Marko Hanželic
Renault officially announced this Wednesday that Fernando Alonso returns to Formula 1 next year and will take over the driver’s seat Daniel Ricciard, who will move to McLaren. Of course, the decision immediately sparked controversy over whether the Spaniard would get a chance at it as well Friday free practice as part of this season.
But the team boss Cyril Abiteboul rejects such rumors: "I don't think he needs free training to get acquainted with the processes in a Formula 1 car. It's not in our plan." Nonetheless, it seems quite likely that the Spaniard will be planted in a yellow-and-black race car in a private test.
"We always have the opportunity to give him a test with the 2018 season car," he says Abiteboul, but admits that they do not have a plan for that yet. Alonsova last race for the grand prize was the end of 2018. Since then, he has focused on racing outside of Formula 1, such as series racing IndyCar, WEC and rally competition Dakar Rally.
Sleep last sat in a Formula 1 race car April 2019 during the test with McLarn. In the coming weeks, he will be preparing for his third attempt at the famous India 500, where it will be McLaren-Chevrolet chased the triple crown of motorsport, and the work was supposed to be at Renault started in September.
