McLaren boss Zak Brown says he “totally understands” Fernando Alonso’s stance regarding his 2018 decision, and insists it is up to McLaren to prove it can realise the Spaniard’s title goals.
Alonso is currently in the final season of a three-year deal with McLaren, which has been characterised by a lack of reliability and power, leaving the team at the foot of the standings, as the only operation yet to score a point in 2017.
Alonso and McLaren have agreed not to discuss a 2018 deal until after the summer break, with Alonso commenting that, “if [between now] and September or October I see an opportunity to win in 2018 I’ll be more than happy to stay, if it’s not the case I will be more than happy to talk to anyone.”
Brown says it is up to McLaren to demonstrate that it can haul itself out of its current strife, in a bid to convince Alonso, currently preparing for his Indianapolis 500 bow, to stay.
“I totally understand his position, he’s a two-time World Champion that wants to be a three-time World Champion and he’s only going to do that with a car that can win,” Brown said.
“As he said, he would love to stay at McLaren and we’ve given him a great environment, he really enjoys it here, we’ve got to give him a winning car.
“Sitting here in Barcelona it’s hard to know when that will be other than we’ve produced lots of winning cars [in Formula 1 history].
“We’ve seen other engine manufacturers make significant progress over [the course of] a season if you look at Renault a couple of years ago, where they started and where they ended up.
“As he said, he’s going to wait until after the summer break, which is what we’ve agreed, so I think all we can do right now is put our head down and try and demonstrate we’re going to be in a position to win next year, by the time he’s [Alonso] ready to make a decision.”
Brown also praised Alonso’s rookie team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne, despite the Belgian’s difficult start to his first full season in Formula 1.
“I think he’s got a great attitude, [he’s had a] tough start to the season, probably the toughest of everyone on the grid,” he said of Vandoorne.
“He’s [kept his] head down, just wants to learn and improve, he’s had a great mindset, has done a really good job, [taking it] one day at a time.
“Stoffel I believe will be a World Champion one of these days and I hope he’s a World Champion with McLaren-Honda, he’s a rookie so he’s got a long way to go.
“Hopefully we can retain Fernando for the foreseeable future, but we’ve got big hopes for Stoffel.”
