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Alonso has say in future Ferrari team-mate

ESPN Staff
June 21, 2012 « Ecclestone faces allegations over bribes | Raikkonen dismisses talk of ructions at Lotus »
Fernando Alonso would have "no problem" with either Lewis Hamilton or Sebastian Vettel as his team-mate © Press Association
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Fernando Alonso has revealed that he has been consulted by Ferrari over who he would like alongside him as a future team-mate.

While rumours about Felipe Massa's future appeared to be dying down following improved performances recently, Stefano Domenicali's comments about Sebastian Vettel had renewed interest in a Vettel-Alonso partnership. When questioned about whether he has ever had a say in the identity of his team-mate, Alonso admitted: "In the past, never. Now in Ferrari, yes.

"I'm in Italy every week, so when we are there sometimes when I see the president or I see Stefano and we talk about development of the car, we talk about GT - now there is some work doing a new car that will be launched at the end of the year that we are doing some tests for - we talk about the future in Formula One, about the Corsa Cliente which is owners that have old Formula One cars that they want us to be there at some circuits so I can teach some drivers, and also about future and team-mates as well."

When asked if he would expect Ferrari to take his comments on board if he didn't want to drive alongside a certain driver Alonso replied: "I doubt it. It's an open chat we talk about; in the end it's their decision."

He was then specifically asked whether he'd welcome Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel as team-mates in future, to which he responded the same for both: "No problem."

Alonso added that he always wanted to be tested by his team-mate, before saying that Massa has been tougher competition than it may have appeared.

"Yeah I do, I have a lot of respect for Felipe and I think the challenging moments - even if from the outside it's difficult to notice what a challenging time he's given to me in the last three years - it's not bad. Even if from the outside it looks easy."

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