McLaren 'open' to Alonso sabbatical

Alonso's return to McLaren this season has been a miserable one after opting to move on from Ferrari at the end of last year, with the double world champion making his feelings particularly plain after the Japanese Grand Prix.

At the end of a wretched race Alonso declared himself to be "embarrassed" and "frustrated" with the performance of the team, and when asked if he would be with them for next season, he replied: "I don't know."

At this stage, McLaren Technology Group CEO Dennis is convinced McLaren's driver line-up for next season will be Alonso and Jenson Button, but that may yet change if the '16 car does not live up to expectations.

Asked about Alonso's future and the idea of a season off, Dennis said: "He will definitely finish his career with McLaren.

"I have an open mind to anything, and some of the ideas have involved those sorts of considerations, yes, sabbatical years etcetera.

"But at this moment of time I would say, we believe we know where we will be.

"We navigated a difficult weekend [in Japan]. I took a high level of flak out of that weekend. It was a challenge to navigate through it.

"But nevertheless, here we are with a great number of driver options, and we've two of the best drivers in the world in our cars.

"When we have to take a decision we'll take it together, and at this moment our drivers are Fernando and Jenson Button."