SAD ALONSO HINTS AT F1 EXIT

Fernando Alonso bemoaned his lack of any real home advantage for this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix and hinted that he may be considering a future without Formula One next year.

The two-time world champion, who has one win at the Circuit de Catalunya to his name, told reporters that he felt saddened by the current direction of F1 and would not decide his plans for 2019 until after this year’s European summer break in August. Talking ahead of this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, he suggested he was feeling the strain of his efforts to combine racing in different series. “I’m attempting two world championships at the same time,” he said, referring to F1 and the sports car world endurance championship, which includes the classic Le Mans 24-Hours race.

“I’m happy with the progress we did here at Mclaren and the direction things are going -- so I’m happy here, but it’s quite demanding -- especially the F1 calendar.

“The biggest thing here is how predictable everything is. We can put in the paper now what would be the qualifying here on Saturday, what it would be in Monaco, what it would be in Silverstone. Meanwhile, the prospect of a F1 GP staged in Miami moved closer to reality after city officials gave their agreement in principle to staging a race in the city. A motion put before Miami’s City Commission was carried with unanimous support, paving the way for negotiations for the race, which could be held as early as 2019, to accelerate.