Andretti and Alonso are talking, but is Honda listening?

Andretti Autosport and Fernando Alonso are in talks about a potential return to the Indy 500 together, but Honda could prove a hard nut to crack for the Spaniard.

Arrow McLaren SP boss Sam Schmidt recently stated his interest in running Alonso at Indy next year.

But Michael Andretti, whose team has won the Indy 500 five times, has revealed that he has already talked to the 38-year-old about rekindling the one-off relationship that allowed the Spaniard to make his impressive debut at the Brickyard in 2017.

• McLaren 'open-minded' about relationship with Alonso

"We’ve talked about it and I’d love to have him drive for us again," Andretti said, quoted by RACER. "But a lot of things would have to happen.

"He has to decide what he wants to do and he could still end up with McLaren, but there’s other stuff. It’s a possibility, but not a good possibility."

Alonso is contracted to McLaren as a brand ambassador until the end of the current year and is expected to sit down with McLaren boss Zak Brown to discuss the pair's future.

However, Honda is believed to represent a major stumbling block to an Andretti Autosport/Alonso effort at Indy, with the Japanese manufacturer still harboring bad feelings against the former McLaren F1 driver whose "GP2 engine" comment barked over the radio during the 2015 Japanese Grand Prix hasn't been forgotten by Honda.

That enmity is perhaps why Arrow McLaren SP, which shall be powered by Chevrolet in 2020, is likely to remain Alonso's best bet of competing at the Speedway in May.

“I’d love to get back together and try to get him his first win at Indy," said Andretti.

"We’ve talked about it many times — and also about him driving other things for us — but right now it's just talk."

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