MADRID • Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso said on Monday he is looking for a challenge "at the top level" and is not ruling out a return to Formula One, amid increasing speculation that he could sign for Renault.
"I'm in great physical shape and my motivation is sky high, so I wanted to focus on a top-level category, be it the return to F1, the endurance championship, IndyCar...," he said in a video call with students at the Real Madrid Graduate School-Universidad Europea.
The Spaniard, who won his two world titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006, quit Formula One at the end of the 2018 season.
He is a two-time winner of the Le Mans 24 Hour endurance event and finished 13th in his Dakar Rally debut in January. He also plans to race at this year's Indianapolis 500.
"It was when I was searching for challenges and options for the coming years that I decided to opt for the Dakar adventure," Alonso said.
"It was like tossing a coin and seeing how I could enjoy what's a really different car. It was a positive experience that I'm sure I'll do again in the future. (But) I think that my next challenge will be a top-level one because I still think that I'm at 100 per cent to go out and do it."
Alonso, 38, has been strongly linked with a return to Renault after it was announced last week that Daniel Ricciardo was leaving them for McLaren next year. The Australian's move was precipitated by Carlos Sainz's impending departure for Ferrari, following the announcement last week that four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel would be leaving the Scuderia at the end of the season.
Flavio Briatore, Alonso's long-time adviser and former Renault boss, said he believes the Spaniard is ready to make a comeback.
"Fernando is motivated. A year out of F1 has done him good. He has detoxed himself and I see him calmer and ready to return," he told Italian daily Gazzetta dello Sport.
Meanwhile, Jenson Button says he is shocked Vettel will leave Ferrari and that it would be "madness" if the team had pushed him out.
German media had reported that Vettel, who won 14 races with Ferrari and is their third-most successful driver, rejected a one-year extension with a reduced salary but the 32-year-old said financial matters played no part in the joint decision.
"If he was pushed, for me it's madness," Button, the 2009 world champion, told Sky Sports. "He showed his speed last year. He had a tough moment in the season when Charles (Leclerc) was performing really well and that hurt him a bit mentally. But he came back strong... he's somebody you'd definitely choose to put in your car if you had an F1 team.
"There must be more to it. I don't know if Ferrari are going down the route of not wanting two No. 1 drivers or what, but it's a really strange choice and I'm still shocked that Sebastian (won't be) in a red car."
This season is yet to start due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
