Fernando Alonso in talks with Ferrari over possible comeback in 2019. Flavio Briatore is adamant to take Alonso to Ferrari next year.

According to Spanish publication Diario Gol, Fernando Alonso and Scuderia Ferrari met at the Barcelona Grand Prix and terms were laid on the table regarding a possible switch back to the Maranello team ahead of the 2019 Formula One season, as the Spanish driver’s manager Flavio Briatore is adamant to do everything possible in order to take Alonso to Ferrari next year.

Clearly a remarkable move if it were to happen, but for the moment still not very likely, given the fact that the Italian side is counting on Sebastian Vettel. However, one thing to bear in mind is that the German has many some critical errors and also mandates that Kimi Raikkonen partner him in the other car. Kimi isn’t getting any younger and it is said that senior management in Maranello are keeping a very close eye on their number 1’s performance this season. In a car with the performance to beat Mercedes, they expect him to deliver this season. Fernando Alonso also expects his team at McLaren to start delivering stating that “I think it will depend on us,” in terms of getting the car closer to the front.

“It is not like in the past [with Honda] when we needed a mix of a lot of things to get it right; we were missing reliability, we were missing race pace, and sometimes deployment, sometimes aero, sometimes mechanical grip – there were many things to fix. Now we know that on the power unit side we have the same engines as Red Bull, so it’s all on us, the chassis development, to close that gap.” – the Spanish driver said, as reported by the British media.

In terms of Monaco this weekend, both McLaren and Fernando expect to continue reaping in good points, potentially getting a lot closer to the sharp end of the field: “I’m looking forward to getting behind the wheel there for the first time in two years and seeing how our car performs. Simply because of the level of skill and concentration you need to get around lap after lap 78 times, as well as negotiating the traffic, strategy, weather and everything else this crazy race throws at you.” – he concluded.