Ferrari has dismissed as “fantasy” reports a lucrative 2014 offer has been made to former team driver Kimi Raikkonen.<\/p>\n
Those reports had followed suggestions the Maranello based team might lose its current number 1 driver, Spaniard Fernando Alonso, to Red Bull.<\/p>\n
But Ferrari’s communications boss Renato Bisignani told Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S.Paulo the rumours are “the typical fantasy in this period of rumours”.<\/p>\n
“There is not the slightest foundation,” he insisted.\u00a0 “We are united in this moment of loss of competitiveness and confident in the return to better ways.”<\/p>\n
Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, however, reports that Raikkonen’s manager Steve Robertson was spotted entering Ferrari’s motor home in Hungary.<\/p>\n
Bisignani added: “For the German journalists who called us about the (Raikkonen) news, we officially deny it.”<\/p>\n
A Ferrari spokesman was quoted elsewhere as insisting rumours about Ferrari quite often turn out to be completely untrue.<\/p>\n
“For all those with short memories,” he is quoted by DPA news agency, “only a year ago everyone came up with a list of drivers who would replace Felipe (Massa).”<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Bisignani played down any suggestion its running at Magny Cours this week might be compared to Mercedes’ highly-controversial ‘test-gate’ test.<\/p>\n
“We have been testing for two days with our 2011 car and the Pirelli demonstration tyres,” he confirmed.<\/p>\n
“The FIA was informed in advance of all the details, and (Ferrari) meets the requirements to be able to do it.”<\/p>\n
He added that the main goal of the test was to collect “data for several new programmes of the simulator”.<\/p>\n
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