Yesterday the two-time Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso, was for the second time this year a guest at a WEC race. After the Spaniard was the guest of honor at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, he privately attended yesterday’s race in Bahrain. He enjoyed his appearance in the WEC paddock and was pleased to see his old friend Mark Webber again, who introduced him in the endurance scene. Besides Webber, he was accompanied by, among other world champions Allan McNish and the WEC boss Gérard Neveu race on Saturday. Alonso made another visit to the hospitality at Ferrari, where he was a welcome guest.
After the rumors of recent weeks, Alonso’s second visit to the WEC paddock has yet again thrown more fuel on to the fire of speculation surrounding his plans for the 2015 season. The double Formula One World Champion, currently driving for Ferrari, has been linked with a move to almost every single Formula One team on the grid for next season as well as the possibility of a switch to the WEC. At this stage the safe bet would be that Fernando is off to McLaren’s F1 project but with the Woking based squad keeping their drivers for next season very close to their chest, it gives the impression that the deal is far from being set in stone.
Fernando has several options if he is to move to the WEC next year. One of them being Nissan; A brand new project with a team that would no doubt jump at the opportunity to have someone as talented and experienced as Alonso in their car. Then there is Audi; Fernando’s former Ferrari team principle, Stefano Domenicali has recently moved to the Engelstadt team. Audi have also been linked to a Formula One effort in the future. Could it be the case that Alonso joins Audi’s LMP1 effort for a year or two to keep him in a race seat and them moves back to F1 with Audi? Could it even be the case that Alonso and Ferrari are getting on just fine, hence the trip to go and visit the GTE team, and the Spaniard is going to stay put at Ferrari next year?
The long and short of it is that much like the case with Jenson Button, another contender for the McLaren seat, no one really knows. However Fernando Alonso has been enjoying his time visiting the WEC this year, and with McLaren set to announce their 2015 driver line up in the coming week, we are in turn set to to find out about the future of not only 2009 F1 champion Jenson Button, But also 2005 and 2006 F1 champion Fernando Alonso. But the question remains, which one, if either, will join the WEC next year?