Alonso to IndyCar gathers momentum

Editor

Fernando Alonso has a "clear route" to join a race-winning team in 2018 with a full-time slot set to be available at Andretti-Honda next season.

Indy500 winner Takuma Sato is poised to leave the team at the end of current campaign, meaning Alonso could represent the team on a full-time basis in 2018 after also impressing at the iconic Brickyard.

With seemingly no options in Formula 1 able to match the Spaniard's lofty ambitions, spending a year in the IndyCar series before weighing up a return to Formula 1 in 2019 seems like a viable alternative.

As Sato heads for the exit door, NBC Sports reporter Will Buxton speculated that Alonso could well make the move Stateside.

"That now marks a clear route for Fernando to either get out completely, or take a sabbatical and go and do Indy for a year," Buxton told The F1 Report.

"He said 'whatever I do in 2018, I need to be in a race-winning car, where I can fight for wins and titles'.

"That's not going to be in McLaren, it won't be at Renault, and regardless of how brilliant Paddy Lowe is and the money that Lawrence Stroll brings, it's not going to be at Williams.

"Where does that leave a race-winning car? The only place is IndyCar."

2016 Indy500 winner Alexander Rossi has welcomed the potential arrival of Alonso and believes he would enjoy the series if he was to join full-time.

“I think that, with Fernando, there’s not going to be any negative that comes from it," Rossi told Indycar.com.

"And I think that he as a driver will just enjoy the chance that every single day he shows up at a racetrack, he has a shot at it.

"He doesn’t have that right now and hasn’t for a couple of years, and that wears on you.”

Alonso, meanwhile, has previously said he would be open to joining IndyCar if he cannot resolve his future in Formula 1 and appears to be enjoying the rumours given his latest tweet.