Berlin – McLaren has dismissed suggestions that two-time champion Fernando Alonso could leave if he is not successful with the Formula One team.
“He has a straight three-year contract with us, with no options,” McLaren boss Ron Dennis told the Formula One website.
“It’s as simple as that. That’s what we wanted to offer him, and that’s what he wanted to sign. I can’t make it plainer than that, can
I?”
Alonso, 33, has returned to McLaren this season after leaving Ferrari but has managed only a 12th and 11th finish so far in a team which has struggled this year.
Neither Alonso nor team-mate Jenson Button have a point after four races, with the F1 season now heading to the Spanish Grand Prix on May 10.
Dennis said McLaren with new engine partner Honda were improving from race to race and would at some point reap the benefits of their hard work.
“Mark my words! We’ll win together and, when we do so we’ll do so dominantly,” he said.
McLaren are one of F1’s most successful teams, with 12 drivers’ world championships and eight constructors’ world championships, but the last one was seven years ago with Lewis Hamilton as driver and Mercedes as engine partner.
Dennis said the team “have a mountain to climb, but climbing it we are and scale its summit we will.”
He added: “We knew this season would be tough, but we’re making progress with every Grand Prix.”
DPA