23/06/2019
NEWS STORY
Following his victory in the Le Mans 24-hours, Fernando Alonso's alternative commitments have come to an end, and with McLaren still licking its wounds following the Indy 500 debacle which has in turn put hopes of an IndyCar programme on the backburner, there has been talk linking the two-time world champion with some sort of F1 return.
Not so, insists team boss, Andreas Seidl.
"We have no plan to put Fernando back in the F1 car at McLaren," the German told reporters in France. "We are very happy with Lando and Carlos," he continued, "they are doing a great job and they're the future for us, and that is also my focus.
"But he is still a member of McLaren, an ambassador for McLaren," he said of Alonso, "and I think there will be a discussion in the future with potentially other racing projects."
The comment follows the news on Friday, that Renault test driver, Sergey Sirotkin, is to carry out similar duties for McLaren for the remainder of the season.
"It is not possible for Fernando to be here at every race and be reserve driver," said Seidl, when asked about the move. "We work closely together in this partnership with Renault on the powertrain side, and Sergey will be at each track until the end of the season.
"So it simply made sense to have this agreement and to share resources with Renault. And in the case of an emergency, straight away we have a reserve driver at the track. So that was the reason for this agreement."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Le Castellet, here.