Alonso rumored to leave McLaren

Fernando Alonso on Sunday refused to commit to honouring the full three year term of his McLaren contract. The Spaniard joined the Woking based team from Renault this year, but has endured rocky relationships with his British colleagues Lewis Hamilton and team boss Ron Dennis.

Alonso finished fourth on Sunday after his pole position was docked when stewards found that he "unnecessarily impeded" teammate Hamilton in a qualifying pitstop. Asked by Spanish reporters in Budapest whether he will still be racing for Dennis' outfit in 2008 and 2009, 26-year-old Alonso replied: "I don't know, I don't know.

"We will see."

One such reporter enquired as to whether it would be a fair comment to surmise that he expected to be treated differently by McLaren this year after arriving as a twice world champion.

"Very fair. That is absolutely true," Alonso said.

He also repeated his criticism of the stewards who took away his pole position and the chance for victory here.

"The sanction seems very strange to me," Alonso told the television transmitter Telecinco, "since it does not talk about any rule in particular. But it is like a bad penalty decision in football -- you have to keep playing anyway."

Alonso said his own relationship with Hamilton has not declined any further, but revealed that "nobody" in the team is currently talking to his British teammate.

"In normal circumstances I could have won this race, because I think I showed today that I was the fastest when I had a free track.

"It is a missed chance but fourth is not so bad," Alonso said.

He said he was able to clear his mind of anger prior to commencing the 70-lap race at the twisty Hungaroring.

"No, with the car and the engine you have enough to worry about. And since I knew I did not have a chance to win I could preserve my engine to try to win in Turkey.

"Last night I was naturally frustrated when I heard about the penalty but you have to forget it for the race and think about the championship. And fourth place is better than fifth." (GMM)