Scuderia Ferrari announced the extension of Fernando Alonso's contract for the following five years until 2016. Although it took only 2 weeks to settle the negotiations, the amount of Alonso's annual salary is still unknown.Alonso joined Ferrari in 2010 after two difficult years at Renault and a troubled time at McLaren in 2007. His his career at Maranello has been immediately succesful after winning the first Grand Prix of 2010 season and coming within four points of the 2010 title at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Fernando commended about the agreement:
"I am very happy to have reached this agreement. I immediately felt comfortable within Ferrari and now it feels to me like a second family. I have the utmost faith in the men and women who work in Maranello and in those who lead them: it is therefore natural for me to decide to extend my relationship in the long term like this, with a team at which I will no doubt end my Formula One career one day... I always said it was my intention to end my career at Ferrari, as I felt at home here since day one.... By the end of 2016, I will have been with Ferrari for seven years and maybe for 2017 I can sign another contract with Ferrari if I am not too old and if they are still happy with me!... It is impossible to predict what will happen in Formula 1 and therefore I don’t know how many I can win. My intention is to keep on enjoying my racing and this is the best team to be with, because with other teams, their form can go up and down a lot, but with Ferrari, a bad year can mean finishing second or third in the championship.
Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo commented also that he was delighted to keep the two-time world champion at Ferrari for the following years.
"It is a great pleasure to have renewed our agreement with a driver who has always demonstrated a winning mentality even in the most difficult circumstances. Fernando has all the required qualities, both technically and personally to play a leading role in the history of Ferrari and I hope he will be enriching it with further wins very soon."
