McLaren team boss Zak Brown says Fernando Alonso could be drafted in to test its 2019 Formula 1 car next season.
The Spaniard will retire from the series after this weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and although he has said he could be tempted back after a year away from the sport – where he will instead focus on WEC and IndyCar – fans still might get to see Alonso try out McLaren's MCL34.
"Fernando’s extremely intelligent, very experienced, loves Formula 1, loves race tracks," said Brown. "If he’s not at a WEC race or not at a Formula 1 race he’s at an IndyCar race or is in go-kart tracks so I think we’ll have a hard time keeping him away from the race track.
"He likes the engineering and development side. He wants to know what’s going on, not just tell me where I need to be at the race track. So I think you’ll see him around McLaren, he remains part of the family."
When asked if that could mean an appearance in next year's car, Brown replied: "Yeah, I wouldn’t rule that out."
McLaren will have an all-new driver line-up next year with Carlos Sainz Jr. moving over from Renault and Lando Norris stepping up from F2.
Brown believes having Alonso on-hand will be hugely beneficial for both its drivers.
"I think where his influence comes in is helping our two drivers," said Brown.
"He knows Carlos pretty well, he’s got to know Lando very well so I think there’ll be a big benefit of his experience there, and then with the engineers, just helping us all work together and understand what next year’s car is doing, and the feedback from the drivers, what would Fernando do in a certain situation, I think that experience will be very valuable to us."
Brown is hopeful of extending McLaren's relationship with Alonso, although admitted nothing had yet been agreed.
"We’re still working through [that] – we know we’re doing Indianapolis together," he said.
"We’d like him to be part of our racing program because we’re also reviewing other forms of motorsport which has been widely noted, World Endurance, a full season of IndyCar, and he’s certainly not done driving.
"So yeah we’re working through what a longer term relationship could look like."
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