Following the espionage scandal verdict, Fernando Alonso is almost certain to leave the McLaren team to join Renault next year, according to a newspaper.
The Berlin based daily newspaper Die Welt reiterated on Friday that the Spaniard’s current contract includes an exit clause that will have been triggered due to McLaren’s exclusion from the constructors’ championship.
“A return to Renault for Alonso is considered very probable,” the newspaper contended.
The reigning world champion’s relationship with team boss Ron Dennis was already strained, and Alonso is believed to have been calculatingly excluded from McLaren’s Paris delegation on Thursday despite his leading role in the evidence that incriminated the team.
Indeed, the FIA’s 15-page evidence dossier released at Spa-Francorchamps on Friday acknowledged that Lewis Hamilton – who, like Pedro de la Rosa, attended the hearing – had “no information” about the spy saga, while Alonso provided by email information that the World Motor Sport Council found “highly relevant”.
