McLaren `not a winning team` - Alonso

Fernando Alonso says he chose to leave McLaren at the end of last year because the Anglo-German outfit is “not a winning team”.

The former double world champion is quoted by the Dutch website f1today.nl as justifying his return to Renault this year, following his spectacular falling out with British McLaren duo Ron Dennis and Lewis Hamilton in 2007.

“McLaren seem like a winning team, but they are not,” Alonso said.

“Some teams are able to produce good cars,” he said. “They seem like winners, but in fact they are not, like McLaren.

“They haven`t won any titles in years, so I would rather be with Renault, who in the same period collected two drivers` and two constructors` championships.”

Alonso said he decided to switch to Renault for the 2008 season because they are the right choice for the `coming years`, despite their lack of competitiveness at present.

“I could have gone to a couple of other teams, but ultimately Renault seemed like the right ones, with the experience, to make a good car and win races.”

For the moment, however, Alonso is making no concrete commitment to the French outfit for 2009.

“Next year I want to be with a team that can win,” he said.

“At the moment I think it will be Renault, because by the end of the season we will have made up a lot of our deficiencies and then we can make a small further step for the next season,” Alonso added.

Source: GMM

10.4.2008   ▪ Formula One    ▪ Alonso, McLaren    ▪ en.f1-live.com