20/01/2020
NEWS STORY
McLaren has revealed that Fernando Alonso is no longer an ambassador for the company.
"Fernando is a world-class competitor and we wish him well for the future," said a team spokesperson. "While our relationship has come to a natural conclusion, he will always remain part of the McLaren family."
The Spaniard was announced as an ambassador for the Woking-based company in February last year, sixth months after he had revealed that he would not be racing in F1 in 2019.
McLaren and Alonso would continue their relationship with the Spaniard as a McLaren Racing ambassador in a wide-ranging agreement which would include staying closely connected to McLaren Racing activities, helping advise the team’s drivers and engineers and also driving at selected tests to support the development of the MCL34 and the MCL35 for 2020.
Though he attended a number of races, his one outing in the MCL34 was at the Bahrain in-season test, while the less said about his disastrous Indy 500 outing the better.
Alonso contested 95 Grands Prix with McLaren in 2007 and then between 2015 and 2018, winning four races and scoring a total of 241 points for the team. In addition, he contested the Indianapolis 500 with McLaren in 2017.
Following his controversial season with the Woking team in 2007, which was to bring to light the Spygate saga that got McLaren excluded from the standings and fined $100m, there was shock throughout the paddock when Ron Dennis welcomed the Spaniard back in 2015.
Reuniting with Honda also, McLaren was seeking to emulate the success of the early 90s, when the Woking team and its Japanese partner ruled.
However, this time around it was a disaster from the outset, and now McLaren has parted company with all three elements from 2015, Honda, Alonso and Dennis.