Spanish media reports claim that Fernando Alonso could earn up to 150 million Euros ($218m) with Ferrari if the Italian team picks up its option to extend its three-year deal with the Spanish driver for an additional three years. However, Ferrari has denied the reports, calling them "nothing to do with reality."
Speculation has it that Alonso will receive a base salary in the region of 25m Euros ($36m) per year for each of the next three seasons – which would be $5m less than Raikkonen has been paid since he joined Ferrari in 2007. However, it's believed that Ferrari had to pay 45m Euros ($66m) to buy Raikkonen out of his contract for 2010, a portion of which will be picked up by the team's new sponsor, Spanish bank Santander.
“The numbers talked about have absolutely nothing to do with reality,” claimed Ferrari on its official website. “It's easy to write numbers, forgetting that the world has changed recently. At Ferrari, a lot of calculating is done and attention is not only paid to the costs of the operational structure, but also as far as the drivers are concerned.”