McLaren to negotiate with Alonso "a few races into the year"

Executive director at McLaren Zak Brown has stated that they will enter negotiations with Fernando Alonso about a new contract early next season.

Alonso's contract at McLaren runs out at the end of 2017, and has stated previously that he would retire at the end of next season if the new cars do not excite him.

The Spaniard joined McLaren at the start of 2015 on a three year deal, with the hope of winning the world championship.

“He's definitely committed to the project, but his contract is up and he's in high demand as you can imagine,” Brown confirmed. 


“[Sebastian] Vettel's out of contract next year [too], that's my understanding. So as you can imagine, next year's going to be an exciting driver market. 

“Obviously we'd love to keep him. He's one of the greatest drivers on the track, if not the best. 

“But we're just going to see how things go and kick off those conversations a few races into the year.” 

“Yeah. If I were him, I'd want to see how we perform before I started making decisions,” Brown added. “You can't blame him for that.” 

“But I think we're all waiting to see and that goes both ways,” he concluded.