Fernando Alonso and McLaren remain committed to each other despite the failure of this year’s Indianapolis 500 attempt.
Competing in a standalone entry, the Spaniard with the British team failed to qualify for Sunday’s race at the Brickyard after a miserable week dogged by problems.
It has since emerged that the organisation of the Indy outfit was very poor indeed, with a steering wheel having to be located before practice and a second chassis delayed due to the wrong paint scheme.
Bob Fernley left McLaren for his role in the disaster but CEO Zak Brown is adamant no lasting damage has been done to the Alonso partnership.
“Our relationship with Fernando has never been stronger,” he told Crash.net
“He was obviously very disappointed. We let him down, he deserved to be in the race, he was an absolute star as he always has been when he’s raced with us and my personal relationship in working with him.”
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Now unable to attempt the third leg of motorsport’s Triple Crown this weekend, what it means for Alonso going forward is unknown.
“What he does post-Le Mans is up to Fernando. We have a contract with him for some McLaren activities,” Brown commented.
“I think when you come off an emotional weekend like that you want to take some time to reflect and see what he wants to do in the future and if that aligns with some of McLaren’s activities then that would be great.
“But just like he’s been driving with Toyota, I think he’s a bit undecided on what he wants to do yet so we will pick up those conversations when I see him in Le Mans.”
Ahead of this weekend’s Formula 1 event in Monaco, Daniel Ricciardo expressed his surprise at Alonso’s Indy disappointment.
“Obviously I had confidence that he would be able to hop in and be relatively competitive because I think he’s obviously a very, very good driver and very capable and still very motivated and driven,” said the Australian.
“But I guess, as well, this year it looks like obviously, you need… you’ve got to be a good driver but set-up and all those things at those margins are so important.
“It’s sad to see; obviously, as part of the F1 family, we want to see him do well but yeah, for reasons I honestly couldn’t understand or explain… I’m not in that world.”