McLaren eager for Fernando Alonso to return and help mentor Lando Norris in 2019

Fernando Alonso could be back in a Formula One car as early as next year with McLaren eager for the double world champion to act as a mentor to British teenager Lando Norris.

Alonso, 37, ended his grand prix career at the final round of the season in Abu Dhabi last month.

He will take part at the Indianapolis 500 in May for McLaren, but the struggling team are keen to keep the Spaniard involved in their F1 operation, and want him to test next year’s car.

Norris, the talented 19-year-old Englishman, who is taking over from Alonso, will form a new-look partnership with Carlos Sainz in 2019.

But Zak Brown, the team’s chief executive, said: “I would be very surprised if next season you didn’t see Fernando at some Formula One races in and around McLaren, offering his expertise, and that could include him testing the car.

“I have spoken to Fernando about that, and he is very open to it.

“These Formula One world champions, whether it is Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost or Mika Hakkinen, never want to be too far from the Formula One pit lane.

“There is a lot Fernando can contribute experience-wise, and Carlos and Lando are open to any ideas. Fernando knows the team very well. Lando doesn’t have that experience.

“Fernando will decide what he wants to do, and that’s a decision we will make in the next 30 days.”

Alonso’s second spell at McLaren coincided with the worst run in the team’s history.

McLaren haven’t won a race since Lewis Hamilton left in 2012, and recently finished a disappointing sixth in the constructors’ championship.

Brown will next year enter his third campaign as head of the team, but believes it could take at least five seasons before Britain’s most suc- cessful F1 outfit is back challenging at the front.

“I have just presented a five-year plan and within that plan we think we have a journey to getting back to winning races,” he added. “And once you are winning races, you are competing for championships.

“We have laid out a journey, and investment, and a road to recovery that sees us getting back to the front of the grid within that timeline.

“This has obviously been a difficult season, we are all glad it is over, and it is not one we will look back on with fond memories.

“But having said that, we learnt a lot, and in the long term we will be a better team because of it.

“In life, and in racing, we face difficulties, but as long as you attack and learn from those challenges, which I think we have done, then you come out the other side in a better place.” THE INDEPENDENT