Alonso: I want to be most complete race driver ever

The Spaniard made his return to Formula 1 this season after a two-year hiatus and has looked increasingly comfortable as the campaign has worn on.

Alonso turned 40 ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, which was won in surprise circumstances by his teammate Esteban Ocon, and has continued to play down concerns about his advancing years.

Ocon would likely not have won at the Hungaroring unless Alonso had held off a charging Lewis Hamilton for eight laps and the Alpine man explained that age works differently in motorsport than in many other sports.

"We seem to get confused about age and about a performance a sportsman can do," he said. "This is not the Tour of France, this is not the Olympic games, this is not football, where at 23 you are at the peak of your performance.

"If myself now raced me of 23 I would beat him with one hand. It's not the younger you are the quicker you are. This is not how it works, the watch in motorsport."

Asked when he sees himself stepping away from motorsport, Alonso said that while viewers want to see young drivers coming through, he has no plans of retiring just yet.

"There are people that want to see new names, they want to see new hopes, and they want to get rid of some of the normal names that they see every weekend," he added.

"I see myself racing for a very long time. If it's in Formula 1, great. If it's not in Formula 1, I will try to pursue some of the remaining challenges outside Formula 1 to hopefully be the most complete driver in motorsport ever," Alonso concluded.