Alonso still believes he can win third title

Fernando Alonso still believes that he can become a triple Formula One World Champion.

At 34-years-old many would argue that time is running out for the Spaniard to add to his back-to-back championships that he won for Renault in 2005 and 2006.

At that point many in the paddock would argue that he was the best driver of his generation.

But missed opportunities at McLaren and then moving to Ferrari at the wrong time has seen him underachieve.

In 2007 the feud between himself and then rookie team-mate Lewis Hamilton allowed Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen to take the title and as his relationship with the team broke down he would eventually leave to return to Renault.

McLaren Mercedes were a team that he would have taken titles with, but instead he drifted from Renault to Ferrari and now back to McLaren Honda.

Alonso has won just 13 times in 149 starts and whilst he finished runner-up in the championship in 2010, 2012 and 2013, 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 ones.

The McLaren Honda in 2015 was so bad that many believed that Alonso would take a sabbatical in 2016.

That proved not to be the case and Alonso actually remains positive.

‘Yes, I think so [could be champion again].

‘I compete to win. If there was no chance, I wouldn’t do it.’ he told Spanish radio as quoted by the BBC.

He added: ‘I do not think we are far from achieving a podium.

It will take a lot more than achieving the occasional podium for Alonso and McLaren to be challenging for the title, but considering their starting point with Honda it would be an incredible achievement.