Alonso played no part in Boullier exit

Fernando Alonso has dismissed the notion that he had a say in Eric Boullier's departure from McLaren. The Frenchman resigned from his post as racing director this week as the British team continue to flounder in 2018 ahead of their home race at Silverstone.

Gil de Ferran and Andrea Stella were promoted to sporting director and performance director respectively, with Boullier not directly replaced in the team. Both men have links to Alonso: De Ferran trained him at last year's Indianapolis 500, while Stella is his former race engineer.

Alonso's fifth-placed finish in the season-opener in Australia remains McLaren's best result of 2018, with a chronic lack of qualifying pace and a return of previous reliability issues biting hard.

With CEO Zak Brown saying the team's recovery is "years away", it is unsure if Alonso will stick around long enough to take them back to the podium.

However, the Spaniard says he has had no impact on the reshuffle at McLaren, despite the team's desperation to keep hold of him.

"I don't know. I just drive cars," Alonso said.

"If Zak thinks there are other people now doing other jobs in the team it's because he thinks it's the best thing to do.

"I trust 100 percent Zak, I trusted 100 percent Eric; I trust always the bosses because they are always the one that have all the information. We just drive cars."

When suggested he was the 'man leading the team', Alonso replied: "No, I don't think so. But definitely I have more experience than probably all the engineers at the track. You know?

"My race engineer's in their sixth year in Formula One, the performance engineer's in the fourth year, the tire engineer is in the ninth year, it's my 18th year.

"So some things maybe I try to give my feedback what I've experienced in previous teams or what are my experiences from different tires or different weather conditions or qualifying conditions or stressful moments, whatever. It's no different to any other driver."