The biggest change for Ferrari in the upcoming 2010 Formula One championship season is definitely the addition of Fernando Alonso in the driver line-up alongside Felipe Massa.

“We have been watching him since 2007 and Domenicali discussed it with me this summer,” recounted Luca di Montezemolo, addressing journalists at Ferrari’s Christmas dinner. “He is an extremely talented driver, quick and good at working with a team, while being totally focussed on winning. I think he is coming to Ferrari at just the right time in his career.”

Montezemolo revealed that they had already reached an agreement with Alonso to join the team in 2011, when both their drivers’ contracts would have expired. But then they realised that their team needed a driver capable of really getting involved with the engineers, a characteristic that was not part of Kimi Raikkonen’s genetic make-up, ‘even though he is an amazingly talented guy.’

“Then came Felipe’s unexpected accident and, before taking a decision, we needed to know what his prospects were. Once we were certain he was fine, then in light of what was going on at Renault, we decided to try and bring Alonso on board a year ahead of schedule,” Montezemolo revealed.

However, that said, the Ferrari President refused to say a bad word about the departing Kimi Raikkonen...

“Let’s make one thing clear, we were very happy with everything Kimi did for Ferrari during his time at Maranello: he won the world championship in his first year and played a vital part in our taking the Constructors’ title in his second year, while in this difficult season he at least managed to secure us one victory. However, we were aware that something else was needed for the way we operate and therefore, we opted for Alonso.”