London: McLaren have requested that Renault release Fernando Alonso from his contract early in order that he can test in Spain next week.

"Being frank about it, we'd like him in the car as quickly as we can," said McLaren’s chief executive Martin Whitmarsh.

"After this week there's one more test and we'd like Renault to recognise everything that he's done for them and release him to come and test for us next week. We have requested it and if they said yes, we could do it,"  he said.

"The earlier we can get Fernando in the car, the better. We're not counting on it, but if the opportunity arose we'd love to do it. If they say no again, then we'll respect it but we'll keep asking until there's no more chance," he said.