Formula One: Fernando Alonso still hasn’t signed with McLaren

Despite announcing their switch from Honda to Renault engines last month, McLaren has yet to extend the contract of two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso.

Two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso has grown increasingly frustrated with his McLaren Honda this season. In fact, through the first 14 races of the season, of which he started 12, Alonso finished just three of them thanks to the lack of reliability of his car. He has, however, finished the most recent two races, giving him five finishes in 14 starts through 16 races so far this season.

So when McLaren announced last month that they would be switching from Honda to Renault engines next season, it was just assumed that Alonso would be staying with the team in 2018 since Renault engines have been more powerful and reliable than Honda engines on the F1 scene. In fact, it is a safe bet that the reason the team announced the switch is to keep the two-time champion happy.

But here we are over a month later and Alonso has still yet to sign a contract to remain with McLaren in the 2018 season. Meanwhile, his rookie teammate Stoffel Vandoorne signed a contract to remain with the team a few weeks before the announcement was made that the team would be switching from Honda to Renault.

So is this a big deal? It might be. Andretti Autosport IndyCar team owner Michael Andretti said today that he is hopeful that McLaren would join the team for the 2018 Indianapolis 500 like they did last season with Alonso when Alonso wanted to try IndyCar because his Formula One car was so awful and unreliable to start the 2017 season.

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"“There’s still a good chance that McLaren can be at Indy with us next year, so we’ll see. Zak [Brown, McLaren CEO] is trying to get his house in order a little bit, but the plan is to do things together in the future, hopefully at Indy.”“We’re talking. I think we’re just waiting for the dust to settle and getting everything in order in Europe, and in Formula 1, and then hopefully we can talk about still doing something. There’s still a good possibility we could do something together.”"

But just hours ago, McLaren CEO Zak Brown responded by saying that another Indianapolis 500 effort by Alonso and the team was unlikely in the 2018 season. So maybe it’s not a big deal after all.

"“Never say never but I think it’s less likely than more likely. When we return to Indy – and I think it is ‘when’ rather than ‘if’—we need to go with the same amount of competitiveness and fanfare that we created this year. We set a high bar so that won’t be easy.”“We aren’t interested in going to Indy just to go to Indy. We must go with a shot to win and a very high profile effort. Today, we are so focused on Formula 1 and what Fernando will do next year at Monaco with a very competitive race car.”“Things are moving along in a very positive direction and we hope to have a positive announcement regarding Fernando’s return very soon. Right now, we are laser-focused on getting our Formula 1 team back to its winning ways and we hope to start that process next year. A collaborative Indy 500 effort like we did this year [with Andretti Autosport] is something we continue to evaluate because we can turn pretty quickly.”“Starting our own IndyCar team is a completely different undertaking. We do have a desire for McLaren to race in IndyCar in the future. It’s a great racing series relevant to our brand. North America is an important marketplace for us. But I think that is a couple of years away.”“With all that we have going on right now, spending time on that will detract from our Formula One effort. We are years away from fielding an IndyCar team but it is something we are looking at would like to do. In the short term, we can see an Indy 500 program. It’s less likely in 2018 and more likely in 2019 and beyond.”"

Next: Which drivers will drive for Mercedes and Ferrari in 2019?

When it’s all said and done, Fernando Alonso will likely be driving for McLaren next season in Formula One after all for the fourth straight season. However, IndyCar will remain on both his radar and the radar of the McLaren team as far as 2019 and other future years go — even perhaps on a full-time scale.