McLaren open to letting Alonso compete at Le Mans in 2018
- Published on 17 Sep 2017 10:19
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- By: Fergal Walsh
McLaren admits that it is open to the idea of allowing Fernando Alonso to take part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2018. Although Alonso's contract with McLaren runs out at the end of the current season, it is expected that the Spaniard will stay on as the team will not be powered by Honda next year.
Alonso has already spoken about his desire to win the Triple Crown of Motorsport - the Monaco Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. With two Monaco GP's in the bag already, Alonso went in search of victory at the Indy 500 earlier in May.
A joint partnership between McLaren, Honda and Andretti Autosport saw Alonso in contention for the race victory, before an engine failure ended his race 21 laps from the chequered flag. With Le Mans next up on his list, McLaren revealed that they have pondered the idea.
"I think Le Mans 2018 is too early for McLaren. We’ve got our hands full with getting our Formula 1 team back on-track," Brown told Crash.net. "We’ve spoken about it. If it’s something he would like to do, in the right circumstances, we would be open to that. But it couldn’t compromise his Formula 1 racing programme."
It is not yet known what Alonso's 2018 plans will be, but he has stated that he will only remain in F1 if he thinks he can win: "The Triple Crown is clear target for me in the future, and there are three races there. If the Indy 500 is together with Monaco as we know, there is another one still to complete," he said.
“If I remain in Formula 1, it’s because I believe I can win next year. That will ease the decision a lot because I will be in Monaco because I don’t want to lose any points there. There are three races, not only Indy. There are many, many possibilities to do a fantastic 2018."
Fergal Walsh
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Replies (6)
Login to replyf1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
I'd be surprised if he left F1, but he has many years to do Le Mans
Kevin
Posts: 5,332
All Zak Brown seems to be concerned about, is letting his star driver remain at McLaren. All in order for him to fulfill the goal he was given, of finding a title sponsor for the team. Who is running McLaren? Zak, Eric or Alonso? The decision of trading in Honda for Renault is the stupidest decision McLaren has ever made. You have been developing the Honda engine for 3 years.. it is clear that all is finally starting to fall into place, and right at this moment you decide to turn to an engine manufacturer that is A. Not much faster. B. Not much more reliable. And C. Not going to give you equal machinery.
You have Red Bull that has a lot more experience with Renault and you have the Renault works team that's developing engine and car in-house. You'll be trailling them either way, and chance is very low they'll be faster than Mercedes and Ferrari. Next to that, Honda is not far off Renault and could surpass them next season. Red Bull is hunkering for a works deal, as they see being customer won't win them any titles. So they have now been granted a great Honda works deal. All that has to be done is refine the engine a bit more next year at STR before it can be fitted in the RB15.
And why did McLaren take this decision? So that Zak can retain Alonso and have a higher chance of fulfilling his task of finding a new title sponsor. Even if it means that sportive ambitions have to be lowered down. Unbelievable. McLaren has officially become Williams 2.0 and will never fight for any title ever again. Ron Dennis must be feeling miserable, seeing how these incompetent people are destroying everything he has build.
mbmwe36
Posts: 533
Completely agree with everything here!
It is embarrassing to see how the once proud McLaren team has turned into a very insecure girlfriend that is willing to do anything and everything to retain Alonso.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Yeah, and worse, they lost a whole lot of cash and locked themselves in the Renault deal to boot. Honda might be willing to switch back from Toro Rosso to McLaren, but between Red Bull and McLaren, Im not as sure, but even if that was possible, McLaren wont afford breaking another engine deal like that.
Kevin
Posts: 5,332
@Calle Yeah, they lost 100mln a year! Plus, they now have to pay 15mln a year for shitty engines. I don't think Honda will ever want to switch back to McLaren and I highly doubt McLaren will get any works deal ever again. I would not like to partner up with a company that takes credit for good results, but shames me in public when results stay out.
I think McLaren is the biggest loser in all of this.. and Red Bull is the biggest winner. Honda will get their act together, and when they do, it will be Red Bull that's benefitting. While McLaren contributed to that winning engine for three years. Great job..
emc2
Posts: 2
I see 2009 Season in the future. This time Honda = McLaren and Brawn = RedBull.
McLaren will be kicking themselves in the very near future.