AUSTIN, Texas -- Fernando Alonso says McLaren's decision not to compete in IndyCar next year is not a setback for his life after Formula One and his plans for 2019 are still on track.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown revealed on Friday that his team would not take part in IndyCar next year after assessing the possibility of running a car in the series. It was thought Alonso, who announced he would be leaving F1 at the end of the year in August, was considering a full season in IndyCar as part of his plans to complete motor sport's triple crown, but he said that was never the case.
"Yes, today [Friday] you found out McLaren won't be running in IndyCar next year, but I've known it since August, so what was said today doesn't affect my future plans the least, as I've known it for a couple of months," he said. "I went there and tested an IndyCar in September just to know how the cars felt like, but there was no hidden agenda, no other plan for the future.
"Today Zak announced it, I've read people saying this was a setback for me but it wasn't, because it was never in my plans to do a full IndyCar season, so nothing changed for me."
Alonso is already committed to the second half of the World Endurance Championship with Toyota next year, which is due to end at Le Mans in June. He is not ruling out IndyCar in the future, but said trying to do both in 2019 would have been too much.
"My program for next year has been clear for me for many months, but we need to put things together, do a crossover of many plans from different series, different companies and when it will always be settled we'll make the announcement," Alonso said. "But doing a full IndyCar season was never an option. I'll want to do some IndyCar in the future but not next year for sure.
"That would mean doing 17 races, all in America, learning the category and the tracks from zero, so that would require a commitment and determination that was never in my plans. That Zak announced it today was for McLaren's benefit as, in any case, I was never in the plans for a full season."
However, he is not ruling out another one-off appearance at the Indy 500.
"Doing a race like we did last year, the Indy 500, is something we're evaluating now but there's no decision taken, far from it."