Rumors about Fernando Alonso joining McLaren for 2015 have been circulating since last summer, when former Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo said the Spaniard would leave the Scuderia disappointed by its lackluster performance.
The Woking-based outfit had been the only major team that hadn’t announced its driver line-up for next season. That ended on December 11, with McLaren-Honda announcing that its two drivers will be Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button with Kevin Magnussen, who partnered Button this year, been relegated to the role of a test and reserve driver.
This is Alonso’s second coming to McLaren and it is fair to say that their split in 2007 wasn’t an amicable one, with the Spaniard having fallen out with team boss Ron Dennis.
Apparently, the duo have been holding secret meeting throughout the year to try and sort things out. “There was no question that there was a little bit of circling and discomfort”, Dennis told the press about their first talks. “The friendship we have re-established and demonstrate emotionally today, you would be very suspicious of and wouldn’t think has any grounds. But we are focused on the future and we have to succeed together and we both agree that the core ingredient in our organization is that we want to be happy. The opposite is rubbish.”
On his part, Alonso commented that he is delighted to join the team, especially since Honda is rekindling its partnership as an engine supplier and bringing back memories of the McLaren-Honda-Ayrton Senna winning trio.
“I still remember, as a kid, the posters in my wardrobe, my toy cars in which I dreamed I would one day emulate Ayrton, and the kart that my father built for my older sister, and that I ended up falling in love with”, he said. “That kart had the livery of one of the most legendary partnerships in the history of Formula 1, McLaren-Honda, the car that Ayrton drove, the same partnership to which I am now honored to join, to take part in the next Formula 1 world championship.”
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