McLaren Racing Director Eric Boullier insists that Fernando Alonso wants to stay at the team into 2018, with the squad’s engine situation now resolved.
Alonso is out of contract at the end of the year, but McLaren’s prospects of retaining the Spaniard were greatly enhanced by the outfit’s decision to split with Honda and sign a three-year deal with Renault.
In an interview with the official Formula 1 website, Boullier commented: “Fernando wants to stay. You can see it in his body language and the way he speaks.
“There are marketing details that have to be sorted out and that Zak [Brown] is working on.
“He is only interested – and he’s been saying this for months – in a competitive car. That is for him.
“For us – McLaren – we are happy that the shareholders have made a sporting choice and not a business choice and changed the engine.
“McLaren’s DNA is to be competitive – the team has always been in the top three and we belong there again.
“Today we know that we have a decent chassis, which would allow us to be in the top three again with an equal level engine, so for us as a business it is important to be competitive, no matter what role Fernando plays.
“We had to make this decision for us. But if you want to be competitive you not only need an engine, you also need a driver.
“That is when Fernando comes into the picture. We did what we did for McLaren first – but the package includes also the driver.”
Boullier is also confident that McLaren can plug the financial hole vacated by Honda’s departure, due to the expected improved performance.
“When you look at the last three years it’s been a proper disaster for us in terms of credibility and getting new sponsors,” he said.
“And then you have to take the long-term view: in the next five years I am absolutely sure that we will go back to where McLaren belongs.
“And with this bouncing back we get our credibility back and it will rebuild our sponsor portfolio. It might take two to three years.
“We are ninth in the championship – with a top engine I think we would be fourth right now and just on the FOM money we could cover the engine side, so it will not be a big risk on the monetary side.”
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