But McLaren driver says Ferrari's title prospects still "big if"
Thursday 17 March 2016 10:20, UK
McLaren's Fernando Alonso has admitted he could end up regretting his departure from Ferrari if his old team win this year's world championship.
But the Spaniard believes the prospect of Ferrari dethroning Mercedes at F1's summit remains a "big if".
Alonso left the Italian team with two years still on his contract at the end of 2014 after growing disillusioned with their inability to produce a title-winning car.
However, in the wake of a management purge that same winter, Ferrari claimed three race wins last year and made a strong impression with their new SF16-H car in winter testing ahead of this weekend's season-opening Australian GP.
Alonso's return to McLaren has been dogged by an uncompetitive Honda engine and asked if he would feel any regret were Ferrari to claim the 2016 title, replied: "If they win the championship, probably, yes, because I had a contract last year and this year with them.
"So if they win the championship this year I probably will feel that I could have had that opportunity as well if I was able to drive as good as the champion if they win.
"That will be the case - but this is a big if."
Although observers have used Ferrari's renaissance as evidence to suggest Alonso erred in quitting Maranello, the Spaniard has argued that he feels "exactly the same pain" finishing out of the points as he did finishing second or third.
McLaren are expecting another challenging season but Alonso insists he is personally happier than he was by the end of his time at Ferrari, where he finished championship runner-up on three occasions.
"I'm aware of the difficulties that we had last year and I'm aware of the difficulties we may face this year in terms of performance," he said. "While you are not winning you can never be happy. Only one driver and one team are happy every year, all the others are in the same position.
"Sometimes we tend to forget or differentiate who is arriving third, fifth, seventh is happier than who is arriving 18th and the 22nd [driver] is the unhappiest man in the world. But this is not true - at least in my case.
"To arrive second, fifth, 11th, 21st is exactly the same pain because you are not winning.
"At least last year, this year I feel happy inside because I see the commitment and I see the project that one day will win. If that day will be in the short term, the medium term or long term I don't know, but McLaren-Honda will win one day. We want to make that time as short as possible."
Although the team's Honda engine showed improved reliability during testing, and the Japanese firm believe they have solved the electrical deployment issues which hampered straightline speed in 2015, Alonso insists McLaren "cannot make any predictions" for Melbourne.
"Same conditions for all of us at five o'clock, same tyres, same fuel, we will have the answer on Saturday," he added.
"Then in the first couple of races as well because I don't think Australia will exactly give the picture of how everything will go in the rest of the championship.
"We remain calm, we do our preparations and work for this championship and I don't think anyone in the team is targeting any special position right now. Just wait and see and deliver the best of us."
The first race of the 2016 F1 season, the Australian GP, is exclusively live on Sky F1. The race in Melbourne starts at 5am on Sunday March 20. Or watch for £6.99 without a contract, on NOW TV.
