Fernando Alonso puts his F1 future in doubt after Le Mans win

Fernando Alonso has said he will consider his future in Formula One after his win at the Le Mans 24 Hours has put him within touching distance of achieving motor racing’s triple crown. The Spaniard’s victory, alongside his Monaco wins, means he has secured two of the three to match Graham Hill, the only driver to achieve the feat. Alonso insists that the third and final hurdle, a win at the Indy 500, is now a high priority.

The double F1 world champion won at the Circuit de la Sarthe alongside his Toyota team-mates, Kazuki Nakajima and Sébastien Buemi, who put in a superb team effort to take the 86th edition of the endurance classic. Alonso was in superlative form to chase down the leading sister Toyota during a quadruple stint through the night.

His contract with McLaren in F1 ends this year and on Sunday he made clear his priorities. “I will make my mind up after the summer what I will do next year but after winning Le Mans, Indy comes into play with a high priority,” he said. “Let’s see if it is next year or the following year. Let’s see what the future of F1 will be.”

The 36-year-old won Le Mans at his first attempt and although in a Toyota that was the class of the field and enjoyed a clear advantage over its non-hybrid competitors, he remained appreciative of what a remarkable achievement it had been.

“It’s definitely very special,” he said. “Winning Le Mans is close to winning a world championship because the race is so iconic and so prestigious and winning the triple crown is a very attractive target as only one man in history has done it. I am also attempting to win the World Endurance Championship not only Le Mans and am already a world champion in F1 so it could be a super-triple crown.”

Alonso has been struggling with an uncompetitive McLaren in F1 for the past three years and this season their car is still well behind the leading teams.

Last year, he missed the Monaco Grand Prix to race at the Indy 500, when he led for 27 laps, until forced to retire with an engine failure on lap 179 of 200.

A return to the Brickyard will now likely play a major part in his career choices. Alonso is in talks with McLaren about his future and the CEO, Zak Brown, has hinted that a McLaren IndyCar project might be one he could pursue. His frustration with the lack of competition in F1 has been well-documented and he is known to be following the plans for new regulations proposed for 2021. Concerns reiterated at Le Mans.

“In F1, you just follow your team performance,” he said. “If your team is first you will be first or second. If your team is third you will be fifth or sixth. To be a more complete driver you need to win every series against the specialists in those series, to beat them in oval racing or in endurance racing, the guys that know every little trick. To be able to come here and be at that level is great.”

Hill won Le Mans in 1972 for Matra, his 10th attempt at the grand prix d’endurance, and Alonso was full of praise for Toyota who had given him the tools to do the job on his debut, although the team have never won the race before, with 19 entries and five second-place finishes.

“Toyota have deserved this,” he said. “Practice, qualifying and the race, achieved domination. It seems easy but there is a lot of work behind it, This year there was a lot of preparation, a lot of looking into details on what may go wrong. It was a perfect execution from everyone. I am sure it will not be the last.”