McLaren denies it has cut ties with Alonso
- Published on 05 Jul 2019 17:50
-
- By: Fergal Walsh
Fernando Alonso and McLaren have not ended their partnership, GPToday.net understands.
Reports emerged on Friday that the double-world champion would no longer continue to work with the Woking squad after a number of frustrating years.
MORE: Seidl: Alonso, Vandoorne deserve credit for McLaren revival
Alonso returned to McLaren in 2015, but endured four difficult seasons with the team before opting to walk away from a race seat in Formula 1.
Earlier this year, he entered the Indianapolis 500 for the second time, but the effort saw McLaren and Alonso fail to qualify for the race.
It is understood that there are no more plans for Alonso to drive the MCL34 this year following his outing in Bahrain in May.
However, GPToday.net has learned that Alonso remains an ambassador of the squad, despite there being no driving projects in the pipeline.
Alonso won the 24 Hours of Le Mans last month for Toyota, triumphing for a second year consecutive after taking the victory in 2018 alongside Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima.
A collaboration between McLaren and Alonso is still possible, perhaps even for the Indianapolis 500 next season.
8
Replies (8)
Login to replyajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Let me summarize the platitudes about Alonso that will probably be triggered by this:
- Alonso is so political, this was inevitable
- This is why he doesn't have a top seat
- What a waste of talent
- Alonso is toxic
Olfacius
Posts: 31
Agree...
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
Strange story. Denials after the story of McLaren praising Alonso, maybe just a slow news week or maybe something's afoot. And then again, maybe just GPT's spin.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Yet it isn't the first time I've heard this rumor. Things have allegedly been a bit tense between Alo and McL for a while now, and Alonso is an impatient man. I don't necessarily think this is more than a rumor, but if there is truth to it, it won't surprise me if he goes somewhere else.
Mansell
Posts: 104
They should cut ties .
Lando and Carlos are the future time to cut ties with the past
f1ski
Posts: 726
you don't believe this yourself? typically where there is smoke there is fire look how they have developed their car in season. This didn't happen before. Hell I mockingly made the comment Mclaren would do better after his departure by historically how things get better when he leaves. He is one of the greatest talents ever but like a super model someone is tired of sleeping with them
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Indeed, it's almost as if he carries a curse with him. However I would say that a lot of the improvements we are seeing are more down to Brown doing a fine work at bringing back some efficiency in their way of operating rather than Alonso's departure. Drama aside, he is a pretty wellrounded driver. I would however say that Alonso tend to want his cars to be designed around him and him alone, so chances are his prowess with the car last year could've cost Vandoorne some pace. With emphasis on could, of course, something we don't see this year when we have two non-champ, kinda even drivers who don't demand quite as much and don't get as relied upon.
Kean
Posts: 692
Marc Priestley had a really good explanation about the fundamental problem with last years car, and how they figured it out. It had to do with the sidepods being to close to the front wheels. So the fundamental issue with their car they understood last year, So I think Alo and Van should get credit for helping supplying a better starting point this year. I would definately say that Van suffered from being in a car tailored for Alonso. Also Brown is making all the right moves which is resulting in upgrades seem to be spot on this year.