the idea of running an extra car in Sochi as it is set for discussion among the teams when they arrive in Russia.
For some drivers at least, the hope is for third cars to be approved in order to open up opportunities for new talent. One senior driver told Crash.net he believes a move to three car teams would be good for F1 - making the field more competitive - and also would allow a young driver already within the team's program the chance to race without having to move elsewhere.
Ultimately, the future of other teams will decide whether three cars are required, but claims from McLaren racing director Eric Boullier that six months will be required to prepare for such a change appear wide of the mark. While that may be fair warning, contractually the minimum notice period for written in to their memoranda of understanding for a switch to three cars is 60 days.
Inoltre:
The surprise removal of Martin Whitmarsh at the beginning of the year took place thanks to the transfer of McLaren shares from the Ojjeh brothers to Dennis, but the F1 boss was given a long deadline in which to find the money to pay for his increased stake. The first deadline for payment is said to have now expired, with a second deadline now fixed for January next year. Should Dennis not secure the necessary funds, the board can force his removal, as the former team boss no longer has majority control.
There was also believed to be a second condition to the ousting of Whitmarsh, with a confident Dennis promising the board he would be able to secure new funding for the once-dominant team now searching for a title sponsor. But with the Briton unwilling to drop his team's sponsorship rates to reflect McLaren's position in recent world championships, a new title sponsor has been rather difficult to come by.
In the context of that information, a timely reminder that Berger has good - and long-standing - relationships with both the Ojjeh brothers and McLaren's Bahraini investors gave the replacement rumours rather more traction than they appeared to merit at first glance.