Fernando Alonso insists he has no regrets over leaving Formula 1, after driving McLaren’s 2019 car, and says he will keep competing in motorsport until he is beaten by a quicker driver.
Alonso raced in Formula 1 from 2001 to 2018 and stepped back from a race seat last year in order to pursue opportunities in other categories, having entered the WEC Super Season and the upcoming Indianapolis 500.
Alonso tested McLaren’s MCL34 in Bahrain last week – having remained connected to the team – and labelled it a step forward in every department.
But he stressed he has no regrets over his decision to leave the sport.
“I think what I had to achieve in Formula 1 or more than what I ever dreamed, it was achieved already in the past,” he said. “No regrets.
“If one day I come back in Formula 1, which I doubt because my decision is firm to stop Formula 1, it’s if I win a world championship, that possibility is tempting for any driver.
“But to finish seventh or sixth, or even fourth, it’s not tempting still.”
When asked what he was currently searching for in his career, Alonso said: “To be the best driver in the world. Which I think I am. I think everyone thinks we are the best.
“But it’s difficult to prove because especially in Formula 1, unless you are with the right package that season, you cannot prove it.
“I’ve been very competitive for many, many years in Formula 1, luckily enough to win championships.
“Even my last season was probably the strongest with 21-0 [in qualifying] to my team-mate, things that I have never done in my career.
“And then now winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans, winning Daytona, winning Sebring, hopefully being competitive in the Indy 500, and some other things that I can do outside maybe the asphalt is something that probably has no precedence in the sport.”
“I’m looking for that, for the challenges. It’s not to have fun.
“Sometimes I read when I am testing something that we are happy you are having fun, but please come back to Formula 1 – like please come back to the real job, this is fun.
“I’m not having fun when I try one of those cars, I have no idea, they need to tell me how they do, they do full throttle and brakes at the same time in rally style.
“We press the throttle or we press the brake, we never press at the same time. You need to learn from zero. You need to read the bumps, read things.
“Definitely there is a lot of effort that I put behind every challenge that I take, and a lot of study behind. I’m not doing it for fun. I’m doing it for the difficulty, for the challenge, and just to hopefully be better as a driver.”
On how long he feels he can continue to compete, the 38-year-old said: “Well as long as I have the power to do it and I feel competitive.
“Maybe one day I jump in a Formula 1 car and there is one guy with the same car that is quicker than me.
“Or I jump into another car and one guy is quicker than me with the same car.
“As far as I know, it never happened so far, so I will keep still driving.”
