Fernando Alonso maintains he is still the best driver in Formula 1 overall and would beat anyone in the same car.
The two-time champion hasn't been on the podium since 2013, largely thanks to his machinery and more so following his switch from Ferrari to McLaren, which has seen him languish at the back of the pack, but he insists he is still the best overall driver on the grid.
"I always feel confident about beating anyone," he is quoted as saying by Sky Sports F1. "I don't believe that I'm better than anyone on pure speed in qualifying, I don't think I'm better than anyone in wet conditions, dry conditions, qualifying, race.
"But if you put me in the same car at the same moment and same track as anyone. I think that I will beat them. Maybe I'm not best of all sections, but overall I will beat them," he said.
Alonso also turned his thoughts to 2017 and the upcoming regulation changes, which he says he hopes will make the cars harder to drive and therefore allow the driver to have more of a say.
"Right now I don't think that we are enjoying driving as much as we should do. We cannot be seven or eight seconds slower than 10 years ago. This is not fun to drive," he added.
"You are always saving – saving tyres, saving fuel, saving batteries – it is the opposite of our instinct. I hope next year it returns to a more normal driving style."
