Honda’s chief geek reveals what Alonso really wants

Amid speculation that cash-rich Honda could be Nando Alonso’s next destination, Ross Brawn, the team’s principal, admits that “every team” would be interested in signing the former double world champion for 2009 - hmm, not sure Ron Dennis would agree, but we take Brawn’s point.

“Honda is no different, of course,” Brawn told the Swiss publication Motorsport Aktuell.

“Fernando is a very good driver that everyone would like to have sitting in their car,” said the man who was formerly Ferrari’s technical director.

“(But) I know what team he would like to go to, everyone does [i.e. Ferrari]. The reality is that, before we can talk seriously with him, the situation with Ferrari must be resolved.”

You don’t have to be a genius to figure that a top F1 driver would rather be sat in a top F1 car, but this admission is the first time that a key figure in F1 has said, on the record, that Alonso’s team of choice is Ferrari.

Could Honda take Alonso for one season, in 2009, before he goes to Ferrari in 2010? If any man could broker such a deal, it would be Ross Brawn, who still has close ties with the Italian team.