McLaren Wouldn't Let Raikkonen Test with Ferrari

Ron Dennis pushed for Fernando Alonso's early test debut but did not allow Kimi Raikkonen to similarly drive before Christmas, according to a report in the Spanish press.

The newspaper El Mundo Deportivo claims that while Raikkonen seemed unbothered about whether or not he would win an early release from his McLaren contract, Ferrari chiefs actually did ask their McLaren counterparts for clearance for a 2006 test.

"Ron Dennis did not give his approval," the Spanish nationwide daily sports newspaper read.

El Mundo Deportivo quoted Dennis, Woking based McLaren's chairman, as recently saying that negotiations for Alonso's release from his Renault contract would likely differ from the talks with Ferrari.

The Briton reportedly said: "(That is) because the relationship between McLaren-Mercedes and Renault is very different to the relationship between McLaren and Ferrari."

Montezemolo: Ferrari's year next year.

Having had to play second fiddle to Renault for the past two seasons, Ferrari will be back on top of the Formula One world in 2007, according to president Luca di Montezemolo.

Despite losing Michael Schumacher to retirement, and seeing several key technical changes, at the end of the 2006 campaign, di Montezemolo is confident that the Scuderia can bounce back and take the fight to both Renault and McLaren, which itself is predicting a resurgence following the capture of world champion Fernando Alonso for next year.

Ferrari made its own high-profile recruitment after Schumacher's decision to quit, but di Montezemolo puts his optimism down to the spirit of the people working at Maranello as much as having landed Kimi Raikkonen to partner 2006 race winner Felipe Massa.

"Next year, we will win back the world championship because we have extraordinary persons," he told Italy's Domenico In, "Ferrari is my life, something that began 25 years ago with a person that taught me a lot, Enzo Ferrari. Since then, our fans have lived through some difficult moments but, with Michael Schumacher and Jean Todt, also some extraordinary ones. Next year, we will win back the championship because we still have extraordinary persons."