Will Alonso stay with McLaren all season?

He's going to stay. Now next year? Doubtful unless Honda makes a huge leap forward pretty quickly. Based on what we've seen so far; that seems doubtful

 

Nothing recently has shown that Alonso is still among the best, or even the best.

This is all supposition based on performances several years back.

A lot of water passed under the bridge since ....

 

If we take it to the lowest common denominator for the last few years, what we can conclude is that he has not been left wanting against his team mates.

That's probably the only way we can judge in today's series which is so car orientated.

Of course we can't compare with Max or Ricci, but it's fair to say that he has trounced his team mates in the last few years.

Best,

Sammy

 

He outperformed Kimi at Ferrari, and look at how quick Kimi still is now...and last year. Granted, the car at Ferrari at the time was a massive turd, and not developed for Kimi, but still.

Alonso trains hard and wants to win. I doubt he has fallen off much, if at all.

I think personality is the main thing Alonso might have working against him in being offered a drive with another top team.

 

You cannot judge a driver by how he was 3 years ago !!

I believe that if you don't drive a good car for a while, you tend to lose your skill.

 

Forget staying with the team, put Alonso on suicide watch. Hasegawa says they may be farther back relative to the others than before.

Honda 'a little bit scared' of performance gap to rivals

 

Not true. Last season (2016) Alonso dragged that PoS McLaren to 54 points. A car that struggled to get out of quali 3 and was a country mile off the pace. He beat his team mate, Jenson Button, another highly rated world champion, out of the park (21 points scored). And, the most obvious proof, he beat that failed journeyman, Massa, who could only score 53 points in a vastly superior Williams.

He is clearly a top tier driver and easily deserves to be considered in the same class as Ham or Vet. It's an absolute disgrace that Honda cannot provide a pu worthy of his talents.

 

I voted that he will stay with the contract..however with the latest news from Honda that the lack of power may be even worse than what they thought last week.'little bit scared'.

Wouldn't be surprised if Alonso reverts to his old petulant (talented) self and throws all his toys out the pram,exit stage left.

 

Let's not forget that this is a driver who says he's not interested in driving for points or podium places, all he wants is to do is win races and Championships - Well that's not going to happen any time soon with McLaren by the looks of it!

If the McLaren doesn't improve drastically and quickly this season, I can easily see him walking out on McLaren mid-season due to frustration and possibly depression!

He seems to Me to be right at the point of saying: "What's the ***king point of travelling all around the World just to go round and round hoping for a miracle cure, and hoping to scratch a few points together?....I'm just wasting My time!"

And if the Ferrari turns out to be the real deal this season (yes, it's a big "if" at the moment!), and really is the car to beat in 2017, then I think that too could make him want to walk out on McLaren if they're still slow and suffering reliability issues, especially if Ferrari were to win the WDC/WCC in 2017

(One of his biggest worries about his McLaren gamble has been the possibility of a Ferrari driver winning the WDC - That would have really destroyed him having walked out on the team!).

I'll bet Jenson Button has been spending a fair old bit of time in the simulator recently to get accustomed to the 2017 car as best as possible, "just in case!"

(There's a reason why McLaren were determined to keep button on the books, and My suspicion is that they were already concerned that there was a possibility that Alonso might not see out the season if the car was no good! )

As for Alonso and the future: If he walks out on McLaren then there's absolutely no way he will sit in another teams car in 2017.


Going to Red Bull in 2018?: Forget it! - Not going to happen!

He will try to either get into Mercedes for 2018, or he will try to come back to Ferrari if they're successful in 2017, hoping to take Kimi's seat. Saying that though, Kimi has been looking pretty tasty so far in pre-season testing, and if he carries that into the season then there may not be a seat available at the Scuderia.

Back to Renault? - I don't think they're showing enough improvement to tempt him. I suspect he would see that as being no better than remaining at McLaren.

If he can't get into Mercedes or Ferrari then he will walk away from F1, knowing that he made a complete balls up of his career going back to McLaren!

As I say, right now, I think Alonso is right at the breaking point. The McLaren gamble hasn't paid off and he's starting to feel like he just wasting his time. He's spent the last two years battling to improve and develop the car, and it's as though he's having to work incredibly hard just to stand still!

So will he see the season out? - My thinking is, unless McLaren and Honda find some sort of magic bullet to cure all of their woes, then it's highly unlikely that he will.

 

Alonso has made a LOT of money. What he doesn't have a lot of time left in F1. That will weigh heavily on whatever decision he makes.

 

He's only 35. He's still plenty young and drives with the same aggression. He's just in a crap car.

I've never heard anyone say that personally. If you are out of a car altogether, yes - you lose some speed until you get enough seat time back. If you are in a slow car, it will take you some time for your brain to get back up to speed in a fast car. But to lose your speed because you are in a car that is a second or two off - I don't buy that.

 

McLaren still has Jenson under contract so if there was a falling out with Alonso, the team would still have a veteran driver to work with... That said, I do not see Alonso quitting the team, after all he is getting paid quite well, I think there is a better chance that the team fires him.

Where could he end up? Not Ferrari, not Red Bull. Mercedes, certainly not midseason, though things might get interesting next off season. Willams could be a better option, should one of their drivers struggle to score points during the season. Renault is probably the best option, factory team (factory money) and while hulkenburg should have the car in the top 10 in every race, palmer may struggle, making Alonso a perfect option to secure points late in the season.

 

Alonso has been lucky to be able to cash on past glory.
To be honest, I will never understand why McLaren was so eager to sign him, in view of past history, or why Honda seems to have insisted in recruiting him. To me, it's a complete mystery, and a move that became a terrible business decision.

I cannot see how he could command the same kind of money at the end of his McLaren contract. Wherever he goes, he will take a pay cut, in line with his real market value.
Really, I cannot see any team desperate to sign him !

 

+1

 

He will stay at mclaren hoping a place at Mercedes opens up for next year. If it doesn't I suspect he'll go straight to Wec with porsche as I doubt Mclaren will be wdc material even in 2018

 

+1

I'll do you one better. This will happen when then 4XWDC Hamilton returns to McLaren to see out his career.

 

The two most powerful forces in the Universe are keeping Alonso and McLaren together: money and lawyers.

Anyway, this season there are no tokens, so I think that they´ll be in a decent position in a few races, and maybe fighting for more important goals later. 2018? Who knows...

 

^ this

 

Hahaha I thought of this too!

 

IF he leaves, IMO he'll leave after either Spanish GP or Monaco.

But he's got around 30 millions reasons not to leave at that point still.

 

I hope he stays..nothing makes me laugh as hard as reading some spanish press....

 

His contract has to have some sort of exit clause, but if he has hopes of joining a more competitive team in the future he needs to stay where he is to keep sharp. I would think that just like anything else in life, stepping out of one of these cars for multiple months gets one out of practice.