F1 Gossip: A bizarre tale involving Alonso, Dennis... and a peach!

Lewis Hamilton insists any hesitance on signing new deals is less to do with his basic salary and more with the freedoms he can enjoy as part of the contract, adding the benefits from this can go both ways. Using the example of Tommy Hilfiger, he says his personal affiliation with the fashion brand paved the way for Mercedes to also secure it as a backer. (SkySports via Race Fans)

Sebastian Vettel’s future remains on the minds of F1’s commentators with ex-Jordan, Toyota and Marussia driver Timo Glock reckoning his friend and countryman will sign on the dotted line with Ferrari because he is determined to be the one to return the marque to the top (Speedweek)

It is a view shared by another former F1 driver with Marc Surer, though he says it will come down to whether he is willing to accept a pay cut to re-sign. He also adds Vettel’s options outside of Ferrari aren’t too strong, with Lewis Hamilton unlikely to allow him to join Mercedes, while it would take ‘too long’ to get McLaren back to the front (AS)

David Coulthard has revealed why he chose McLaren over a Ferrari deal when he left Williams at the end of the 1995 season. The Scotsman candidly says McLaren – which at the time was starting its long and (eventually) successful partnership with Mercedes – simply offered him a more lucrative pay deal, though he adds he wasn’t keen on the prospect of having to play second fiddle to the incoming Michael Schumacher (RTE via Speedweek)

Toto Wolff has stressed his decision to invest in Aston Martin is purely a personal one and it has no bearing on the British marque’s burgeoning plans to enter F1 as a fully-fledged team from 2021 as part of the current Racing Point set-up. (Osterreich via F1i)

And, finally, in one of the more bizarre tales we’ve come across recently, former McLaren Head of Communications (and all-round purveyor of brilliant F1 anecdotes) Matt Bishop revealed Fernando Alonso used to get under the skin of ex-McLaren boss Ron Dennis by… eating the ripest possible peach in front of him. Whereas Dennis would prefer to use a knife and fork when consuming fruit, Alonso would ‘sit next to Ron (slurping) like that and letting all the juice run down into his beard and leaving the bits of fruit pulp in his beard’ to aggravate his chief’s ‘OCD’. (In The Pink podcast via Race Fans)