Renault F1 president Alain Dassas has admitted that the regie will miss Fernando Alonso next season, but refused to be drawn on the wisdom of the Spaniard's move to McLaren.

Speaking to Spanish newspaper Marca, Dassas was full of praise for Alonso's contribution to Renault's success, and did not deny that Renault's loss would be McLaren's gain, but insisted that only time would tell whether the Spaniard had made the right decision to move to Woking.

"We will have to wait and see if his decision to go to McLaren was a good one or not," he said, "If he does not live up to the expectations of the past two seasons, everyone will say that it was a mistake, but, if he is champion again, everyone will be singing his praises. I am sure, however, that he will do well, firstly because he is an incredible pilot and, secondly, because he is a double world champion."

Even though he admits that Alonso's departure will leave a big hole in Renault's attack next season, Dassas remained confident that the new pairing of Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen would be able to take up the challenge.

"A third constructors title is our goal, without a doubt, but I know that this will be somewhat difficult, especially without Alonso," he acknowledged, "It is true that he had a lot to do with Renault gaining these two championships and, sure, we are going to miss him.

"We will have to see how the championship develops [next year]. We still have two good drivers - they are not Alonso, but they are good drivers. Of course, there is an unknown in Kovalainen - he is very young, but already knows how to win races and has been with us as test driver for a year, so we expect a lot of him. If you look, each year the best drivers are getting younger, and it seems that the younger they are, the better they are. We have seen that with Alonso, and now new drivers are coming in at just 20, like Lewis Hamilton."

Although he does not expect the Briton to pose as big a threat at new team-mate Alonso, Dassas is clearly an admirer of Hamilton's, insisting that McLaren is not taking a risk by running the GP2 champion.

"Already he has shown that he can be very fast," he explained, "He has talent and is the champion of GP2. I do not believe that that is a risk."