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Ferrari hopes that a 'decisive' step forward in form from next year's car will be enough to convince Fernando Alonso to commit his long-term Formula 1 future to the team.

Alonso's current contract runs until the end of 2016, and Ferrari is well aware that it needs to improve its form if it is to extend the Spaniard's deal and stop him being lured away by a rival like McLaren.

Last week, Alonso was briefed by Ferrari technical chiefs at the Maranello factory about the future plans for the team and the shape of its 2015 challenger.

Technical director James Allison hopes that what Alonso was told would be enough to leave the Spaniard in no doubt that Ferrari was the best place for him to be for the long haul.

"Both of our drivers were in Maranello, and both of them were discussing with us our plans for next year," said Allison at the German Grand Prix.

"Both of them had our programme set out in front of them, and both of them had the opportunity to give us feedback - as they do on a continual basis about the weaknesses of our current cars.

"It is a great thing when the driver buys into what you are doing and we make an effort to try to make sure that they can see the plans that we have in place.

"Kimi is quite new to our team, and Fernando, I guess, has had some years of being with Ferrari and not yet attaining the goal that he wanted when he joined us.

"I guess he has sat through a few of these meetings already, I hope the presentations that I put his way, as well as a few of my colleagues, have been convincing but I guess you need to speak to him to get his view on that."

Ferrari is undergoing a restructure under new team principal Marco Mattiacci and Allison said he believes what was in the pipeline was encouraging for 2015.

And although he offered few details about how it would be different, he was bullish about the step it would deliver.

"In terms of design changes, I am not going to go into that - but I sincerely hope that we will be able to make a decisive step forward with the car next year," he said.