Fernando Alonso ahead of the Formula One Grand Prix of Belgium. Photo / Getty Images
Former world champion Fernando Alonso will remain at McLaren next season after signing a new contract with the British team.
Alonso, who is in the midst of his worst campaign of his Formula One career, has penned a one-year extension.
The 36-year-old, who has not won a race since the
2013 Chinese Grand Prix and has finished in the points just twice this year, made McLaren sweat over his future.
But with no vacancies at Mercedes, his former team Ferrari, or indeed Red Bull, the Spaniard was left with little option than to extend his stay at McLaren into a fourth successive year.
McLaren's decision to end their miserable partnership with engine supplier Honda and switch to Renault power from next season is understood to have been integral in ensuring Alonso would stay with the team.
McLaren have won 20 world championships, but their relationship with Japanese manufacturer Honda has been nothing short of a disaster.
Alonso, who has not featured on the podium since he returned to the McLaren in 2015, has failed to finish nine of the 14 grands prix he has contested this season - and even failed to start in Russia after his car conked out en route to the grid.
"It's fantastic to be able to continue my relationship with everybody at McLaren," Alonso said in a McLaren statement.
"It was always where my heart was telling me to stay, and I really feel at home here.
"This is a fantastic team, full of incredible people, with a warmth and friendliness that I've never experienced elsewhere in Formula One. I'm incredibly happy to be racing here."
