Jarno Trulli insists he was never really concerned about rumours linking Fernando Alonso with his Toyota seat for 2008.
Before the Spanish double world champion Alonso sealed his return to Renault after an ill-fated single season with McLaren, he was also strongly linked with a move in 2008 to Toyota, as well as Red Bull.
But Trulli, the 33-year-old Italian veteran of more than 180 grands prix, told the newspaper ‘Diario AS’ that he enjoyed a mostly relaxing winter break.
“I didn’t think anything about it; I was usually working in the factory over the winter and knew I had a contract until 2009,” he said.
Trulli does, however, wonder about the manner in which Toyota, the Japanese team that is based in Cologne, Germany, handled the Alonso rumours.
“Maybe they should have slowed down the rumours that Fernando or Kovalainen could be arriving to take my place,” said Trulli, who was Alonso’s teammate at Renault in 2003 and 2004.
He says he would enjoy working with Alonso again, even at Toyota.
“It would have been nice to have him again as my teammate,” Trulli admitted, “but that has been the case and we both took our separate paths.
“I was waiting to see if he would come (to Toyota) during the winter, but as soon as Timo Glock was signed, I knew Fernando would be going back to Renault,” he added.
