09/11/2006
NEWS STORY
Renault has reacted to a report that it, along with McLaren, was considering a driver swap earlier in the season.
According to the British magazine Autosport, McLaren and Renault considered the idea of swapping Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, at a stage when the Spaniard was "unhappy with the way his relationship with (team boss) Flavio Briatore was developing".
The move would have seen Alonso take over Raikkonen's McLaren, with the Finn being placed in the championship winning R26.
Other than getting away from Briatore, one fails to see how Alonso would have benefited from such a move, especially when one considers that this is the first season since 1996 in which McLaren has failed to win a single race.
Raikkonen, on the other hand, would have benefited greatly, though it is unclear how such a move would have affected his long-term move to Ferrari.
Asked by Pitpass for a response to the Autosport claim, a Renault spokesman used the word "nonsensical", which is slightly different to the one-word response we expected, though it too began with a consonant... albeit ending with... ollocks