McLaren CEO Zak Brown remains confident that Fernando Alonso will stay in Formula 1 with the British team beyond the end of this season.
The past few weeks have been very difficult for the Woking-based outfit having failed to score a point since Spain and then the past 10 days or so have been dogged by reports of unrest within the company and frustration at the inability to solve their current lack of performance.
Indeed, McLaren was the second worst team at the French GP this past weekend, with Alonso finishing last of the classified finishers just a week after winning the Le Mans 24 Hours.
“Fernando’s very happy at the world of McLaren,” Brown insists as he quoted by PlanetF1.
“He’s yet to make a decision. We have a very good relationship with him, he’s been with us now for quite a long time and it depends ultimately on what and where we race and how our F1 car’s developing.”
After adding a second leg of the Triple Crown to his resume the expectation is Alonso will at least attempt the Indy 500 again in 2019, but after reports of McLaren interest in Daniel Ricciardo for next season, some are wondering if the Spaniard could leave F1 permanently.
“I’m optimistic Fernando will stay in the family, in the F1 car,” Brown reiterated. “As long as he feels we can make a step forward I think it’s something he’d like to continue to do.”
During Sunday’s race at Paul Ricard, the double world champion was heard getting frustrated and at one point claiming he “didn’t care”. Later though, he explained it was linked to what he considered ambitious radio calls from the pit wall.
“On the radio the team was definitely overexcited, telling me the gaps with the fifth guy, the sixth guy,” Alonso revealed.
“I was last after the Safety Car and I had a problem with the brakes overheating, I had one set of tyres for the whole race because we stopped on lap one to fit the yellow tyres so I think it was a defensive race.
“It was not frustration but we know that this weekend we’ve been quite uncompetitive,” he concluded.
