Flavio Briatore insists Fernando Alonso will not be worried if Kimi Raikkonen is signed by Ferrari for 2014.<\/p>\n
As the long and sillier-than-usual driver ‘silly-season’ finally looks set to draw to a close, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said at Monza he is now poised to decide the famous Italian team’s next lineup.<\/p>\n
“We will take a decision in the next days, and we haven’t taken any kind of a decision yet,” he said on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Undoubtedly, the frontrunners to be Spaniard Alonso’s teammate next year are Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa and Nico Hulkenberg — and probably in that order of preference.<\/p>\n
The fact former team champion Raikkonen, first signed in 2007 to replace former ‘number 1’ Michael Schumacher, is Ferrari’s preference probably explains Alonso’s foul mood of recent weeks.<\/p>\n
The latest evidence that all is not well in the Alonso-Ferrari marriage was broadcast live in the Italian tongue at the end of qualifying on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Alonso called his colleagues either “scemi” (stupid) or “geni” (geniuses) — the double world champion insisted it was the latter.<\/p>\n
“It’s ok,” Alonso said.\u00a0 “I am long enough in formula one that I know that these things are hyped.”<\/p>\n
But the episode left Montezemolo visibly furious, and initially refusing to give interviews.<\/p>\n
Later, when asked about the radio controversy, he told Italian reporters: “I don’t know and I don’t care, the issue is to be united and to fight with knives between our teeth tomorrow.”<\/p>\n
The undoubted elephant in the room, however, is Raikkonen.<\/p>\n
“First of all, Kimi is a good driver,” said Montezemolo, when asked about the strengthening rumours.<\/p>\n
As for his apparently strained relationship with the taciturn Finn, he answered: “What happened in the past with Kimi (and Ferrari)?\u00a0 We won a world championship.”<\/p>\n
Many in the paddock think the 33-year-old, to be the oldest driver in F1 next year after Mark Webber’s departure, has already signed a 2014 deal.<\/p>\n
“Ha,” Raikkonen told F1’s official website on Saturday, “some days ago the same people were 100 per cent sure that I’d signed for Red Bull!\u00a0 So much for that.”<\/p>\n
But if he does eventually sign, surely Alonso – the current Ferrari ‘number 1’ – will not like it.\u00a0 The looming prospect of having Felipe Massa replaced by Raikkonen would surely explain Alonso’s recent foul mood.<\/p>\n
Briatore, who is still involved in Alonso’s management, doesn’t see it like that.<\/p>\n
“Fernando is the number 1 and I don’t see any others,” he said at Monza, “unless you are talking about Hamilton and Vettel.\u00a0 These are the roosters in formula one.<\/p>\n
“He (Alonso) would have no problem to drive with any teammate.\u00a0 He just needs a driver who collaborates in the development of the car,” Briatore is quoted by La Gazzetta dello Sport.<\/p>\n
In truth, if Ferrari is determined to drop Massa, and Alonso then gets his way, the driver who would be signed qualified third on Saturday — in front of both red cars.<\/p>\n
“I am pleased to see it (the Sauber) up there with the best,” said Montezemolo, “because it shows we have a great engine.”<\/p>\n
He didn’t refer specifically to the 26-year-old German, but Nico Hulkenberg did his cause no harm at Monza with a giant-killing performance in an inferior car.<\/p>\n
“He is incredibly fast,” triple world champion Niki Lauda said on German television RTL.\u00a0 “He proves time and time again, and especially now, just what he can do.”<\/p>\n
Even Hulkenberg admitted he did his quest for Massa’s seat a big favour at Monza.<\/p>\n
“I can only influence it (Ferrari’s decision) by performing very well, and obviously the timing (of qualifying third at Monza) is not the worst,” he smiled.<\/p>\n
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