McLaren boss Zak Brown says he could put Fernando Alonso behind the wheel of its 2019 car at some point next season in a capacity as test driver.
The 37-year-old Grand Prix veteran is closing the curtain on his career in F1 this weekend in Abu Dhabi, and while by his own admittance a return to the sport in the future is unlikely, the Spaniard isn't discarding the prospect entirely.
And neither is Brown who believes the Woking-based outfit "will have a hard time keeping him away".
"Fernando is extremely intelligent and extremely experienced, loves Formula 1, loves racetracks, if he's not at a World Endurance race or Formula 1 race, he's at an IndyCar race or he's at his go-kart track," said Brown in Abu Dhabi.
"So I think you'll see him around McLaren, he remains part of the family, and where his influence will come in is helping our two drivers, he knows Carlos pretty well, he's gotten to know Lando very well, so he'll be a big benefit there.
"And then with the engineers and just helping us all work together to understand what next year's car is doing, what the feedback is from the drivers, and what would Fernando do in a certain situation, that experience will be very valuable to us."
Asked if the two-time world champion could test for the team, Brown wouldn't dismiss the possibility.
"Yeah, I wouldn't rule that out," he answered.
"If he wants to test the car, we're certainly open-minded to that, getting his feedback on the car.
"[We'll] kind of cross that bridge when you come to it, if he were to make that phone call."
Regardless of what the future holds for McLaren and Alonso, both will remain close to each other I the future, Brown insisted.
"We're doing Indianapolis together, we'd like him to be part of our racing programme because we're also reviewing other forms of motorsport, which has been widely noted – World Endurance, a full season of IndyCar – and he's certainly not done driving.
"So yeah, we're working through what a longer-term relationship can look like."
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