JUNE 10, 2017

Alonso meets in Montreal with F1 boss Carey

After repeating his threat to quit F1, Fernando Alonso sat down with the sport's new CEO Chase Carey.

Alonso, who Carey says is "one of our biggest stars", warned in Montreal that if Carey follows through with apparent plans to expand the calendar to 25 races, he will quit.

Then, Spanish media published a photo of Alonso sitting down in the McLaren hospitality area with American Carey in Montreal.

"Yes, I wanted to talk to him," Alonso told AS newspaper.

"He wished me luck for Indianapolis and I told him that if I saw him in Canada I wanted to personally thank him," said the McLaren-Honda driver.

"I showed him all my support to improve F1 and that I am here for everything he needs."

As for the quit threat, however, Alonso seems determined that 25 races a season is too much in terms of balancing his "lifestyle".

But Carey said on Friday that there is nothing to worry about, at least for 2018.

"Our focus is to do the 20 races this year and the 21 next year as they should be done from our point of view," he is quoted by the German broadcaster RTL.

"We want to bring these events to the next level."

So on the issue of expanding to 25 races, Carey added: "The issue of quality is the most important.

"We have prospects all over the world, but the relationships with our current partners are very important," he said.

(GMM)