Alonso: Only McLaren or Mercedes can give me a third F1 title

Fernando Alonso departed Ferrari at the end of 2014 and returned to McLaren to spearhead the team's second Honda era, despite frustrations of the new project the Spaniard believes that only the Woking outfit or Mercedes can give him a third Formula 1 world title

Although McLaren are no match for the pace setters Mercedes, nor the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari, Alonso is adamant that he made the right call to jump the Maranello ship when he did.

"I was right. I was right because I felt I was right," insists the Spaniard. "In 2014 I made the decision and had two years more on my contract, but felt I was right to go."

"Whatever results they achieve in 2015 and 2016 or in the future, for me my time there was fantastic and I wanted to finish on that fantastic feeling. Every year was a little bit more stress because you are not winning and it seems that it is your fault.

"Now it is not a relief that they are not winning or having more problems, I don't wish any problems on Ferrari because it is a team that I will always have in my heart."

"But in terms of driving, how competitive I can be or my third world championship hopes, then you drive for Mercedes or McLaren-Honda. That is my opinion and the feeling from that decision."

Many in the paddock expect that McLaren may return to being a force in 2017, although this is by no means a given in Formula 1.

Alonso acknowledges, "We don't have an estimation and we don't think in that way, guessing which position we will be. We really don't care too much and we are just concentrating on being world champions."

"Being world champions requires a big improvement for next year and a lot of the efforts for this year are with a view to next year's car, so all the new parts that we are trying are being used in a way to understand what direction to go next year," said Alonso.

"The power unit will be a key factor for us and that is the main limitation we still have now. We need to understand and push for next year to have a power unit that is comparable to our opponents."

"So the priority is totally focused on 2017 in our heads. Definitely the 2016 car is still being developed at the same time, so we will bring new parts this year, but we don't know if those new parts will be enough to gain position or not, it's just more of an understanding thing," added Alonso.