Alonso insists he "wasn't consulted" on McLaren changes

Earlier on Thursday, McLaren team principal Zak Brown saaid that Alonso "is definitely one of the leaders in the team" and that he had been consulted about the team's plans.

The new role for his 2017 Indy 500 advisor Gil de Ferran and a promotion for Andrea Stella – who moved from Ferrari at the same time as the Spaniard – have led to suggestions that the Spaniard has played a significant role behind the scenes.

However, Alonso says that he played no part in the changes, and learned about them the same way as his teammate Stoffel Vandoorne.

"I wasn't consulted," he said. "I was informed about all the changes, and all the new possibilities, as Stoffel has been informed.

"Obviously I had more experience with Andrea than Zak, that only knows Andrea for one year alone, and he wanted my opinion, and how I see also Gil.

"Obviously he knows Gil for 20 years and I know Gil for one year, so he knows much more than me in terms of what possibilities and what scenarios maybe Gil can come into play."

He added: "As I said, if Zak thinks that there are other people now doing different jobs in the team, it's because he thinks it's the best thing to do, and I trust 100% Zak.

"I trusted 100% Eric, I trust always the bosses because they are the ones that have all the information. We just drive cars."

He also denied that he would suggest names of potential new recruits.

"No, I have no idea of people, I can only suggest drivers, they are the only ones I meet on the track.

"I will not suggest Zak drivers, because I think he has the best two drivers in the world."

However, he did acknowledge that his level of experience meant that he could provide valuable input, especially to Brown.

"Some of the feedback or some of the input you may have with 18 years' experience is different than other people who are quite young or new to the sport. In that aspect, it's always been like that in every team I was in."

Alonso also insisted that the management reshuffle would play no role in determining what he does in 2019.

"Maybe it changes something tomorrow, but today it changes nothing.

"Andrea is sitting in the same position as race performance engineer, head of the engineers from the two cars, he was sitting there and he was doing exactly the same job, running the team meeting and things like that.

"Gil I think is maybe more strategic decisions for the future, or something like that, not for everyday life change.

"It doesn't change anything for me, for the future, or anything. The most important thing is to keep improving the car and being more competitive, and hopefully with this new organisation the team can move forward quicker. This we will see in time."