Alonso: I believe in the project and try to be positive

Fernando Alonso is adamant that he remains positive and optimistic while keeping the faith that McLaren and Honda will provide him with a competitive car, despite the fact that many of his friends cannot understand why he has not "exploded" in light of the woeful situation he finds himself in.

Speaking to media ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend Alonso said, "I have shown everyone and proved that I have faith in everything. I've been here three years now with different situations. The first year was very difficult with many problems. The second year we had good progress I think and a midfield car in most of the races."

"This year we started in quite a difficult situation, but now we start to be in the midfield again. From the first day to the last day, I always believe in the project and I always try to be positive and try to be optimistic, to be close to the team and keep working, 24 hours a day."

"Everyone is surprised. [Nico] Rosberg said he could not do what Fernando is doing, [Mark] Webber is surprised about why Fernando has not exploded! I always stay calm and try to work and believe in everyone's job."

"It's not that we are under-performing because a group of people wants to under-perform. Everyone is doing their 100 per cent, sometimes we can do it, sometimes not, in the short-term and middle-term, but I will try to always help the team."

"There is no benefit. If I explode and I gain one second in the next race because they work harder, I would do it, but we are fast as we can be. All the guys they are doing their maximum so I'm thankful for that but obviously we need more."

Alonso has indicated, before the summer break, that this month he has been weighing up his career options beyond 2017, with a decision expected to be made by him at the end of the season.

Asked if he believes Honda can deliver a competitive package, capable of winning races as per his conditions to remain with the programme, he replied, "I'm not the expert to know that, I don't have their ideas, I don't have their knowledge of developing the engine."

"All I know is that they are working day and night to improve the engine. But it's difficult to predict what is going to happen in six or seven months' time, how much you can improve. I'm sure they will do the best job possible and they will improve as much as they can," mused Alonso.

For the race at Spa-Francorchamps, a high speed track where McLaren are expecting to struggle, Alonso will have an upgrade to his Honda power unit - which is being dubbed a 'Phase 3.5' engine - but the Spaniard will not be penalised because the bits changed on the engine are not restricted.