Extreme E, a new electric car series that will race in remote parts of the world, admits having F1’s big names on board, such as Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, would be a huge boost.

This week McLaren sporting director Gil de Ferran announced a new electric car series that will race in the Arctic, the Himalayas, the Sahara desert, the Amazon rainforest and islands in the Indian Ocean.

It is a five-stage series that will see the drivers racing off-road.

As yet none of the drivers involved have been named by De Ferran, who is spearheading the project, hopes to bring former McLaren driver Alonso into the mix – and maybe even Hamilton.