AUSTIN -- Fernando Alonso was considering quitting Formula One at the end of this year before convincing himself to sign a new multi-year deal with McLaren.
McLaren confirmed on Thursday that Alonso will remain at the team for a fourth consecutive season in 2018 after three years of struggling with an unreliable and underpowered Honda engine. So bad was the situation at the start of this year that McLaren agreed to release Alonso so that he could take part in the Indy 500 rather than the Monaco Grand Prix.
Next year the team team will switch to Renault power in the hope of returning to the podium for the first time since 2014, but Alonso admits he came close to calling time on his F1 career.