Alonso saga nears conclusion, talks deadlocked
Luis Garcia Abad, also a Spaniard, told the BBC: "He will decide when he knows the best option for his future."
Alonso, 26, is currently holidaying and training in an unknown Spanish location, after negotiating a split with McLaren following an acrimonious season in 2007.
The private Spanish television network Telecinco on Wednesday reported that a new meeting between Alonso's representatives and Renault did not go well, after Carlos Ghosn said the French marque would only accept a three-year commitment.
"I do not know anything about Fernando, nothing new," team boss Flavio Briatore told a reporter for the Spanish daily Marca in a London restaurant on Wednesday, as his imposed Thursday deadline looms.
Other media sources insist that Toyota and Red Bull, which reportedly hosted Alonso at its Milton Keynes headquarters recently, are still in the running to woo the double world champion for 2008.
11/20/07 (GMM) Negotiations between Fernando Alonso and Renault about 2008 have reached a deadlock, reports from Spain and Italy on Tuesday said.
The Spanish sports daily Marca claims that while team boss Flavio Briatore is happy to accept Alonso's demands for a one-year contract, Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn is refusing to budge on the offer of a minimally three-year stay.
It is rumored that Alonso wants a one year deal because he has already agreed to switch to Ferrari in 2009; a scenario that might understandably be unattractive to Renault chiefs.
The wire service Agenzia Giornalistica Italia (AGI) quotes Ghosn as confirming: "It's three years or nothing." If the Ferrari rumors are true then Alonso may yet end up at Red Bull for one year.
11/20/07 (GMM) Fernando Alonso's home on the 2008 grid will be decided by early December, a source from within the Spaniard's close band of advisors revealed on Tuesday.
"Be assured, he is not going to be without a cockpit," the source told the Spanish newspaper El Mundo Deportivo.
The comments follow Flavio Briatore's claim on Monday that the 26-year-old Spaniard is set to decide before the end of the week whether or not to return to Renault next year.
The Alonso source continued: "We are on schedule. Within 15 days everything should be figured out."
He also played down suggestions that Renault is the only team contractually free to accommodate Alonso in 2008.
"Until March, any team can change any driver," the Alonso source said.
According to speculation, the only stumbling block to Alonso's Renault return are rumors that the Spaniard has already agreed to switch to Ferrari in 2009.
Briatore is therefore understandably reluctant to allow Alonso to use Renault as a temporary solution only for 2008.
The Spanish newspaper El Pais quotes Briatore as saying: "Alonso believes that Ferrari waits for him for 2009. But I see this being difficult for him.
"Each team must have one great driver who fights for the (drivers') title and a second to help with the constructors'.
"Ferrari already has Raikkonen, but I suppose everything is possible," Briatore added.
The Italian television station RAI, meanwhile, quotes the Renault boss as admitting: "Toyota and Red Bull also want him. He is very attractive and all have made offers."