More Racing - more variety of racing - often makes better racedrivers. It's not done in modern times mainly because of stifling corporate contracts. You basically have to be a driver of Alonso's stature to have the clout to make it happen.
McLaren's boss, Zak Brown, thought he had nothing to lose by allowing Alonso to drive in another series, so he lifted any restriction; that's why it happened.. If Alonso was really in the hunt for the title, and driving for Ferrari, Mercedes or Red Bull, this would never have occurred. Could you imagine Ferrari releasing Vettel in the middle of the F1 season to race a Dalarra at Indianapolis? Or Mercedes telling Hamilton it's okay to drive for Toyota at Le Mans? Never So, in one way, McLaren letting their driver to indulge in self-promotion at Indy or Le Mans more an indictment on the situation of the team than anything else.
I agree that if Alonso was in a title fight, he wouldn't be able to indulge in other series - and I don't think he'd want to either. I suspect that allowing Alonso this freedom is the only thing that's keeping him from throwing in the towel at McLaren. I think he commands the big salary because he can, but it's not a motivating factor for him. He's a champion and still wants to win. Maybe he's learned from past mistakes with team politics, but we've not really found out because he's under a lot less scrutiny in an uncompetitive car. All the best, Andrew.
When do you suppose he learned this life lesson? In the first few races of this year? He was badmouthing Honda last season. Far more likely that he is getting his way so he’s behaving... for the moment.
Everyone had been bad-mouthing Honda. It is only now that McLaren are uncompetitive with a Renault engine (so much for McLaren touting they have the best chassis on the grid ) that it looks like Honda were only part of the unbalanced reliability and performance equations. Perhaps it's because he's not in a title fight, but he has looked less stressed in recent years. As I said, he's not at the high stakes end of the grid, so we don't really know. All the best, Andrew.
I guess I’ve always been surprised how much love Alonso gets on a Ferrari board given his history of involvement with spygate. Then when he came to drive for Ferrari frankly he accomplished very little except for complaining and bringing down morale, which has been his M.O.
Unless a seat opens up at Mercedes/Ferrari/Red Bull (latter extremely unlikely), he has zero to gain by staying in F1. Indy however...
In F1, I cannot see any team considering hiring him. I suppose Alonso is interested in the star event: Indy 500. I am not too sure about the rest of the IRL calendar. But we have yet to see if he can emulate Nigel Mansell, and take the championship in his first year in the US (CART then).
