Alonso expects "long wait" before confirming 2019 plans

Fernando Alonso expects a long wait before he announces his plans for 2019. The Spaniard will leave Formula 1 at the end of the season, after spending 17 years involved in the series.

The 37-year-old has been heavily linked to a move to the US, for a race drive in IndyCar. He is expected to take part in a test in the coming weeks to judge the type of car he will be driving, while Honda also stated that they would welcome Alonso to the series.

Alonso began his looking outside F1 in 2017, when he skipped the Monaco Grand Prix for the Indianapolis 500. This season, he is racing in the World Endurance Championship with Toyota, and is currently leading the standings with teammates Sebastian Buemi. 

But Alonso says will be a "couple of months" before he announces his next move: "I’m thinking. Probably this is bad news, but I will not probably decide or be ready to confirm anything until [in] a couple of months, maybe October or something like that. It’s going to be a long wait, and a lot of predictions!"

"There is that possibility [testing on an IndyCar road course] that came to place in the last couple of days, so I will think and I will decide," Alonso continued. "It could be interesting, because I obviously enjoyed a lot last year the Indy 500. I don’t know that car in a normal setup, in a normal circuit, so it can be a possibility.

"But first of all, I want to take time to digest the retirement from Formula 1. Obviously our priority this weekend is the WEC, because one of the reasons to join the super season was to become world champion. Le Mans was the first priority.

"With the super season, you have two attempts at Le Mans. We won on it in the first one, but the second priority was to become world champion, and that’s right now the biggest thing. Also next year, there was the clash with Sebring and Australia, so now there is not anymore, so even more priority to WEC and the world championship possibility."