• Ferrari news

Alonso planning to finish his career at Ferrari

Fernando Alonso: "I still have three and a half more years with Ferrari that I intend to respect and hopefully to increase a little bit" © Sutton Images

Enlarge

Fernando Alonso intends to see his career out at Ferrari and insists there was no substance to rumours that he was sounding out Red Bull about a drive for 2014.

Alonso's manager was spotted talking to Christian Horner at the Hungarian Grand Prix, sparking rumours that the Spaniard may be looking for a switch to the triple world champions. Red Bull did little to play down the speculation, but Alonso says there was no substance to it and that he intends to see out his current contract, which expires at the end of 2016.

"It was only rumours, a lot of rumours," he said. "There were rumours about Red Bull, in Italy about a sabbatical year - there were so many rumours. I still have three and a half more years with Ferrari that I intend to respect and hopefully to increase a little bit.

"I want to finish my career in the best team in the world, which is Ferrari. At the moment we are not achieving the results that we want but we are working very hard. Next year we will have completely new rules that will open the door to many teams to stop the domination of Red Bull seems to have. We have high hopes for next year's challenge."

Focusing on this year's title race, Alonso said beating Sebastian Vettel at the next two races would be crucial if Ferrari is going to continue to spend resources on the 2013 car.

"I don't think two wins is something we can put as a target [for the next two races]," he said. "We have won two grand prix until now in the championship, so it would be a little bit too optimistic to really think we can win the next two races. We will try to do so and we will hope for the best, but a more realistic target is to finish in front of Sebastian.

"I think it's a target we wanted to do in the last couple of grands prix but we didn't arrive in a situation to close the gap. We need to change this situation and will be happy finishing in front of him here in Monza and in Singapore. Finishing in front of Sebastian means finishing on the podium as a minimum. We know how strong he is and how strong Red Bull will be. If we cannot do so and we keep losing points, obviously we need to start thinking more about 2014 project because there will only be six or seven races remaining with a massive points difference."

And Alonso is confident Ferrari can be competitive at its home race this weekend at Monza.

"The characteristics of the track should help so we have everything in place for a good weekend. We have to deliver when it comes to the time in Sunday in the race. But I'm confident and we are ready to fight. I think for us it will be a better test at Singapore when he get back to maximum downforce track and there we will see how much of a step forward we have made. But let's concentrate on this weekend and getting the maximum while finishing in front of our main rivals."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.