Fernando Alonso hopes that McLaren Honda can challenge for the championship in 2017.
Alonso could well be looked upon as one of the most underachieving Formula One greats of the sport.
The Spaniard is, according to many, the best driver of his generation. But with just two Formula One titles coming in 2005 and 2006, the wait for a third title has been a long one.
In 2007 the feud between himself and then rookie team-mate Lewis Hamilton firstly allowed Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen to take the title and would eventually cost Alonso his seat (among other reasons) at McLaren….. a team that he would have been sure to take titles with.
Since that time Alonso has won just 13 times.
He finished runner-up in the championship in 2010, 2012 and 2013, but with the exception of perhaps 2010, it was his talent that got himself into that position and not the car.
His decisions to move to Renault, Ferrari and McLaren Honda have all proved, with hindsight the wrong decisions.
Instead Alonso has watched on as Lewis Hamilton has taken three titles with McLaren and Mercedes, whilst Sebastian Vettel has taken four titles with Red Bull with Jenson Button also proving you need to be in the right place at the right time with his title at Brawn GP in 2009.
The irony of his most recent move in particular appears to be just how poor McLaren Honda are at the same time that Ferrari have won races and have challenged Mercedes and Red Bull.
After two years of struggles, Alonso hopes 2017 will be the year for McLaren Honda.
‘Every day you work imagining that victory will come in the future.
‘Next year we want to win the world championship – it may sound strange being where we are, but the goal is that. I take it as a process of maturation waiting for better times. Alonso told AS as quoted by Sky Sports.
‘Last year was very hard, it was painful, because we had problems at circuits that probably could have been solved in the test. This year we can see that things have improved. We may be the team that has improved the most over the last 12 months.
‘The problem is that the other engines have been working for 36 months and is not easy to regain the lead in half the time. We achieved reliability, we still lack performance. That will come next year. But I’m sure the time will come when we will be the best of all.’
Alonso however did make a threat that he may quit the sport.
This was not due to McLaren Honda’s current lack of ability to compete, but if the Spaniard believes the sport is going in the wrong direction in regards regulations.
Alonso has regularly been critical of the current era in Formula One, one in which he sees that he cannot attack Grand Prix as the drivers have to look after the tyres, the engines and the fuel consumption.
In 2017 Formula One’s regulations have a bit of makeover in a bid to make the sport look more attractive, but if it doesn’t work, he will consider walking away.
‘If I see that Formula 1 continues in a different direction to which I knew and loved in the past, then I will have to consider an alternative,’
Alonso reveals he may quit Formula One
