Alonso bids Renault fond farewell

World champion Fernando Alonso made a final visit to the Renault engine factory at Viry-Chatillon on Monday in the final part of his whistle-stop thank you tour.

The 25-year-old back-to-back title winner switches to the McLaren team next year, but having already visited the team's chassis factory at Enstone and his home town of Oviedo in Spain, he travelled to France for a last farewell.

"Thank you, thank you. I want to say thank you to everybody for your hard work," he told the 250-strong staff at the Renault factory.

"We are all double world champions. We did it together, and it is perfect.

"Thanks to you, I have had an amazing engine. The V10 last year and the V8 this year were fantastic. One failure in two years, this year in Monza, it is amazing - and almost funny when you look back at it.

"I had a super engine, a great car, and I just tried to drive to the maximum.

"But we won these titles first of all at Viry and Enstone, thanks to your hard work. So thank you all."