No regrets over F1 career decisions - Alonso

Fernando Alonso insists he does not have any regrets over the decisions he has made throughout his storied Formula One career so far, and says it "seems as though everybody has a crystal ball when I sigh for a team".

After winning two championships in emphatic style with Renault early in his F1 tenure (2005-06), the 34-year-old has been chasing a third crown for a decade.

Over that span, Alonso finished runner-up three times in 2010, 2012, and 2013 with Ferrari, falling tantalisingly close at the final round of the season in the first two instances.

Growing frustration at five campaigns of near-misses at Maranello led the Spaniard to re-sign with McLaren for 2015 as the British team reunited with engine manufacturer Honda. Since then, Alonso has seen his former team Ferrari return to form with Sebastian Vettel while his current outfit continues to struggle in the midfield.

The situation has only reinforced Alonso’s reputation as an unlucky driver making ill-timed career moves. Asked by Spanish publication AS whether he he thought he had made some mistakes in that area since entering F1 in 2001 with Minardi, the double world champion replied:

“No, I’m sure with hindsight it’s always easy to find better ways to do things or to change certain decisions, but it you change something in the way you are I would not be the person I am. The decisions I’ve made are a reflection of who I am and how I live my life, and you always look at how you are now and how you were before. I’m happy with who I am today.

“I know that maybe I could have more trophies in my house or more titles or that I could have made better decisions in terms of cars, but in the moment I took those decisions, I believed they were the correct ones. I always follow my instincts and what makes me happy. When you do that you can regret anything that happens afterwards because I think I have not been in the best cars. That may be the case but I’ve driven for Renault, McLaren-Mercedes, Ferrari, and McLaren-Honda. I reckon any Formula One driver would take that at the end of his career.”

It’s fair to admit that Alonso has not had the best car on the grid since his first McLaren spell in 2007, which ended in acrimony with the Spaniard falling out with team boss Ron Dennis and returning to Renault after only one year at Woking.

Alonso has sometimes voiced his frustration at not driving the class of the field. Still at Ferrari, he said on his 32nd birthday that the ideal gift would be “someone’s else car” in a clear reference to Sebastian Vettel’s dominant 2013-spec Red Bull. Last winter, it was revealed that the Spaniard had tried to secure a drive with reigning Constructors' champions Mercedes ahead of the 2015 campaign.

However, Alonso refutes the theory according to which any team gets better as soon as he is out of town.

"Yeah, I could have driven for Red Bull... well, Red Bull was an energy drink when I had the chance to sign for them," Alonso added "Mercedes, well, they were there as well, but as an example when Michael [Schumacher] was coming back to Formula One and signed with Mercedes because it was a good project, but he was outside of the Q3 in the last three years he drove in Formula One.

"Now it seems as though everybody has a crystal ball when I sign for a team, and also that when I leave a team it seems to improve, but I'd like someone to explain to me why when I left Renault in 2006 they stopped winning races. When I left McLaren they won the next championship with [Lewis] Hamilton [in 2008], but that was it. They didn't win any more.

"And when I left Ferrari they didn't go and win the championship. They lost last year and this year they are starting from scratch. So the idea that every time I leave a team they magically start to improve has no basis."

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