Alonso: I could be back for a full season in F1

Departing McLaren driver Fernando Alonso has revealed that he could be coming out of F1 retirement in the future, as the 37-year-old Spaniard will be driving his last race in the sport for now next weekend in Abu Dhabi.

Even though he'll be retiring from F1, Alonso will still be a very busy man. He will lead the line for McLaren in next year's Indy 500 project, and he'll be doing three WEC (World Endurance Championship) races with Toyota between now and the end of June, with the 24 Hours of Le Mans as the main event in June next year.

The Asturian is in Shanghai with Toyota for the 6-hour race there. He was asked about his future plans there at a press conference.

"There's going to be a couple more challenges than the Indy 500," the two-time F1 champion told Xinhua.

“I feel I need to recharge my batteries a bit next year, but in 2020, of course it can be a possibility to have a full season in IndyCar, a full season back in F1, or a full season in another series."

The Indy 500 itself is something that the Spaniard desperately wants to win. This would give him the 'triple-crown' title; winning the Monaco Grand Prix in F1, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Indy 500, the three most famous and most difficult events to win in racing. He's won Monaco and Le Mans, and he's only got Indy left. He competed in the Indy 500 last year for McLaren and even lead the race for a while, but in typical fashion, he retired with a mechanical problem. 

Still, Alonso thinks that having experienced the famous race will help him in next year's edition.

“That experience is going to be key, because I now know the race, and I know the event. It’s a long two weeks, and though the qualifying and race format seem easy to people who have done it for years, everything was new for me, so I think that experience will be a huge help."