By Adam Tate, Associate Editor
Fernando Alonso has announced that he is committed to staying on at McLaren despite recent rumors linking him with the vacant seat at Mercedes.
News had barely broken of Nico Rosberg’s shock retirement before the silly season went full steam ahead and rumors of Alonso jumping ship to Mercedes were rife.
Despite the Spaniard’s past history of unexpected team changes, it looks like the speculation has been put to rest, at least for the time being. Speaking at the McLaren factory in Surrey he said, “I believe in this project. I’m committed and I want to be world champion with McLaren-Honda.”
The statement came with a flurry of social media posts from both Alonso and McLaren-Honda echoing his statements from the factory walk through.
It also came after manager and longtime friend Flavio Briatore’s insistence that Fernando is set on staying with McLaren and seeing the Honda experiment through at least 2017.
Alonso’s current contract with the team expires at the end of next season. He has gone on record several times stating that if he does not enjoy 2017 he may look to WEC or IndyCar and call time on his illustrious Formula One career. But if McLaren can’t lock him into another contract and the Mercedes seat comes open again, don’t bet against him having one more go at that elusive third title.
