Alonso says BMW was never a possibility

The Spaniard, who is understood to be free to leave Renault based on a performance clause in his contract, believes that BMW had always hoped to retain their current line-up of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld, who were confirmed for 2009 on Monday.

"It was never a serious approach because for them they were quite happy with their drivers and didn't want to change," said Alonso when asked about his talks with BMW by autosport.com.

"For me, it was not time to talk because I preferred to wait until the end of the season and concentrate on driving for Renault, which is my job this year. It was not time to make a decision. It was never a possibility for me or for them."

BMW Sauber team principal Mario Theissen declined to talk about the reasons behind the team's talks with Alonso coming to a close, but said that Heidfeld's improved form in the last three races was the deciding factor in the announcement rather than Alonso turning the team down.

"We had discussions with several drivers in the course of the evaluation process, but I won't name them," said Theissen.

"Singapore was a strong race weekend for Nick and we had originally postponed the deadline because of this - we wanted to see if he could come back to normal form. He's had two or three strong weekends now and we felt confident after Singapore that this is a performance we can rely on for next year."

Alonso insists that he will not make a decision on his future until the end of the season, despite his only realistic alternative to Renault being Honda.

"At the end of the year, when I finish Brazil, I will take the decision, " said Alonso. "I have a contract with Renault for next year, it's just whether to take that extension or not.

"I want to concentrate on driving. It's not that I'm waiting to make it impossible for you [the media] to write things! I'm waiting because I still have three races to go and I want to do the best job possible."