Is Toto Wolff courting Alonso? Think again..

Fernando Alonso recently revealed that Mercedes had contacted him right after Nico Rosberg's retirement announcement, but nothing obviously came to fruition.

In hindsight, Mercedes simply felt compelled to test the waters although it knew there would only be a remote chance of the McLaren driver jumping ship.

But with Alonso in his last contracted year with the Woking-based outfit, the prospect of joining the German outfit should certainly appeal to the two-time world champion, and vice versa.

"I must say that I like Alonso," Wolff told iNews. "He is straight onto the goal. Focused."

But given the Spaniard's poor history with Lewis Hamilton when the pair were team mates at McLaren in 2007, it's hard to imagine the two men on opposing sides of the Mercedes garage.

Wolff gives his view on why the relationship soured ten years ago and the consequences it produced.

"I would say the management lost the championship in 2007. Alonso felt it was going against him, that Lewis was the loved child.

"This is why it fell apart. It cost Mercedes and McLaren a huge sum of money. They lost the championship and have never really recovered.

"Alonso also kind of never recovered because he destroyed a lot of relationships with the things that happened. That had an influence on our thinking."

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Still, the Mercedes boss is a big Alonso fan, but while many would love to see the Spanish driver behind the wheel of a Silver Arrows, Wolff remains wary.

"I wouldn’t be afraid of having Alonso, but when you consider having him, there would be lots of distraction," added Wolff.

"We had that with Nico and Lewis. Alonso is definitely one to consider but the disruption would be too much I think."

Unless Lewis is no longer there...

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