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ABU DHABI, UAE - Fernando Alonso has hit back at Ferrari principal Marco Mattiacci for saying that Sebastian Vettel will "bring the utmost motivation and commitment" to the Formula 1 team when he replaces the Spaniard in 2015n.
Alonso told reporters ahead of his final race for the Italian team, the season-ending Abu Dhabi GP: "I heard the comments and I don't think they were very good. If he tried to mean that I was not motivated, he arrived too late at Ferrari.
"He has a few months here and didn't see probably all the five years that I've spent here and how I've fought every single race in the championships."
CONSISTENT FIGHTER
Ferrari has not won a race since Alonso's scored at his home GP in May 2013 and is facing its first blank season since 1993. The team was fourth in the standings.
Alonso was also quick to point out that he was the only driver to win for the oldest and most successful team since 2009.
He also made clear that he had decided to leave rather than Ferrari opting to replace him with Red Bull's four-times champion Vettel.
"Probably I was too old when he (Mattiacci) tried to renew me until the Monza race, and he kept pushing and pushing and had a lot of talks," said the Spaniard, who is set to return to McLaren. "Even in the last moment again we had a lot of phone calls and e-mails that I still have in my computer. Probably at that time I was not so old, but again when I took my decision I guess he had to find another driver."
Mattiacci took over as Ferrari's F1 team principal in April 2014 after Stefano Domenicali stood down