Fernando Alonso claims he does not mind waiting before he can start fighting for the title again with McLaren-Honda.
The two-time world champion returned to Woking last winter after failing to add a third title to his name at Ferrari despite finishing runner-up to Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel on three occasions (2010, 2012, 2013).
The Spaniard’s frustration grew another notch in 2014 when it became evident that he would not be able to challenge for podiums, let alone wins, aboard the Ferrari F14 T. Having tested the waters with both Mercedes and Red Bull, Alonso eventually came back to McLaren, seven years after his first spell at Woking ended in acrimony.
Alonso’s gamble has not paid off so far, as a raft of power unit issues has prevented him and team-mate Jenson Button from moving up the pecking order. Although he came quite close to score his squad's maiden 2015 points in Bahrain, the McLaren returnee already trails championship leader Lewis Hamilton by 93 points.
With Alonso unlikely to overcome such gap over the remainder of the season, the 33-year-old is bound to wait another year before he can have a new shot at that elusive third championship. But this situation does not seem to really trouble the Spaniard, who last won the title in 2006 with Renault.
“This is Formula One, this is a very complex sport and I do my best every weekend to help the team, to achieve some good results,” said Alonso. “Whether we can fight for the championship, whether we can become champions in one year, two years, three years, four years, you never know.
“It’s not really a plan that you put in your head like ‘Ok, I will wait X time to become champion’. I try to enjoy every weekend, even now, the first races, how the team is growing up, how everybody, the people at Honda are determined and motivated to take on this challenge.
“Every race is a challenge and I’m enjoying this process. Whether I can fight for the championship or not, only time will tell us. I’m a very happy person so it’s no problem to wait.”
McLaren boss Ron Dennis recently confirmed that Alonso had a “three-year contract with us, with no options”.
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