I take your point , but I think he will stay in F1. And do the whole season /seasons . When he quits , he will be back to Indy and also have a crack at lemans .
It's the wrong call i think. McLaren will be good be good for podiums at best for next season, and then what? Merc, Ferrari and Red Bull still won't take him. He talks about only staying if a championship is possible, but i suspect it's just hard to say it's never happening again. That and the paycheck. I read the other day that Alonso gets paid an indycar team's entire yearly budget.
It depends how long he really sees himself continuing in F1. The last couple of seasons there's been lots of talk that he might finish, but he could still do another 5 seasons if he wanted to. If the passion is there, why not? Given that, a one year contract with McLaren is probably his best option for next season. In 2019 only Vettel and Verstappen are under contract right now? There's potential for a big shakeup, and whilst his chances of landing a prime seat amongst that are slim, they're better than if he's moderately forgotten in another racing series.
The thing is teams are unlikely to want to partner Fernando with another star after 2007. He got on well with Jenson but that was fighting over 12th. Mercedes might draft him as a replacement for a shock Hamilton departure, but they supposedly still hold a grudge from spygate. It's McLaren or bust, now and forever. We all saw Michael at 40 years old. Alonso might stay in f1 for many more years but he's not going to be attractive to top teams for very much longer.
As the seasons go the advantage that the Mercedes engine gives becomes smaller and smaller, of course Ferrari and Mercedes are not going to stand still either, but the one with the crappiest engine usually makes more gains than the one with the best, so I expect the Renault engine to be closer to the others than it is no, and it isn't really that far off. I think McLaren probably have the best chassis, next years will be a simple evolution of this seasons with a Halo and without shark-fin. then it's up to Alonso to bring the extra half second.
I think Le mans is in his contract and rumours are he will do daytona24 too. Sticking with Mclaren Renault is a good move. Renault are on the rise so with mclaren could see a decent car next year. and eventually the works team will come good in 2-3 years so he could find him self back there.
So Max Verstappen has extended his RBR contract to 2020. Bit of a headscratcher that, he's the paddocks most in demand driver and Red Bull's future performance seems pretty uncertain.with the spectre of Honda looming.
Ricciardo has been pretty open about wanting to be in the same team to challenge Lewis 1 on 1. Would love to see it.
I think Ricciardo can see Red Bull fully backing Max and he wants out before he's typecast as a number 2 driver.
No I agree, but Max is going to be better especially with team focus - the Verstappens are very political behind the scenes. Not that there is anything wrong with that. The extension goes up to the new regs, so makes sense and Ricc will jump to another team that can win. He wants the Merc seat (bad) but can see him at a Renault or McLaren as a lead driver.
Alonso to race in the Daytona 24 hour race in January . According to the bbc . Sorry , should have read before posting