IndyCar: Fernando Alonso won’t compete full-time in 2020

Two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso has ruled out the possibility of competing in IndyCar on a full-time basis in the 2020 season.

After failing to qualify for the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso has not committed to returning to IndyCar to attempt to compete in the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” next year, but he has not ruled it out.

He needs an Indy 500 victory to become just the second driver to win all three races of the Triple Crown of Motorsports, as he already won the Monaco Grand Prix in 2006 and 2007, and he won last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. Only Graham Hill has ever won all three of these races.

However, the 37-year-old Spaniard has ruled out competing in IndyCar on a full-time basis next season, so if he does return to the Indy 500, that would be his lone race once again, just as it was in 2017 and just as it would have been had he qualified for it this year.

Here is what Alonso had to say about the matter, according to Autosport.

"“If I do Indy, a one-off will be the approach again. To do the full season at the moment is too much of a commitment in terms of races. If you go there you should be in contention; you are not a tourist. To do four or five races as preparation doesn’t make sense because Indy is the first oval of the championship.“There are no other oval races you can do before to prepare — I think a one-off is enough. I will have to see what the possibilities are. If I go back to Indy, I will explore whatever possibilities there are and then choose the most competitive one.”"

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If Alonso were to compete in IndyCar on a full-time basis at any point, it would likely be with McLaren. He drove for McLaren in the final four seasons of his Formula 1 career, and he drove for the team when they partnered with Andretti Autosport for the 2017 Indy 500. He also drove for them in his Indy 500 attempt last month.

McLaren recently revealed that a full-time IndyCar program is not likely for them in the 2020 season, so it stands to reason that Alonso is ruling out this possibility for himself, especially after there was speculation late into 2017 that he may join the series full-time for the 2018 season, and after he didn’t, there was even more speculation late into 2018 that he may join the series full-time for the 2019 season, which, again, he didn’t end up doing.

With Fernando Alonso having ruled out competing in IndyCar on a full-time basis in the 2020 season, will he ever end up becoming a full-time driver in the series? If so, when will he do so?