Back to back world champion Fernando Alonso spent this week with his new team in the town of Woking.
It is understood that the 25-year-old Spaniard, after his 2007 contract triggered officially on 1 January, travelled to the English borough in order to integrate fully with the McLaren squad.
Reports in Spain say Alonso has been following progress with the final build of the MP4-22 cars, meeting with engineers, and doing his first laps in the Mercedes-powered squad’s lauded driver simulator.
‘Diario As’ also reports that Alonso plans to move from Oxford to Woking in order to be closer to the McLaren Technology Centre.
Although the Woking based team is pleased with its new acquisition, Mercedes’ Norbert Haug warned that despite Alonso’s recent success, he does not possess a “title gene”.
“We are however convinced that we have a very good driver combination,” the competition chief told Sport1, despite the fact that McLaren rarely starts a season with two team newcomers.
Referring to Alonso’s rookie teammate, German Haug added: “Lewis Hamilton will be granted a learning period (in 2007), in which we know he will make some errors.”
GMMF1
DailyF1News.com
