A match made in heaven and long predicted just might finally be happening. Rumors are rampant that Fernando Alonso is going to make the move from Renault to Ferrari in Formula One.
Ferrari is the iconic team of F1. The team has finished off a run of dominance with Michael Schumacher and now gone through three very iffy years. Kimi Raikkonen was brought in to replace the retired Schumacher. The results were initially excellent with Raikkonen nipping Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso to take the Driver’s Championship his first year with the team. Since then, however, it has been all down hill and that is a major understatement.
Fernando Alonso is a Spaniard who has been a World Champion twice while driving for Renault. He made an ill fated switch to McLaren Mercedes that resulted in a small civil war at the team and then eventually returned to Renault. The results have been both bad and good at Renault as the team has produced an uncompetitive car, but Alonso has repaired his reputation by still driving the car to the front half of the field and even has won twice.
The three dominant talents in Formula One are Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton is at McLaren and not going anywhere. Vettel could end up at Ferrari as the teams experience with German drivers [Schumacher] has been excellent. All and all, however, it appears Alonso is the choice for the team. There are a few reasons for this.
Formula One is often viewed as being very popular in Europe. This is not the case in Spain. The nation had no race for a very long time as it is much more skewed towards motorcycle racing. The rise of Fernando Alonso saw a renewed interest in F1, but there is no mistaking the interest is in him and not the sport itself. Regardless, this has resulted in a number of Spanish sponsors moving into F1 to support him at McLaren Mercedes when he made his move. Finally free of that albatross of a contract, a funny thing has happened. The Spanish sponsors have all been moving to…Ferrari.
Hmmmm…
The old saying is where there is smoke, there is fire. The Alonso to Ferrari rumor is a towering inferno. Is there anything that can stop it? Yes. Ironically, it is the incredibly disappointing Kimi Raikkonen. He has a monster contract that is alleged to pay him roughly $45 million a year. The contract runs through 2010, which means Ferrari would have to come up with a big buyout. Normally, that would not be a problem but we do not live in normal times. Still, the move makes so much sense that it is hard to imagine Ferrari suffering through another year of Raikkonen driving around aimlessly. Expect to see Alonso in Ferrari red in 2010.
Dirk Gibson writes about auto racing for DCJAutoParts.com - where you can find the lowest prices on high performance
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