Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff says that there's no room at Mercedes for Fernando Alonso.

Recently, 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg joked that a petition should be created to bring two-time F1 champion Alonso back to the Formula 1 grid. However, the 38-year-old Alonso's 2020 project actually looks set to be the off-road Dakar Rally with Toyota.

The Japanese carmaker has revealed that Alonso will undergo a Dakar testing program. That program started in Africa this week. Wolff, the Mercedes boss, told Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport that Alonso will not return to Formula 1 with the dominant German team.

"The top teams all have their alpha drivers already," Wolff said. "Sometimes it's not enough to be good at driving. You also need to have the right circumstances."

When asked if a Mercedes dream team of Alonso alongside Lewis Hamilton is unthinkable, Wolff answered: "Yes, it is.

"We don't want to repeat certain stories that happened when the two of them were together at McLaren."

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io