McLaren Honda star Fernando Alonso has to make a decision about his GP future. This is expected not only by the team bosses, but also by their young driver Lando Norris.
Fernando Alonso has not yet decided whether he will stay with McLaren Honda team next year. The Asturian, who has been waiting for the 33rd GP victory of his career for four years, will not make his choice until November or even as late as December.
The reason? Alonso is still dependent on the expected success of his team, which has shown problems with their 2017 Power Unit after a radical restructure in architecture over the previous 2015/16 iteration.
When you think back, the two-time world champion had been promised victory in 2015 by Honda, McLaren and Eric ‘The Believable’ Boullier. Of course, this promise still has yet to come close to materialising.
However, McLaren’s CEO Zak Brown, Eric Boullier, and the Honda executives, hope that Alonso will be with them for 2018, even though Lando Norris is a promising talent in his own right. The 17-year-old Briton currently leads the Formula 3 Championship and is an interesting prospect.
Norris took part in the official test on the Hungaroring before the summer break and topped the time sheets on the second day. For this, there was a high praise from Boullier who called Norris “the star of the future”.
“I have to talk with Zak and Eric to find out when they can let me back into the cockpit. The decision is not with me but with them. ” said Norris to Sky Sports.
With regard to the praise from the team, the British hopeful had this to say:
“This of course increases my self-confidence. He [Eric] has progressed and promoted many talents on his career path, so he knows what he is talking about. ”
When Boullier was quizzed about Norris’ future with McLaren, the Frenchman hinted that Alonso’s decision was key by confessing that “It all depends on what Fernando will do next year.”
“McLaren is doing everything to keep him, because he’s an extremely good driver, as he’s showed yet again this year. ”
Should Fernando pack up his boots and leave the Woking team, there could be the prospect that McLaren in the first time in decades struggling to run with a top class driver.
I suspect Alonso stays at McLaren. The only real option is Renault and they have cooled to having Alonso in the team. The only other open seat would be at Williams and I doubt Wiliams want him. I have a feeling that that may be where Palmer ends up on a one year deal.
I don’t see him moving either. McLaren is the only team with the potential to beat F/M/RB and with Vettel seeking year-to-year deals, he’d be smart to do the same.
I think it’ll be Ferrari or McLaren for Fernand – if Ferrari then Bottas to Williams