Alonso: If you can hurt to get an advantage that's even better

Fernando Alonso has revealed how cut-throat a driver has to be to succeed at the highest level in Formula 1, where there are no friends and opportunities to inflict psychological 'hurt' on rivals must be maximised at every opportunity.

In an interview on the McLaren website, Alonso said of life in F1, "You need to have no heart. You are not enemies with the other drivers, but you have to focus on yourself to win. If you can 'hurt' someone by getting an advantage over them, that's even better."

Alonso has struggled with an uncompetitive package since he returned to McLaren at the start of 2015, with two F1 world titles and 32 grand prix victories, success has dried up for the Spaniard who has not won a race since the Spanish Grand Prix in 2013 and has not stood on the podium since the 2014 Chinese Grand Prix - on both occasions as a Ferrari driver.

Nevertheless Alonso remains confident, "I am a competitive person and competition is important in F1, but I don't race in F1 for the competition. I can get that in other areas of my life, like cycling and playing tennis - or racing my mother to the supermarket."

"The reason I race in F1 is because the cars give me a feeling that I can't get anywhere else. It's unique. It's hard to explain what this feeling is like because nothing else comes close to F1."

"Your brain has to re-set every time you get in the car because things happen so fast. If you haven't driven an F1 car for a few weeks, the level of performance takes you by surprise," he expalained.

"I go karting to enjoy the competition; I drive in F1 for this feeling. The driving styles in karting and F1 are quite similar, but nothing unexpected happens in a go-kart. Your brain is never taken by surprise. You can predict everything that the kart is going to do."

"That isn't the case in F1, where you're taken by surprise all the time. When you hit the brakes, your brain takes 0.2 of a second to catch up. That's a very nice feeling; that is the feeling," declared Alonso ahead of his 265th Formula 1 start which will happen at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps, a venue where he has yet to win at the highest level.