I will win third title before WEC move - Alonso

40

Fernando Alonso says he will win a third world championship in F1 before he races in the World Endurance Championship.

With Mark Webber retiring from racing this season, Alonso's comments in a video message to the Australian suggested he has a deal to race for Porsche in the WEC in place. However, when it was put to the Spaniard that it appeared only a matter of time until he moves across to endurance racing, Alonso insisted there is no firm timeframe for his future beyond F1.

“That’s something I don’t know either," Alonso said. "It’s nothing new what I said in that message, which has become quite famous right now. I’m committed to F1 100% next year here with the team, and then in the future it’s no doubt that it’s a very attractive challenge, and very attractive thing to do, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, for me."

And Alonso says he is not ready to give up on winning a third world championship before turning his focus to a new challenge.

"I like the category, I like the cars, and as I said, it’s a good challenge. But that future, I don’t know if it means in two years’ time, in five years’ time, or in 11 years’ time. I don’t know yet. It’s nothing new. The first thing that I want to do, and I will do, is to win a third world championship in F1, and then I see.”

Grosjean column: Magnussen and THAT crash in Brazil

Chris Medland's 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix preview

FEATURE: Hamilton v Rosberg: 2016 F1 drivers' title permutations

TECHNICAL: Under the skin of the McLaren-Honda MP4-31

2017 driver line-ups so far

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.