McLaren CEO Not Ruling Out Alonso's F1 Return, IndyCar Plans Still Unclear

Fernando Alonso confirmed Aug. 14 that he will leave Formula 1 at the end of the 2018 season after 17 years in the sport, but McLaren are not closing the door on a return in the future.

The Spaniard is currently driving for the Woking-based team and has built a strong relationship despite the team struggling to build a race winning car in the last four seasons.

Alonso has not won a race since 2013 and admitted that he is looking for a new challenge, one where he can drive a car capable of challenging for wins and titles. He is yet to reveal his future plans, but the IndyCar Series is being touted as a potential destination, while he is contracted to drive in the World Endurance Championships (WEC) in 2019.

Alonso is still a big fan of F1, but is not keen to stay in a sport where the outcome is predictable on most occasions with Mercedes and Ferrari the only two teams currently challenging for wins on a regular basis.

McLaren were hoping to keep him in F1, but his decision to leave is seeing them pondering a potential entry into IndyCar with the Spaniard. That, however, is still a work in progress with their focus very much on F1.

The team’s CEO Zak Brown admitted it will be a shame not to have Alonso in F1 in 2019, but believes he could return in the future — after all the Spaniard did confirm that he was leaving F1 seeking other challenges — as he is not retiring from racing all together.

If McLaren get back to challenging for race wins in the next couple of seasons, it is a possibility that Alonso could return and he will not be the first as Michael Schumacher returned to the sport three years after announcing his retirement.

“It is very exciting,” Brown told Channel 4, as quoted on Racer. “Fernando is an unbelievable talent. It will be a shame not to see him in F1 in 2019, but I would not rule out the future. You know what Fernando is like — he definitely is not done racing.”

Alonso’s departure from McLaren saw the team completely overhaul the driver lineup with Stoffel Vandoorne — the double world champion’s teammate in 2018 — was also let go.

Carlos Sainz cut his ties with Red Bull and replaced his compatriot at McLaren, and the team decide to invest completely in the future by promoting 18-year-old Lando Norris, who drives in F2, into the second seat.

“And Stoffel (Vandoorne), I hope he ends up in a F1 car — he deserves to be in one. We’ve had a difficult two years with our race car, which has made it difficult. … We changed both drivers and I’m very excited. Carlos Sainz is young yet experienced, and Lando Norris whom we’ve had under watch for a few years now. He is young, I’m sure he will have a rookie mistake here and there, but we are very confident about our future line-up,” the McLaren CEO added.