The future career path of two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso is anything but certain. Where will he end up in 2019?
Two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso is one of 18 active Formula 1 drivers who entered the 2018 Formula 1 season without a contract to drive after the 2018 season comes to an end. Three drivers signed new contracts since then, and he is not one of them.
But of the 15 active Formula 1 drivers who have not yet signed contracts to drive in the 2019 season and beyond, Alonso is probably the one with the largest number of possibilities as far as his future goes.
The 37-year-old Spaniard currently drives for McLaren, and he has done so since the 2015 season. He is in his 17th season as a Formula 1 driver and his fifth as a McLaren driver, as he also drove for the team back in the 2007 season. He began driving in Formula 1 in the 2001 season and has only not driven in one season, the 2002 season, since then.
Alonso won his two championships in the 2005 and 2006 Formula 1 seasons driving for Renault. He won those two championships during a time when Michael Schumacher was practically unstoppable, as he won five consecutive titles from the 2000 season through the 2004 season to bring his championship total from two to a record seven.
Alonso’s 32 career Formula 1 race victories rank sixth on the all-time Formula 1 wins list behind only the win totals of all-time great drivers Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna.
Where will Alonso end up driving in 2019? Here are five possible landing spots for the two-time Formula 1 champion.
McLaren
While Fernando Alonso staying put at McLaren in the 2019 Formula 1 season is certainly not the most likely scenario given his frustration with the team that has mounted over the last few years largely because he has not finished in higher than fifth place in a single race since returning to the team in the 2015 season, it is still a possibility.
It is widely believed that Alonso will only stay in Formula 1 next season if a seat opens up at one of the sport’s top-tier teams. However, that was widely believed to have been the case last season. He did not land a ride with one of the sport’s top teams, but he still ended up driving in Formula 1 for McLaren for the fourth consecutive season this year.
This was largely due to the fact that McLaren switched from Honda engines to Renault engines between the 2017 season and the 2018 season, and re-signing with the team has, in fact, paid off for Alonso to an extent, as he is in the midst of his best season since he returned to the team back in 2015.
While the odds Alonso re-signing with the team once again next season are smaller than they were this season, the possibility of the 37-year-old Spaniard returning to the Woking-based team for the fifth consecutive season and for the sixth season overall still exists.
But if Alonso leaves McLaren, which is what many people expect him to do after the 2018 season comes to an end, and he still manages to return to Formula 1 next season for what would be his 17th consecutive season and 18th season overall in the sport, which team would he be driving for?
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo signed a two-year contract to drive for Renault Sport starting in the 2019 Formula 1 season, meaning one of the two cars for one of Formula 1’s top three teams is currently without a contracted driver for next year.
Red Bull Racing recently signed a two-year contract with Honda, meaning the Japanese manufacturer are set to power the team’s cars starting next season. As a result, the team are set to end their 12-year partnership with Renault.
Fernando Alonso and Honda do not exactly have the greatest of relationships after the 37-year-old Spaniard’s three-year stint with the Japanese manufacturer from the 2015 season through the 2017 season, but that was when McLaren used Honda engines.
Perhaps Alonso and Honda could overlook their past differences and give Red Bull Racing a better chance to sign him. After all, Red Bull Racing have had far more recent success than McLaren have had.
Seeing as how Alonso will likely not stay in Formula 1 next season if he does not sign with a team that would give him a chance to win races on a regular basis, he would be smart to sign with Red Bull Racing if given the opportunity to do so.
Seeing as how Alonso has proven that he has a lot left in the tank if given the chance to shine behind the wheel of a competitive race car, Red Bull Racing would be smart to sign him if given the opportunity to do so even with several other potential replacement candidates for Ricciardo in the running to become a teammate to 20-year-old Max Verstappen.
But assuming that neither McLaren or Red Bull Racing sign Alonso for next season and he still returns to Formula 1, which team would he be driving for?
Scuderia Ferrari
Sky Sports F1 analyst Martin Brundle recently ignited rumors that Fernando Alonso could potentially return to Scuderia Ferrari next season. The 37-year-old Spaniard drove for the team from the 2010 season through the 2014 season before returning to McLaren in the 2015 season.
Brundle made the case that Sergio Marchionne, who previously ruled out Alonso returning to Ferrari, had stepped down as the CEO of Ferrari (and has since sadly passed away), and that Alonso could try to convince ex-Marlboro executive Louis Camilleri, who has been appointed in Marchionne’s place by Ferrari, to allow him to return to the team as the replacement for 2007 Formula 1 champion Kimi Raikkonen next season.
Raikkonen is currently in his 16th season in Formula 1 and his eighth season as a Ferrari driver. He drove for the team from the 2007 season through the 2009 season and has driven for them since the 2014 season.
However, the 38-year-old Finn is currently driving for the team on a one-year contract for the third consecutive season, and he has not won a race since the 2013 Australian Grand Prix. In fact, despite the fact that he has driven for Ferrari since the 2014 season and Alonso has driven for McLaren since the 2015 season, Raikkonen’s win drought is longer than Alonso’s (106 races to 101 races). Alonso’s most recent victory came in the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix.
If Raikkonen does not sign a one-year contract with Ferrari for the fourth consecutive season and Ferrari do not feel that 20-year-old Alfa Romeo Sauber rookie Charles Leclerc is quite ready to replace him, Alonso could very well end up driving for the Maranello-based team once again.
It’s a longshot, especially seeing as how it was revealed in June that Ferrari are ready to replace Raikkonen with Leclerc next season and it was revealed later in June that Ferrari and Leclerc had reached an agreement that the Monegasque had not yet signed, but it’s certainly possible, especially seeing as how nothing has been confirmed yet as far which driver will be the teammate to four-time Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel next year.
But if Alonso does not re-sign with McLaren and he is unable to land a ride with either Aston Martin Red Bull Racing or Ferrari next season, where will he be driving in 2019?
IndyCar (full-time)
Fernando Alonso made his IndyCar debut in last year’s Indianapolis 500, and it is no secret that he wants to return to compete in the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” again in the future, especially after the success he had in it in 2017.
Alonso qualified in fifth place for the 2017 Indy 500 and led 27 laps before his Honda engine gave out on him with just 21 laps to go in the 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana. He was officially scored in 24th.
Now that Alonso won this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, he has earned at least one victory in two of the three races of the Triple Crown of Motorsport, as he is also a two-time winner of the Monaco Grand Prix.
That means that a victory in the Indy 500 would make Alonso just the second driver to win all three races of the Triple Crown of Motorsport, as the late Graham Hill is currently the only driver who has done so.
Seeing as how McLaren are even talking about fielding a full-time IndyCar team next season, there would be no better year than 2019 for Alonso to drive full-time in the series for the first time in his career, especially given the fact that he is reportedly interested in doing so and his odds of landing a ride with one of the top-tier Formula 1 teams are not high.
Given how competitive he was in his IndyCar debut, which was also his oval debut, Alonso could certainly have a ton of success in IndyCar even as a rookie, at least more success than he would have driving an uncompetitive Formula 1 car for yet another year.
But with all of that said, there is a reason that this slide is titled “IndyCar (full-time)” as opposed to just “IndyCar”. That reason is the fact that if Alonso leaves Formula 1 and does not become a full-time IndyCar driver, there is still a chance that he will be behind the wheel of an IndyCar for at least one race next season. What would this mean as far as where he would drive in 2019?
FIA World Endurance Championship/Indianapolis 500
Fernando Alonso is currently in his first season as a full-time FIA World Endurance Championship driver, and he has already had a ton of success in the series. He drives for Toyota Gazoo Racing and has won both of the first two races of the 2018-2019 season.
Alonso could certainly continue driving in the World Endurance Championship even if he drives full-time in Formula 1 or IndyCar next season largely due to the fact that the 2018-2019 World Endurance Championship season doesn’t end until next June despite the fact that it began this past May.
This is the case because of the fact that there are not many races on the 2018-2019 World Endurance Championship schedule and the dates of the races do not conflict with any events that are currently on the IndyCar or Formula 1 schedules for next year.
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The reason that the World Endurance Championship is highlighted on this slide is because it may very well be the only series in which Alonso drives full-time next year if he cannot land a ride with a competitive Formula 1 team and he does not sign with an IndyCar team.
However, if this ends up being the case, the odds that Alonso would not return to IndyCar to compete in the Indianapolis 500 next year are very small.
At this point, Alonso is one Indy 500 victory away from becoming just the second driver to win all three races of the Triple Crown of Motorsport at least once, as he is a two-time winner of the Monaco Grand Prix and he just won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time in his career.
While Alonso could certainly attempt to become the second driver to do so by competing full-time in IndyCar next year and possibly for the next few years, there is no pressing need for him to compete in more than the Indy 500 if that is his only true goal when it comes to IndyCar.
If Alonso does not land a ride with a competitive Formula 1 team and McLaren are unable to field a full-time IndyCar team next season, still expect the 37-year-old Spaniard to return to the Indy 500 in 2019 to attempt to do what only Graham Hill has done.
Where do you believe Fernando Alonso will be driving in 2019? Will he return to Formula 1? If so, will he drive for McLaren, Red Bull Racing or Ferrari? If not, will he drive full-time in IndyCar or just in the Indianapolis 500? Will he continue driving in the World Endurance Championship? Hopefully all of these questions surrounding the future of the 37-year-old Spaniard are answered in the near future.