Fernando Alonso ‘is a driver I respect a lot’ says Mercedes chief Toto Wolff, ‘but he is in a contract with McLaren’

Mercedes-GP are considering Fernando Alonso as a replacement for retiring world champion Nico Rosberg, but two-time world champion Alonso has a contract with McLaren for the 2017 season.

A file picture dated November 26, 2015 of Mercedes-GP driver Lewis Hamilton, left, and McLaren driver Fernando Alonso during a press conference at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Mercedes are cShow more

Mercedes-GP are considering Fernando Alonso as a replacement for retiring world champion Nico Rosberg.

But two-time championship winner Alonso is about to enter the final year of his three-year deal with McLaren, meaning Mercedes may have to look elsewhere if the double world champion's contract cannot be ended early.

“You have to consider Fernando,” Mercedes chief Toto Wolff told Sky Sports in an interview.

“He is a driver I respect a lot. He combines talent, speed and experience. It’s all there.

“But he is in a contract with McLaren-Honda at the moment and we just need to weigh all the other options up.”

See also:

• Graham Caygill: Mercedes door opens for Pascal Wehrlein as Nico Rosberg rides off into sunset

• Jonathan Raymond: Nico Rosberg, Formula One world champion, announces shock retirement

Alonso, the 2005 and 2006 world champion, has had a fruitless time since then trying to add a third championship.

He has been Hamilton’s teammate once before, at McLaren in 2007, in a season in which the pairing proved volatile and led to Alonso leaving the team at the end of the year to return to Renault.

Mercedes face a race against time to bring in a new driver alongside Lewis Hamilton, with pre-season testing due to begin in February.

The team’s non-executive director Niki Lauda said last week that he believed the team would announce a replacement before the end of the year, given the need to get whoever takes the seat familiar with their simulators and chassis, ahead of testing and the opening race of the 2017 season, the Australian Grand Prix, on March 26 in Melbourne.

Rosberg made his surprise announcement last week, just five days after sealing the drivers’ championship after finishing second at the at the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit.

Alonso, four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel and Williams driver Valtteri Bottas have all been strongly linked with filling the void left by Rosberg, but all are under contract for 2017 with other teams.

Mercedes test driver Pascal Wehrlein, 22, who has competed for Manor Racing this season, remains the most realistic option for Wolff.

The Mercedes team principal also said both his drivers will share top billing and there will be no clear No 1, in the same way the team operated with Hamilton and Rosberg over the past four seasons.

“We will maintain the system we have,” Wolff said. “Both drivers will have equal status and equal opportunity to the best of our abilities. We owe it to the fans.

“You can’t have a pecking order.”

* Press Association

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