It was announced earlier today 9American time) that Fernando Alonso and McLaren will remain together into the future and even though the official news didn't divulge any intimate deals of the new deal, the Spanish driver confirmed in the official Thursday press conference held by the FIA in Austin Texas that it was indeed a multiyear deal but wouldn't go into the finer details.
He hid however, confirm that Formula One is just one aspect of Motorsport, albeit the highest, and that he will definitely dbe doing the Indy 500 again in the future, he just wouldn't say exactly when in the future that would beโฆ
Two-time F1 World Champion who's just announced a new deal with McLaren that I think will take you to 17 seasons in F1. Tell us your feelings, and also what remains for you to achieve here?
Well, the feelings are great, obviously. It's a good day for me, announcing next year, I will be back here with McLaren and obviously happy and proud to continue this relationship. It has been three difficult seasons for us, we are not as competitive as we wanted and now I think it's time to change this situation and hopefully next year to be back in the positions that McLaren belongs and hopefully give something to our fans that have kept supporting us for the last three years. That will be the main thing for next year. As I've said, happy to arrive to this agreement at the end.
On that topic, obviously you're switching to the Renault engine for next year which has this season so far won two grands prix and had ten other podiums. Is that the kind of thing you have in mind from McLaren-Renault next season?
We'll see. I think every years the projects are a little bit different. You never know what you can achieve with the new cars. Sometimes you go to the first winter test and have a nice surprise and are quicker than you expect; sometimes you have bad surprises and you are a little bit slower and something is not according to plan. Let's see what we can do next year โย but definitely very happy again to have a Renault engine on my car. I have a very strong relationship with Renault from many, many years now. I've been working with them since then, even on my karting school etcetera, so extremely proud to also drive for a Renault engine.
And a comment on the colour of your cap, all part of the Susan Komen initiative this weekend.
Yes. Obviously I think the whole of F1 is given big support to all the women that are fighting constantly with breast cancer. I think we want to pass the message that they are not alone, they have a lot of support. With all the necessary things and controls they can make in advance, I think there are many, many hopes and they are not alone.
I believe it's a one year contract extension you've signed; is that correct and if so what's the thinking? Are you looking beyond next year, do you want options open?
We don't talk too much about the contracts, the inside but no, it's not one year.
Just following that up, I'm told it's a multi-year contract but presumably that's got options in it. Do you then foresee potentially at McLaren if things go well next year and then maybe into the future Le Mans, Indy 500? Are these things that you're talking about with McLaren as well?
We'll see, I think it's just talking too much ahead. We have enough to do for next year, to put McLaren again at the top of the grid and that's the first priority right now. I think on my personal side there are no other priorities than F1 at the moment but with a door open for different series and different goals that I always believed that you need to win in other series if you want to be a more complete driver, a better driver, because motorsport is not only F1. Even if it's still the priority, we will see what the future brings.
As somebody who now has experience in Indycar and also F1, how do you think F1 can win over American fans? Is the passion for racing different around here?
I think here it's a little bit more relaxed; you know the atmosphere in the race, in the weekendโฆ The races here are much more unpredictable, what the result can be on Sundays so that is quite attractive from a fan point of view. In F1, we know the starting grid on Sunday, we can write a paper now and sign and we will maybe miss one or two positions, maximum, and that's the worst thing that we have and hopefully we can change that.
You've seen a lot of teams come in over the years but Haas F1 team has had pretty good success in their first couple of seasons. Have you been surprised at how well they've been able to do as a start-up team?
Yeah, definitely, it definitely has been a very good thing for the sport. I think what Haas has managed to do in the last two years is quite impressive. I think the first year we could argue that with the help of Ferrari or the agreements that they had, we will see a competitive team already from race one but I think with the changes of regulations this year etc I think they did an amazing job again, so two consecutive years in a very demanding sport like F1, competing at a good level is a great achievementย so hopefully we will see more teams coming with this commitment and with this kind of result and also with Haas with better results in the future will be great as well.
Five months ago, you running in the Indy 500 got a lot of people's attention obviously. When you reflect back at that time, what are the biggest moments you take with you and are you looking to potentially doing something like that again in the future?
Well the moment wasโฆ it's difficult to pick up one moment of that month. If I had to chose one, it would be Sunday: the drivers' presentation, the drivers' parade ten minutes before the race. That was an amazing moment: 250-300,000 people in one venue was very impressive, the atmosphere there. But I think the whole months was very unique and opened the eyes a little bit of what I said before: F1 is just one more series in motorsport, probably the most mediatic one, it's a fantastic show and we all are very proud to be F1 drivers and we dream from a very early age to become F1 drivers but there are other motorsport series that are as good as that and you know I'm a fan of this one, so that was a good discovery for me. Obviously now, with the new McLaren deal for next year I can confirm that I will not be at the Indy 500 next year because there is Monaco Grand Prix on the same weekend and priority next year will be to perform well in F1 but at the same time I can confirm that I will be in the Indy 500 in the future. I don't if it will be '19 or 2020 or whenever but it's a race that I definitely will experience again.
Austin will stay on the F1 calendar probably but if there will be a second Grand Prix in the US, what circuit or what city would you like?
There are many places that could host a race. Even Indianapolis on the old circuit.
