Fernando Alonso is the first name on McLaren’s list to drive as part of a full-time return to IndyCar.
The Spaniard has completed two attempts at the Indianapolis 500 with the British team but failed to qualify for this year’s event in what was the first standalone entry for McLaren.
As Alonso bids to finally complete motorsport’s Triple Crown, a full or at least bigger IndyCar schedule has been touted and CEO Zak Brown is more than willing to give him that car.
“I’d love to have him involved in an IndyCar program if we were to do it and he wants to do it,” he told Racer at Hockenheim.
“He’s undecided on what he wants to do next year. I think this is the first time in 17 or 18 years he doesn’t have a calendar filled with racing next year, so I think he needs to take the summer break to reconcile in his own mind what he wants to do.
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“If we were to go IndyCar racing and he wanted to do it, of course, he would be top of our list,” the American continued.
“We don’t want to shy away from the spotlight. I think Fernando brings a tremendous amount of focus but I think as McLaren so do we.
“If we enter IndyCar it’s going to be to win races; ether that’s with Fernando or another driver. So I don’t think it changes those dynamics.”
After this year’s Indy 500 failure was blamed primarily on organisational problems at McLaren, it was suggested by RaceFans that the two parties would split, with Alonso only remaining an ambassador.
That was quickly denied and Brown would clarify the current status.
“We wanted him to test our Formula 1 car to validate everything that he was giving us feedback on last year,” he explained.
“So the only statement we made was we weren’t going to have him test our Formula 1 car anymore and then that got picked up in the wrong way because our relationship is very much intact commercially, contractually — nothing’s changed.”
As for Alonso, he has previously ruled out a full IndyCar season, so it will be interesting to see what the next step is.