Fernando Alonso has revealed he did have contact with Mercedes when Nico Rosberg retired from Formula 1 in 2016.
When the German shockingly announced he would be leaving Formula 1 as champion, the Spaniard, who was struggling at McLaren at the time, was one of the first names touted to replace him.
While the prospect was always unlikely given Lewis Hamilton’s position as the lead driver, that didn’t stop the double world champion from expressing his interest.
“In the past, I’ve had contact with Mercedes,” he reportedly told Spain’s AS newspaper.
“Already in 2016, when Nico Rosberg decided to resign, I spoke with Toto Wolff, but in the end, we never reached a definitive yes.”
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As it is, Alonso would only stay in F1 for two more years before leaving his McLaren seat at the end of last season.
He has still remained closely aligned to the British team though as an ambassador and gave his opinion on watching the sport from the sidelines.
I follow everything I can,” he told Italy’s Corriere dello Sport.
“I missed three of the seven races live because I was racing, but I try to watch the race later and like all the fans, sometimes it’s fun and in others I am bored.
“But I think this happens in every sport,” Alonso noted. “Sometimes you watch Barcelona vs Real Madrid to see a good match, and sometimes it’s 0-0 and at other times it’s 5-5.
“Every sport has its good and bad Sundays, and in F1 it’s the same.”