Spa 6 Hours: Alonso embarks on WEC adventure

Alonso's Triple Crown quest gets serious now as he already has two Monaco Grand Prix victories in his pocket. With Toyota, he will have a great shot at the top step of the podium at Le Mans, after which he would need to win the Indianapolis 500. Only Graham Hill has ever achieved the Triple Crown.

Speaking ahead of his LMP1 debut at Spa, Alonso told reporters, "It is no secret that I intend to win the Triple Crown of motorsport. I think sometimes you live in Formula 1 in a very small world. You think that winning here takes you to a higher level, that you are better than drivers of other series."

"I think if I drive Indy or WEC or other races, then I challenge myself a lot more and become a better driver."

Starting already last weekend in Baku, Alonso is on an exhaustive schedule in which he will drive a total of 26 race weekends in 2018. Including a particularly stressful stretch of nine races in 11 weeks.

Toyota our outright championship favourites and are the only manufacturer competing as a works outfit in the WEC. Porsche and Audi no longer have LMP1 programmes.

The veteran of 295 grand prix starts is impressed with his 'new' team, "From day one, I found a great group of guys that are very productive working with all of them."

"With Alex [Wurz], we talked a lot last year when this idea came to my mind and I was sharing with him a lot. Obviously, they all have great experience in endurance."

"The team atmosphere is great. It’s something that is difficult to find in F1. I think it's probably the best part of the team, how everyone is a group here. I think any of the six [drivers] could match perfectly with the others. To be honest, I don’t see any differences between Car #7 and Car #8."

"Maybe on race day we will see some emotions there and one car will finish ahead of the other. Right now, we'll go to the hotel, maybe I go with Mike and Kazuki. Then I come back here with Kobayashi and Buemi. There are not two teams. We’re all on one table. It’s not a clear difference," added Alonso.

For the first time in his career, Alonso will be sharing a cockpit with two other teammates, but the Spaniard is not concerned, "I think this car is not too complex in terms of adapting the setup for everyone. It's more about the switches you have on the steering wheel."

"It depends, driver to driver on how you want to drive the car with the hybrid system, how much you want to boost at the front, the rear, with different styles of driving, the same with the brake balance, how you want to adapt this into the corner.

"I think mechanically, or aerodynamically, the car setup is good for all three drivers. When it's good, all three drivers are saying it's good. When it's bad, all three drivers it's understeering or oversteering, so it's not a big problem to adapt.

"It's not a problem to share the car. Also the seat position and things like that, we're quite similar. I think Sebastien, Kazuki and myself, in terms of the body, height and things like that. I feel 100 percent comfortable and ready," added Alonso who started his WEC debut weekend by topping the timing screens after the first free practice session at Spa-Francorchamps.