Looks like I missed this on Friday, but it’s pretty much everywhere now. After just one year at McLaren, Alonso has left (he was originally contracted for three). As to where he’ll go next year, well there are one or two options open… it all depends on what the exit clauses are in his contract with McLaren.

If, as seems widely speculated, he’s barred from going with a manufacturer team for a year, then that rules out Renault, BMW, Toyota and Honda, leaving Red Bull and Williams as possibles. However, Alonso’s manager, Luis Garcia Abad, says different and that he’s free to sign for with team.

Me, I haven’t the foggiest idea where he’ll end up. The news is full of conflicting reports and strangely for an F1 driver he tends to keep that sort of news very quiet but I’d like to see him go with a manufacturer team (say either Renault or BMW) so that he’ll at least be in with a shout next season.

James Allen has an excellent write up on how and when things started to crumble and as he points out, the problems seemed to start at the beginning of the season. McLaren took the wrong approach with not giving Alonso number one treatment which you’d expect as world champ.

Instead they tried to be equal and ended up losing both championships, and further to that with the penalties they’ll have from the spy-gate saga next year, they’ll be at the arse end of the pit lane which won’t help. Not that I particularly care for them any more.

If you look at the investment they’ve put into Hamilton, you can, with hindsight say, it was a disaster waiting to happen. They weren’t going to give Alonso preferential treatment with Hamilton around.

I think also, going back to what James Allen was saying, the sign up to McLaren was done far too early (remember that he announced his move back in December 2005 before the 2006 season!) and that probably strained things further.

Flavio Briatore, boss of Renault F1 team, reckons Alonso’s future will become clear tomorrow. Quite how he knows that, I don’t know. Wait and see me thinks!