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Sorry - this page has been removed. Fernando Alonso top target for Mercedes should Lewis Hamilton leave
(2 months later)
This could be because it launched early, our rights have expired, there was a legal issue, or for another reason. Fernando Alonso would be top of the list for Mercedes should the Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton fail to agree a deal with the team beyond 2015, according to the team’s motorsport director Toto Wolff.
Hamilton, who took his second world championship in 2014 after winning 11 races, has yet to sign a contract despite both sides talking about their eagerness to stay together.
For further information, please contact: “There’s no hurry, we’ll discuss it during the year,” Wolff told the Italian newspaper Gazetta dello Sport in an interview while on holiday in the Austrian ski resort of Kitzbühel.
“I’m an optimist. The priority is to continue with these drivers [Hamilton and Nico Rosberg]. Should it not be possible, then Alonso represents the first alternative, then there’s [Finland’s Valtteri] Bottas.”
McLaren said last month that Alonso, a double world champion, had signed a multi-year deal in joining them from Ferrari. However, the Spanish driver made little secret of the fact he was interested in the Mercedes seat and is likely to have an exit clauses if McLaren, who are starting a new partnership with Honda after years with Mercedes, underperform.
Wolff has emphasised repeatedly that Mercedes want Hamilton to stay and his words could be seen also as a means of putting pressure on the British driver by suggesting the team have alternatives.
Wolff paid tribute also to Alonso’s abilities, saying he was “dangerous in any car. If he has a car that can finish sixth, he will take it to third place.”
He dismissed Honda’s poor showing in their first test with the new engine and said it was an electronics issue, rather than anything more serious linked to the power unit, and of a kind that all teams had experienced.
Wolff also tipped the Mercedes-powered Williams, the team he was with previously and which employs his wife, Susie, as a test driver as well as Bottas, to be a main rival in 2015 after they finished third overall last season.
“I put Williams at the top of the list,” he said, “but I also fear a lot Red Bull. They have won four titles in a row and will use every resource in order to fight again for the title.”
For their part, Williams have moved to fend off any interest in Bottas who is out of contract at the end of 2015. Their deputy team principal Claire Williams said he was “100% committed” to Williams, for whom he finished on the podium six times in 2014 and came fourth in the drivers’ championship.
She told Autosport: “I’m sure people are looking at Valtteri and why wouldn’t they? He’s one of the brightest stars in the paddock but Valtteri started his career with Williams and when you talk to him you know that he’s 100% committed to Williams.
“It’s not like we’re fifth or sixth in the championship. Why would he go to another team when we’re able to provide him with the car he needs in order to win? Why would he go elsewhere?”