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With Alonso openly critical of the McLaren engine supplier Honda and with seats at Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull all taken for next year could we see Fernando driving for Williams in 2018?

Would be a terrible move in my opinion. Williams seem to be in a downward spiral. If Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull aren't an option then I think he's best off staying put at McLaren.

Who knows now take what's going on at Force India one their drivers might be on the move?
I thought Alonso might end up at Renault or Indy Car but not to sure now.

As for a Williams move why not, I think there might be a driver change at Williams for 2018?

I'm seeing a vacancy at Force India because I don't think Ocon & Checo can gel together anymore. If Williams can afford paying Alonso's salary, I kind of believe Force India could try even. Force India seems a more capable car than Williams at the moment but ofcourse, Williams has history & heritage behind it.

Alonso should mainly focus on Renault. Renault is improving & am sure next year they should be clearly best of the rest.

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Feel The Fourth

Alonso has made clear he wants to fight for a WDC. What's the point of going to Williams or even FI? If he was content with getting good points and the occasional podium/win, he could have stayed with Ferrari. At Williams or FI, he isn't going to find more than what he had at Ferrari.

The only thing that would make sense with the current situation is going to Renault, being a factory team, and hoping they'll put their good budget to good use. The other factory teams and RBR will not have him.

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Go Vandoorne - Verstappen - Vettel!

it is really sad how his career has come to this, not refereeing to Williams here but the desperation

I have to agree slide, a man considered one of the best F1 drivers in current years is driving a massively disappointing car scraping around for a better drive next year.

He's struggling not because of his talent but because of his past endeavors. Teams are giving his character (or the tendency to dominate his team-mate in the garage) more priority over his skill!

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Feel The Fourth

It's not just that. It's that combined with the fact that the top teams all have top drivers that they are happy with. Mercedes is happy with Hamilton, Ferrari is happy with Vettel and Red Bull is happy with the two drivers it has (not to mention they basically don't hire from outside). To bring in Alonso to partner Hamilton or Vettel would be foolish. It would only hurt your title chances to have two guys stealing points from each other.

So the top teams have no incentive to hire him. His diva-like behavior doesn't help but there are more practical reasons why he is running out of options. I believe both Ferrari and Mercedes are never going to be available to him and Red Bull is a non-starter. His best bet IMO is to make a decision between McLaren and Renault and hope he gets it right.

Provide links for this because as far as I know that has yet to happen.

Alonso has been quoted many times that he is happy with McLaren. He is 100% furious with Honda. It is Honda and only Honda that is pushing Alonso out of McLaren. Their miserable performance is beneath him.

True. He has always praised McLaren. As for Honda, that's a different story!

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Feel The Fourth

I can see the point you are trying to make, but what options does he have that can provide a Championship winning car? Not many if none, the best he can hooe for is the occasional podium/win. His best bet is Renault, Williams could be a good option but they must show improvement soon.

It is sad for him (and us) to have to resort to hoping Honda will improve, that Renault will keep improving or now hoping that Willians improves to have Alonso in a competitive car, he seems to be going down the grid, not up. And the only one to blame is him. Now rumors he parked the car, and there was no problem with the engine, will beleive that if true, just who he is. Great talent worst attitude. Why do you think some teams will not have him?

McLaren are in a quandary as of now. Either they choose Honda & risk losing Alonso or keep Alonso & ditch Honda. There's no surety that McLaren will get Renault engines. I think Alonso's patience has finally run out.

He should consider Renault only.

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Feel The Fourth

Sorry, question changed re McLaren / Honda.

Waste of time for me, I'd rather he went to Indy.

Does seem like he's fully had it with Honda, and I'd imagine the feeling will be mutual now after Sunday. Unfortunately for him McLaren can't afford to ditch them, Honda have no interest in leaving and no other Manufacturer are interested in giving them an engine in any case so he's kind of backed himself into a corner now.

It's either a semi-embarrassing backing down and try to make peace with Honda or go to Renault if they want him/can afford it.

Anything less than works support and he should just go for the Triple Crown instead.

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"Clark came through at the end of the first lap so far ahead that we in the pits were convinced that the rest of the field must have been wiped out in an accident."
-Eddie Dennis, describing the dominance of Jim Clark in the Lotus 49 at Spa 1967

tbh, as much as I believe they need Alonso, I think staying with Honda is a better bet for them than going to Renault.

I really wonder what Alonso would see as achievable in Williams. They're just losing it. Toro Rosso is even stronger than them at the moment. Just because of their history, I don't think Alonso should hop into their ship. Also can Williams afford paying Alonso?

This is just out of the box thinking! Perez & Ocon clashing more often than not could lure Perez away from Force India creating a vacancy there. I hope Alonso would consider even a little for Force India then. He won't win there but podium sniffs are possible in the 4th best car!

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Feel The Fourth

True!

Renault or McHonda are the only options that could give him a remote chance, but he is dependent on them to greatly improve. Truth be told I think neither option will provide him with a title winning car in the next three years, but still I think chances are higher than the other options possibly available to him.

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Go Vandoorne - Verstappen - Vettel!

Yes, for that reason the logical thing is to forget about WDC's and concentrate on podiums and the once in a blue moon win. If and only if Renault keeps improving Alonso will have a team where at least he can be up there and show his skill. Honda is progressing but the damage is done!

I don't know about podiums, if I were him, with his career, I'd stop altogether if podiums were the highest imaginable.

I actually agree about Renault. They've made really good progress in just a year and a half. I'd try going there.

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Go Vandoorne - Verstappen - Vettel!

He gets on well with Hulk too and if the new Renault concept next year works then who knows. The other two engines will come back to Renault over the winter because of the proper directions taken to kerb the oil burn as well so there'll be a free 15-20bhp coming their way on a Saturday whatever they do(As long as they don't go backwards of course).

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"Clark came through at the end of the first lap so far ahead that we in the pits were convinced that the rest of the field must have been wiped out in an accident."
-Eddie Dennis, describing the dominance of Jim Clark in the Lotus 49 at Spa 1967

IndyCars.....That's his future. Honda has wrecked McLaren to the point that Fernando simply has to walk away.

Maybe he could get them a good deal on a Honda engine too?

Can't see it, realistically we are looking at Mercedes/Ferrari for the next few years I think. 3 teams have the potential to challenge them, Red Bull, Renault and McLaren.

Williams are a downgrade on McLaren.

People need to come out of 2014 when discussing them, they've been rubbish for ages now.

So we can say then that his options are: (In order)

Renault - if they keep the improvement but they can have breakdowns

McLaren - He runs the risk of more of the same if nothing changes but is still a top team. - are they??

Force India - Force One?? - Strong midfield team, Merc power so he will finish races, and to win you have to first finish.

Williams - Merc engine, Strong engineering team, but can Stroll Sr helo pay Alonso? Can they be back to being best of the rest, I think part of the underperformance is driver related even when Massa having some good races.

Personally I would like to see him in black and yellow, back to where he was champ.

Yes, but Williams have Paddy Lowe since the start of this season.
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/11531 ... next-level

Could you spot any one area that's made improvement since he joined?

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Feel The Fourth

Unless he takes a massive pay cut there is no way frank will pay his wage and frank has history of this so its a 50/50

But then Strol's old man is pushing a lot of the drive atm with his cash hence paddy lowe and others so again its possible if you ask me


But if it were to happen it wont be button taking the seat I can see a straight swap for alfonso and massa now that would be a bit of a news story lol

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Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. Luke 17 22

Pat Symonds designed the car, so maybe what Paddy is trying to implement will not be as effective. The team was in a bit of a transition with the design team, I think come next year Williams will be better.

I don't think it would be a bad move IMHO.

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Felipe Massa fan/supporter since 2002 and counting!

We ALL love you Schumi! Don't ever give up!

It's Macca or Indy for me, and if Macca keep the Honda, I think Alonso will give very, very serious thought to taking the trip over the pond. They love him over there too, the money might not be as good (or even in the same league) but I like to think Alonso is a true racer, and that financial concerns come a distant second to being able to race the tits off of any given car.

Indy could do with the boost too... be interesting to see if Andretti stick with Honda or move to Chevy, I imagine that might have some bearing on the whole deal if it were to come to pass.

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No way will Mclaren higher Massa. Norris is even more likely.

Williams would be a bad choice. I'd hesitate to move at all if I were Alonso, with his record of awful moves, but - unless he knows something we don't - Williams is just accepting mediocrity.

I don't think there's even a remote chance Alonso would actually do it. He's just reminding McLaren and Honda that he's thinking of leaving.

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Unless Alonso agrees a move back to Renault then McLaren are probably still his best bet on a 1 year deal to see how the market shapes up for 2019.

His realistic title options are:

Mercedes - doubt he'll end up there, I think the bigwigs value the relative calm within the team after the Rosberg/Hamilton years. Bottas has done everything expected of him and Alonso represents a risk to team harmony.

Ferrari - that door looks like it's slammed shut this week. Ferrari are clearly backing Vettel for the medium term and frankly if Ferrari wanted Alonso back they would have hired him.

Red Bull - there's a miniscule chance of this happening, but it would need both Ricciardo and Verstappen to depart for pastures new. In the unlikely event that should happen (I don't see 2 seats opening up for them to both leave) I think Red Bull would be open to hiring an experienced driver to mentor Sainz. I don't see Gasly or Kvyat playing number 2. However, if both Verstappen and Ricciardo decide enough's enough then would Alonso want to move to Red Bull?

Renault - seem to be on the up. Still not on the level of Ferrari, never mind Mercedes after almost 4 years of these engine regulations - can they deliver what Alonso wants?

McLaren - can't blame Alonso for being fed up. If their chassis is as good as Alonso thinks it is then short term being a customer team is an answer but long term they'll struggle to challenge without a works deal.

with Mario Illien you just know he will deliver a decent engine. Probably not a Mercedes, but more or less there or there abouts.

If you take Renault as engine partner, you will be there or there abouts also.

So why drop 115 mil ( 100 mil from Honda and 15 mil to pay for Renault engines ) to have the same result ?

Pit stops?

To be fair, Paddy only claimed to have taken Mercedes to the next level. He didn't specify up or down.

I'd say Red Bull is even less likely than Merc or Ferrari

It's McLaren or Renault or out the door. I reckon Renault is his best bet, I've been saying it all year. But it would be very unfortunate if it ended his good mate Robert Kubica's chances of returning to the grid

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I don't rely entirely on God

I rely on Prost

So here's a wild card: Max (and his father) are making threatening noises about losing patience with Red Bull. Don't know if there are performance clauses in his contract, as otherwise the noises are meaningless, but if there are, then an extreme case could see Max leave for Mercedes, booting out Bottas, while Alonso is then taken on to partner Ricciardo. Internet explodes

You heard it here first!

RBR would have Ricciardo and Sainz, while promoting Gasly to STR

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Go Vandoorne - Verstappen - Vettel!