Fernando Alonso will move from Renault to Ferrari next year and spark a cascade of other driver changes, according to McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh.
The double world champion’s expected switch is an open secret in Formula 1, but Whitmarsh is the first senior figure publicly to acknowledge it.
“I think we all know that the Fernando-Ferrari move has a knock-on effect that ripples through the other teams,” he said.
Ferrari said Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa were already contracted for 2010.
“He (Whitmarsh) can say what he wants, there is no ‘Fernando-Ferrari move’,” said a spokesman for the Italian team.
“Things can happen and not happen. But you cannot talk about any Fernando-Ferrari move. We have two drivers with a contract until the end of 2010. We are not under pressure to change anything.”
Alonso, who denied last month that he had signed a contract with Ferrari, has ducked questions about his future since arriving in Valencia for this weekend’s European Grand Prix.
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