Fernando Alonso is set to leave Renault for Ferrari, according to McLaren-Mercedes team boss Martin Whitmarsh.

There has been intense speculation in the world of F1 that Alonso which be joining the Prancing Horse sooner or later.

Now Whitmarsh said the double F1 world champion will move to the Italian giants in 2010 and it will spark a drivers merry-go-round.

Whitmarsh told the BBC: "I think we all know that the Fernando-Ferrari move has a knock-on effect that ripples through the other teams."

But Ferrari have denied the reports, and a spokesman said: "He [Whitmarsh] can say what he wants, there is no 'Fernando-Ferrari move'. We have two drivers with a contract until the end of 2010. We are not under pressure to change anything."

Kimi Raikkonen has been widely tipped to leave Ferrari but Felipe Massa's accident in Hungary made Ferrari rethink their strategy.