12.16.07
Reports claim Alonso has quit McLaren
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FORMER double Formula One champion Fernando Alonso has left the McLaren team, the Spanish media reported today.
Alonso’s agent, Luis Garcia Abad, apparently reached a deal with McLaren team chief Ron Dennis under which the driver does not have to pay anything for rescinding his contract.
“Fernando is no longer with McLaren. It is confirmed. He is free to sign with any team next season,” Garcia Abad said.
Alonso, who still had two years left on his contract, joined McLaren this year after winning the drivers’ championship two years in a row with Renault.
He clashed with McLaren management and team-mate Lewis Hamilton throughout the season, finishing third behind champion Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari and Hamilton.
He has been linked with possible moves to Renault and Williams.
Alonso had complained that, as a two-time world champion, he deserved preferential treatment, and accused McLaren of favouring the 22-year-old rookie Hamilton.
Dennis and Alonso didn’t talk to each other for a period.
“Outside the car, we had some difficulties this season, that was no secret,” Alonso said after the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix. “You have ups and downs sometimes, but I will have great memories from this year.”
Alonso was one of the drivers who had his name involved in the spying scandal that overshadowed the second half of the season.
McLaren was fined a record £50 million by the World Motor Sport Council on September 13 after the FIA found the team guilty of using leaked data from Ferrari.
The British team was kicked out of the constructors’ championship, and authorities contended that Alonso had some knowledge of the facts.