Now Alonso rules out Ferrari 2009 switch

After Flavio Briatore dismissed the scenario as "impossible", Fernando Alonso has now hammered the last nail into speculation he might be drafted in to replace Luca Badoer at Ferrari for the last races of 2009.

"No, definitely not," the Renault driver said on Spanish radio Cadena SER in the wake of last weekend's Belgian Grand Prix.

The newspaper Diario AS however insists that conversations between Briatore and his Ferrari counterpart Stefano Domenicali did take place in the Spa-Francorchamps paddock.

It is believed that Briatore ruled out the switch, even though Alonso appears set to move anyway to Ferrari in 2010, because it might damage Renault's current search for a title sponsor for next year.

The rumour is that Briatore might have agreed to release Alonso had BMW-Sauber, searching not for a sponsor but for a saviour for the entire team, agreed to release Robert Kubica to replace him.

As for his future beyond 2009, Alonso told Cadena SER that he hopes his plans can be finalised "soon" but did not know whether it would be "days or months".