Fernando Alonso’s activities with Toyota Gazoo Racing will be virtually restricted to on-track action, with Zak Brown insisting that the Spaniard will not be allowed to fulfil that many commercial commitments during the 2018/19 FIA World Endurance Championship Super Season.
Brown, the Executive Director of the McLaren F1 Team, says Alonso is only on loan at Toyota, and his commitments with the Formula 1 team will be priority, and they also have a say in the attire the Spaniard wears if a Toyota sponsor conflicts with one from McLaren.
“Fernando is effectively restricted to just driving the [Toyota] race car,” said Brown to the media at McLaren’s factory in Woking. “So as far as commercial appearances, sponsor commitments, things of that nature, it is very minimised.
“His relationship with Toyota – he is on loan from us. We came to an arrangement with Toyota and that is to allow him to race the car but not to travel the globe having commercial commitments. [It’s] everything from minimising his travel, to any potential sponsor conflicts – Toyota don’t have many on there so there aren’t many sitting there today that are a conflict with McLaren.
“But if they do find a partner that is conflicting with McLaren, we couldn’t have Fernando walking around in competing sponsor attire. Also, he is a McLaren driver first and foremost, and an F1 driver. When you think of Fernando, you think of him as a McLaren F1 driver first and foremost.”
