Renault advisor Alain Prost would like nothing more than to see Fernando Alonso renew his allegiance to the French manufacturer, but a conundrum subsists.
With each passing race, Alonso appears to be drifting away from McLaren-Honda, a team which has failed to deliver to the Spaniard the competitive drive he expected since he returned to the Woking-based outfit in 2015.
Renault has emerged as an option for the two-time world champion although Renault Sport F1 boss has made clear the fact that the French team will not hire the driver at any cost.
But Prost also evokes another issue which could likely discourage the two parties getting back together.
"We're a works team, so it's true that many drivers consider that we will eventually become a very good team," Prost told Nextgen-Auto.com.
"As far as Fernando is concerned, he was world champion with Renault over ten years ago. It would therefore be e great honour for us to have him in the team.
"But on the other hand, we know he wants to win straight away. And I don't think we can give him a winning car immediately.
"It is therefore a difficult problem to resolve."
On the subject of Robert Kubica, who now wishes to revive his F1 career, Prost adopts a more cautious view.
"Robert has tested for us, and he will test again but for now, we really can't say anything more. It's very difficult to judge what may be possible or not."
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