Formula One news

Briatore tells Alonso he's welcome at Renault

Renault Formula One team boss Flavio Briatore has confirmed he offered Fernando Alonso his old job back. The Spaniard would be more than welcome to return to Renault if he would want to quit his job with the McLaren F1 team.

It is no secret that Fernando Alonso is going through a tough period at McLaren. With two races to go he is twelve points behind on championship leader and team-mate Lewis Hamilton. When Alonso joined McLaren at the start of the season he would have expected to be the team's number one driver. Being a double world champion and having a rookie driver next to him the Spaniard expected nothing less than such a number one status at the Woking based team. But no one would have probably expected to see that same rookie driver be on the podium in almost every race and winning four races so far this season.

At Renault Alonso's problems in Woking didn't go unnoticed. Flavio Briatore has already told the media many times the door is always open for Alonso, but he now also admitted that he has told Fernando Alonso he would be more than welcome to return to Renault, "I told Fernando that the moment he is free from McLaren we would be pleased to have him back," Briatore said.

Briatore believes Alonso would have never left Renault if he would have known he would receive the same treatment as a rookie driver. "If they told Fernando before he signed the contract he would not receive any sort of advantage he would have never left us," Briatore told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport. "When you hire a champion you must give him the number one status in your team."

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