Fernando Alonso wants his McLaren Formula 1 Team bosses to make a decision sooner rather than later about who will supply the team with engines so that they can focus on their 2018 package.
The team are currently in the third year partnering Honda, but the Japanese manufacturer has suffered horrendous reliability issues, while their power deficit means McLaren have only scored two points in the opening ten races of the season, the worst of any team on the grid.
McLaren has been linked with a return to Mercedes-power for next year, but there have also been rumours the team could partner Ferrari instead, but nothing has yet been set in stone, and the team could yet continue with Honda for a fourth season.
Alonso’s future has also been up in the air, but the Spaniard is expected to remain with the Woking-based squad into 2018, but there is nothing the thirty-five-year-old would want more than a competitive package next season.
“It’s up to them, but definitely the sooner you make a decision the better preparation you have for the following year so I guess they will try to make it an early decision,” said Alonso after his latest retirement at Silverstone on Sunday. “Obviously I would support whatever decision they make.
“It’s difficult to guess, to imagine different combinations of cars and engines, etcetera, but I think we identified very clearly what we are missing – so if we can improve that, we can be competitive.
“But this is definitely not in the near future so we need look at reality and reality is in 15 days Hungary is a good opportunity for us, so hopefully we can do better there.”
