Trulli Sad for Button, Happy for Alonso

Italian Jarno Trulli said on Saturday that he was disappointed Jenson Button will leave Renault at the end of the season, but claimed he is happy that test driver Fernando Alonso will replace him.

Renault confirmed on Saturday afternoon at their home race at Magny-Cours that Spaniard Alonso will be promoted in place of Button next year with Trulli being retained.

Trulli admitted that it is a "shame" Button will be leaving the Enstone-based team after the pair developed a good relationship over the past year, but backed Alonso to fill his shoes ably next season.

"I have had a very good relationship with Jenson on both the drivers' side and the personal side," Trulli said. "So, on the one hand, it is a shame for me that he is leaving because we get on very well together.

"But, on the other hand, I will have a new teammate who, again, is very young, but I have seen that these young drivers are really well prepared and they come into Formula One with a lot of mileage and good experience.

"So, for me, at the end of the day, it is not that they are young that matters. It is their performance and I know from personal experience that these drivers are both very quick."

Trulli was told that Alonso would replace Button early this week, but claimed he knew something was happening behind the scenes at Renault before then.

"I knew that something was going on, but I was not deeply concerned because I have always had a good relationship with all my teammates," he said. "So, in a way, I knew I would be happy whatever happened. I heard that Jenson was leaving and that Fernando was coming in only this week.

"Obviously, it doesn't change much for me really as a driver, as, from my point of view, the most important thing is to keep stability inside the team with the engineers, the mechanics and everyone else. We need to keep pushing."

Trulli believes that promoting test driver Alonso is a positive move and said that the two will work hard next year to help Renault push the top-three of Ferrari, Williams and McLaren for race wins.

"We made a big step at the end of last season and we definitely made a much better car this year, but miracles don't happen in Formula One so it would be unrealistic to expect much more than we have achieved so far," Trulli said of the current season.

"We have done just what we aimed to do by building up the group project and pushing it as hard as we can, improving step by step through the season on both the chassis side and on the engine side. So, I am really happy with the job done by the team.

"I hope we can continue to grow up, as we have from last year to this year and also to try and keep the team together strongly and to push hard as a group.

"We must try very hard to close the gap to the best teams, Ferrari, Williams and McLaren. It is not going to be easy and we all know that, but I think we are going in the right direction."