Formula One: Mclaren Stun Motor Sport By Signing Alonso From Renault

McLaren dropped a bombshell on formula one yesterday when they announced that they have signed the world champion Fernando Alonso for the 2007 season, putting a question mark against the futures of Kimi Raikkonen, who was Alonso's main rival as the Spaniard became the sport's youngest world champion last season, and his team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya.

The signing is a coup for the McLaren team principal Ron Dennis, coming only five days after he announced a 10-year £350m sponsorship deal with Vodafone which will also start in 2007. In addition it was a massive vote of confidence in McLaren's engineering prowess less than a month after it was revealed that their highly rated technical director Adrian Newey was moving to Red Bull. Dennis said: "It's great that our strong belief in the strength and competitiveness of McLaren-Mercedes has been further endorsed by the world champion."

McLaren may have acted to pre-empt Ferrari gaining the lion's share of publicity if, as expected, they make a move to sign Raikkonen for 2007, possibly as a successor to Michael Schumacher, who is widely tipped to retire after one more season. Raikkonen, who earns in excess of £20m a year at McLaren, would be a logical successor to Schumacher, but it has also been suggested that, should Schumacher stay on, he would not object to having Raikkonen race alongside him, though Ferrari could not be drawn into speculation about the issue.

For Montoya the situation may be more complicated. He will be entering the second season of a two-year deal in 2006 and thereafter might find himself playing second fiddle to Alonso rather than Raikkonen. The Colombian has been touted for a move to the Red Bull team in 2007. Raikkonen yesterday denied that he had made any firm plans beyond the expiry of his current contract with McLaren at the end of next season.

Alonso's new deal will reputedly double his annual salary to about £15m. "To become part of a team with such a desire to succeed and a passion for performance is a dream come true," he said. "It is a new beginning for me, a tremendous challenge and from what I have heard from this excellent new partnership I have much to look forward to. Obviously it will be sad to leave Renault but sometimes these possibilities come along."