When talking about 2018 and Fernando Alonso, the smart money says he will leave the currently flailing McLaren-Honda Formula One team and Alonso leaves the door slightly ajar on that very topic, saying he is “very open to anything” regarding where he will be driving next racing season.
Alonso has not yet finished any of the first four Formula One races so far this season and is in the final year of his McLaren-Honda contract and, additionally, is intentionally missing [with McLaren-Honda’s approval] this year’s Monaco Grand Prix this year to drive in the Indianapolis 500 in a few weeks.
Alonso, at the lead-up interviews for this weekend’s upcoming Spanish Grand Prix is predictably coy about his post-2017 racing status but does leave room for obvious interpretation about what direction his mind is heading.
“My intention, or my first priority is to race [for McLaren-Honda], but not only to race, I want to win,” Alonso said. “Now I don’t have any more obligations with McLaren, I’m happy with the team but we are not winning. So if from here to September, October, I see there’s a possibility to win in 2018 I will be more than happy to stay with the team. If it’s not the case, I would be more than happy to talk to anyone.”
“This is my last year with the contract I have now with McLaren so I will have to think a little bit, after the summer, because it’s now quite a busy period and the Indy 500 will not be the time to think any further than this summer. But around September, October I need to consider what I will do next year and if it’s time to find other challenges outside Formula One or if in Formula One there will be an opportunity to win the championship, which is my main goal. So I’m very open to anything.”
Although Alonso says “anything”, he also seems to give the impression that Formula One is where he will be staying – barring unforeseen circumstances, naturally.
“I think with this year’s cars and the 2017 regulations the cars are good to drive. I think Formula One is back, in a way, we can see this real power and efficiency, corner speed, things we were missing a bit in the last couple of years. The cars look nice from the outside with the big tires and everything so I like this Formula One.”