The Ferrari F1 team have officially announced the least surprising news in the history of time, namely that the two-time world champion Fernando Alonso will drive for their team next year, after the Spaniard signed a 3 year contract with the team.
A press release from the Ferrari team concerning the move, which barely counts as news given how certain it was, says that Alonso will join the returning Felipe Massa in the race seats for next season, with current stand-in driver Giancarlo Fisichella as the team's reserve driver.
The news means that 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen will leave the team at the end of the year, and is likely to announce a move to McLaren very soon.
In the statement on the Ferrari website, team boss Stefano Domenicali is quoted as saying: "We are very proud to welcome to our team another winning driver, who has demonstrated his amazing talent by winning two World Championships in his career to date.
"Of course, we wish to thank Kimi for everything he has done during his time with Ferrari: in his first year with us, he managed to win the Drivers’ title, thus making his contribution to Ferrari’s history and he played a vital role in our taking of the Constructors’ title in 2007 and 2008."
Raikkonen added to the general platitudes surrounding his largely underwhelming time with the team, mumbling that: "With common consent, we have agreed to terminate the contract binding me to Ferrari to the end of 2010, one year ahead of schedule.
"I am very sad to be leaving a team with which I have spent three fantastic years, during which time I won plenty of races. Together, we have won 50% of the world titles in that period and I managed to take the Drivers’ title in 2007, thus achieving the target I had set myself at the start of my career.
"I have always felt at home with everyone here and I will have many happy memories of my time with the team."
Alonso, meanwhile, said he was "happy and proud" to join the Italian team, but revealed that he already had a 2011 deal in place with the team before this signing of a contract for 2010 as well. It had long been thought that Alonso would have aimed for a 2011 drive with the team after Ferrari extended their deals with Massa and Raikkonen through to 2010.
"We already had an agreement this summer starting in 2011, but then, [in] the last days, the picture changed and we decided to anticipate my arrival in Maranello by one year," Alonso explained smugly.
On the subject of his move, he beamed that: "I'm very happy and very proud to become a Ferrari driver.
"Driving a single-seater from the Prancing Horse is everybody's dream in this sport and today I have the opportunity to make this dream come true. Above all I want to thank Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo, who really wanted this three-year contract.
"I'm sure that, together with Felipe, we'll offer Ferrari and the fans from all over the world some great satisfaction. I can't wait to start working with my new team."
He also took time to say of his soon-to-be former team that: "The years at Renault were fantastic. I wish the team all the best and let's hope we gain some good results in the last races this year."
Alonso will join a team that has been pursuing him for the last couple of years, and will pair up with Massa, who has been confirmed in a Ferrari seat for the fifth straight year despite still recovering from injuries suffered at the Hungarian Grand Prix in July.
The move is now likely to lead to the majority of the top-level drives on the 2010 grid being sewn up within days. Raikkonen is close to securing a shock return to his old team McLaren to partner 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton, while Renault are likely to make up for the loss of Fernando Alonso for the second time in five years by signing current BMW Sauber driver Robert Kubica to partner Romain Grosjean next season.
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