• Ferrari

Alonso: No deadline on 2015 decision

Fernando Alonso has played down suggestion he needs to decide on his future by the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi.

Alonso will leave Ferrari at the end of the year and, with few options left for 2015, is expected to sign for McLaren. Rumours persist that a deal is close, but Alonso refuses to be drawn on the subject despite quotes this week from McLaren racing director Eric Boullier saying Alonso must decide before Abu Dhabi.

"I don't think there is any deadline to do anything," Alonso said. "One week it's McLaren saying something, last week it was Lotus and [Gerard] Lopez saying he was in talks about me and my future. That's true but it's not about Formula One, it's about another project we may have together, but it's on the business side and not F1 [Alonso later confirmed it was a "bicycle" project].

"Every day is a rumour and even today I read that I had bought Marussia for one dollar. It's absolutely not true! It's the same thing always, but the most important thing, as I said in Japan, is that two or three months ago I took a decision and followed that decision and direction and hopefully you will know soon."

Alonso has stressed on several occasions that he will make the best decision for Ferrari as well as himself. Asked how leaving the team can be the best thing for it, he replied: "If I feel that they need new motivation and to work in the future with less pressure, I will understand."

Although Mercedes has dominated the season this year, Alonso believes there are no guarantees over who will be the team to beat in 2015.

"From the outside it's true that the situation is not so clear and probably Mercedes is the team that is dominating now and everyone thinks it will dominate next year. Probably we thought so also with Red Bull last year when they won the championship and the last nine races and this year they did five laps in winter testing.

"You never know year to year how things change and you need to study the projects, you need to see what are the prospects and you need to follow one direction. It's not the priority at the moment because we are racing here in a weekend with 75 people working on two cars to deliver a good result on Sunday and this is what it's all about. At the moment my priority in the past, the present and the future is Ferrari as well and it's not the moment to talk."

"Formula One is a complex sport and you never know how the teams will perform the year after. I think you need to see what are the best possibilities out there and I am extremely lucky and privileged to choose more or less where I want to go. I have the doors open in many places and we've seen the difficulty of some small teams, some drivers who are fighting for the seat even in this day. I feel very lucky not to have those problems and to more or less choose where I want to go. If I choose a direction some months ago it's because I feel it will be better, but it will never be 100%."

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