Alonso not ruling out Ferrari exit

Fernando Alonso has refused to categorically rule out leaving current team Ferrari as soon as next season for either former outfit McLaren or reigning champions Red Bull.

Alonso’s contract with Ferrari runs until the end of the 2016 season, but the 33-year-old’s future has been a regular topic of paddock discussion.

The Spaniard, currently driving in his fifth season with Ferrari, has grown increasingly frustrated with the lack of success for the sport’s glamour team which hasn’t won a race in over a year and faces the prospect of recording its first winless season since 1993.

“This is a very difficult question to answer… I will do the best for Ferrari,” Alonso told reporters ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, when asked to clearly state that he would not be driving a Red Bull or a McLaren next season or in 2016.

Talk that Alonso’s future lies away from Maranello has only grown louder in recent weeks and though refusing to rule out the possibility, the Spaniard on Thursday did say that the interests of Ferrari – locked in a battle for third in the constructors’ championship – took priority over his future.

“As I said in Singapore, we are in the middle of a fight with Williams in the constructors’ championship and I would like to help Ferrari to the maximum,” said Alonso, who a fortnight ago in Singapore had expressed his displeasure over the rumours which he said were damaging team unity.

“This is the first priority for me – on the track side to help the team – and my second priority will be my future if there is anything to talk about.”