Fernando Alonso has told Rubens Barrichello that if he gets an offer to drive for a race-winning Formula 1 team he will gladly return to the pinnacle of the sport, from which he walked away at the end of last season.
Speaking during an informal video interview with Barrichello, former F1-driver turned jack-of-all-trades, on the Acelerados YouTube channel, Alonso said of a possible return to the top flight, “You will always miss Formula 1 because they are the fastest cars on the planet.”
“If you have the opportunity to drive for a top team, the possibility of winning, you will always say ‘yes’ because F1 is F1!”
The reason the Spaniard left the pinnacle of the sport, at the height of his prowess, was that he had no guarantee of a winning car and was sick and tired of toiling hard for nothing, at the wrong end of the grid, with McLaren.
The reality remains that only three teams are likely to win races this year:
- Red Bull is out of the question because of the Honda connection, remember how the Spaniard trash talked their engine not too long ago… and the Toyota connection?
- Mercedes have Esteban Ocon first in line and waiting in the wings should a seat open up at the Silver Arrows;
- Ferrari have promoted Charles Leclerc to partner Sebastian Vettel, and are hardly likely to welcome the polemic driver back as the team set on a new era of grooming young drivers for the future.
Nevertheless, Alonso has a busy year ahead, “Indianapolis is the priority this year, I’ll do the remaining World Endurance Championship (WEC) races, Le Mans again, but my head is set in Indianapolis.”
“Trying to win that race, I know it’s the hardest of the three Triple Crown races because I’ve grown up in F1 and if you have a good car, you can win the Championship.”
“At Le Mans with the Toyota last year we had a very good chance of winning because we had a better car, but Indianapolis is difficult,” acknowledged the double F1 World Champion.
Alonso will not be at the start of a Grand Prix season for the first time since 2001, instead he will be racing for Toyota Gazoo Racing at the 100 Miles of Sebring during the same weekend of the Melbourne F1 season opener on 17 March.
McLaren: Alonso will drive at selected tests to help development