Fernando Alonso Leaving Formula One at the End of the Season

Fernando Alonso has announced he will leave Formula One racing after 17 seasons

Famed Formula One driver, Fernando Alonso shall be ending his time in Formula One this season and is expected to make the move to the North American IndyCar series.

It was confirmed by McLaren Racing on Tuesday that Alonso will not return next year. This is his seventeenth year in Formula One and had McLaren been successful in convincing him to remain with the series. It would have seen the Spanish driver racing for several more years.

Commenting on the decision, Alonso stated,

“I made this decision some months ago and it was a firm one, Nevertheless, I would like to sincerely thank Chase Carey and Liberty Media for the efforts made to change my mind and everyone who has contacted me during this time.”

This year has seen many speculating that McLaren Racing will enter the IndyCar series. The speculation included Alonso being the one to drive for the team after he drove in last year’s Indianapolis 500. Alonso was positioned to win until engine failure brought an end to his race.

Alonso also drove in Rolex 24, a prelude to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which Fernando also participated in and was a member of the winning team. The last several years has seen the Spaniard taking part in other motorsports events and in interviews, has stated that he wants to opportunity to race at Indianapolis again and hopefully add a win there to his resume.

In a statement to the press, Fernando said,

“Let’s see what the future brings, new exciting challenges are around the corner. I’m having one of the happiest times ever in my life but I need to go on exploring new adventures.”

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Alonso has had a successful career in Formula One amassing 32 wins, earned 22 pole positions and was on the podium 97 times. In addition to that, he won two world championships and had three runner-ups.

This is the fifth year he has driven for McLaren Racing. In recent Twitter posts, he suggested that a big announcement was to come in Tuesday. Alonso posted a farewell video that highlighted his time in racing and made mention of other challenges that can be offered to him as the video focuses on his Helmut.

Fernando was dissatisfied with the state of F1 and the lack of having a competitive car with McLaren. The team has failed to be competitive for the previous two seasons and currently are not in the hunt for winning races this year.

Sitting 9th in the standings, Alonso was not allowed to pass on Monaco to drive this year at Indianapolis, however, was given permission to drive in the World Endurance Championship superseason as well as drive in Le Mans. Alonso has won twice at Monaco and after being part of the team that won Le Mans, is now adds Le Mans to his resume.

The CEO of McLaren, Zak Brown, said Alonso was “the pre-eminent driver of his generation” adding,

“There is a time for everyone to make a change and Fernando has decided the end of this season to be his, we respect his decision, even if we believe he is in the finest form of his career. Our open dialogue with Fernando has meant we could plan for this eventuality. While evaluating his future during the past months, Fernando’s competitiveness has been undimmed. He has continued to perform at the highest level throughout, as we know he will do in the remaining nine races of this year’s championship.”

Zak Brown was instrumental in getting Alonso a ride at Daytona, Le Mans and Indianapolis. Brown has been supportive in Fernando’s drive to race in other series and was the one to grant permission for the Spaniard to miss the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix so he could race at Indianapolis.

Brown is also the one that is pushing for McLaren to join the IndyCar circuit and it is rumoured that he has approached Scott Dixon to replace Alonso teammate should that become a reality. However, after Chip Ganassi Racing announced it had signed a contract extension with Dixon that no longer is feasible.

Wherever Alonso ends up, it is safe to say he will draw crowds. A well-liked driver, he draws crowds to every race in F1 and for F1 fans, it is safe to suggest many will continue to follow his career and punters will continue to place bets with motorsport sports betting sites that offer odds on Formula One, IndyCar and other professional racing series.

Author Noah is our American writer who likes to give his own spin on everything Golf & the NHL he covers mainly the US side of the game as Doug covers the Canada. In his time off he can usually be taking to the greens or on the ice playing some hockey