F1 Silly Season: Alonso to Consider All Options Before Thinking of a Life Outside F1

With the Belgian GP less than a fortnight away, the F1 Silly Season talk is the only thing preventing F1 fans from going into hibernation. This time the spotlight is firmly trained on everyone’s favourite lounging Spaniard, Fernando Alonso. The double world champion’s contract with McLaren Honda expires at the end of 2017. With McLaren clearly struggling, Alonso is starving and only a competitive car under him can satiate his hunger.

Alonso has said that he will take a call on his career after the summer break, something that is fast approaching. Back in May, Alonso got a taste of racing in the prestigious Indy 500, which ultimately ended in a heartbreaking mechanical failure. There has been a lot of speculation that Alonso could go back to Indy on a permanent basis or follow the likes of Mark Webber, Sebastien Buemi, Kamui Kobayashi and others into the world of Endurance racing. However, ‘Nando’ is insistent that he will explore all options with F1 before entertaining the idea of bowing out of F1. In an interview with CNN, he said “I would look at another team first — Formula One is still my priority and my life and winning a world championship is what I am hoping for, If I don’t see any clear project that will allow me to fight for the win I will look outside F1 — but that’s [a decision I will make around] November-December. I will try all the possibilities before that.”

With Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, having their doors firmly shut, the only other options left for him are to stay with McLaren or go back to the team that gave him his two titles, Renault. He also said that McLaren’s competitiveness will be the deciding factor for him to stay. He also said that is top priority will always be to win a third title in F1, but the triple crown is also on the bucket-list. “It may happen. I would like to go back there [to Indy] but maybe not in the very near future.”