Alonso: Nobody in F1 can guarantee anything

Fernando Alonso has claimed that neither he nor anyone else in Formula One can guarantee what is going to happen in the championship rankings next season, but remains more confident of making an impact now that McLaren has ditched Honda engines in favour of Renault.

For the past few years, Alonso has been driving with McLaren-Honda, a partnership which uses engines by the Japanese manufacturers, but there has been little success in terms of podium places or race wins.

From the 2018 season, McLaren will use Renault engines and Alonso thinks this will result in an upturn in fortunes for his current team, even if nobody can predict exactly what will happen on he circuit.

“Nobody in F1 can guarantee anything. Not even Mercedes can know 100 percent they will be competitive," he told Sky Sports.

“We can see what Red Bull are doing with the Renault power unit. Maybe they are not the quickest, but they are fighting for podiums and victories. That will be a very good step if we can achieve that.”

Alonso joined McLaren-Honda due to the fact that they enjoyed success through Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in the past, but has given an honest opinion of why he believes his last few years have been unspectacular.

“When l joined the project, I joined firstly because it was because Honda coming in," he continued.

"Some of my inspiration to be a driver was when l was a kid watching television and Senna and Prost were driving the McLaren-Honda.

“It didn’t work, the performance wasn’t there and now we have split. I’m sad on one side and happy on the other because l think next year will be much better. This year has been a little bit better than the last two.

“I have that impression from the fans and the people who I met, they seemed to have enjoyed this year and that’s because of Indianapolis. Those two weeks were definitely the highlight of the year, we were fighting for the front row of the grid, we were leading the race, we were competitive.”

“[In Formula 1] it was a little bit frustrating. Too many retirements, too many painful moments – in Russia we didn’t even start the race.”

Alonso then looked to the future, and seemed confident about enjoying more success.

“The last few years have taught us a lot. Sometimes when you are winning too easily you then one day find yourself with competition and you make mistakes because you have forgotten how to fight and maximise the package. But if we produce a good car next year, the whole team is ready.”