Alonso yet to discuss full-time F1 comeback with McLaren

Fernando Alonso is yet to discuss the possibility of a full-time return to Formula 1 with McLaren, with the Spaniard saying he did not miss taking part in the team's usual pre-season testing programme in Barcelona over the past couple of weeks.

Alonso stepped away from F1 at the end of last year in order to focus on racing in sports cars and IndyCar, with his planned Indianapolis 500 entry in May standing as the only race victory missing from his 'triple crown of motorsport' ambition.

McLaren announced earlier this week that Alonso had become an official team ambassador, and would test the MCL34 F1 car at some stage through 2019 in order to aid the team's F1 efforts.

Alonso has long-stressed that he did not want to close the door to a possible full-time comeback in F1, but McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown said that the possibility of a racing return with the team had not been discussed.

"We haven’t discussed it. So we will cross any bridge when we come to it, but we’ve got our two drivers and we are very happy with them," Brown said.

"McLaren has aspirations in a variety of motorsport, so to have Fernando’s talent and experience inside the McLaren camp is a great part of our performance recovery that we are on.

"I’ve tried to get the best talent: Andreas Seidl, James Key, Pat Fry, so to have Fernando as part of our development programme I think is a very important piece of the puzzle to getting us to be competitive again."

While he is set to take part in one of this year's in-season F1 tests, Alonso admitted he was not missing taking part in running over the past two weeks in Barcelona, believing it to be crucial for drivers Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lando Norris to get to grips with the new car.

"I do not miss driving the car to be honest," Alonso said.

"I know that they have a very complex programme of testing. In the morning they are doing certain tests that they need to do to get answers before Australia, and then in the afternoon they go for the race simulations, so they need to test tyres’ behaviour.

"And the drivers, they need to learn about the team and how to react in different scenarios on a race situation. I think it is very valuable time for our race drivers.

"Sitting there and spend time driving the car when I know most of those procedures and they are lacking, I would feel bad, so I think this week I am not missing testing."