Alonso questions 2016 prospects

Editor

Former world champion Fernando Alonso is not entirely certain on McLaren-Honda's prospects ahead of the 2016 Formula One season.

McLaren's 2015 campaign was littered with retirements, no-point finishes and even a failure to start a race on one occasion.

Reliability is not a word that was bandied about too often, if at all and there are hopes that there will be a reversal of fortunes when drivers return next year.

"At the moment there's a question mark, I guess, where McLaren-Honda can be next year," Alonso told ESPN.

"There are a lot of expectations in the team. I think we worked really all season, being united in some difficult moments and always moving forward, so I think for 2016 the main goal for the team is to come back to where we belong, we think, and being competitive, fighting for the top positions," added Alonso.

It is not so much the prospect of failure that concerns Alonso but rather it is the considerable uncertainty which exists, ahead of the 2016 season. There are simply too many questions that still need to be answered.

"I don't know if that means fighting for the championship, I don't know if that means fighting for victories of just being on the podium sometimes, that's always difficult to know in a very complex sport like Formula One," he said.

Naturally there has been tremendous speculation about Alonso's future at the team, fuelled by comments which implied he might take a sabbatical. The one thing Alonso does appear to be certain about is that he wants to be a part of the new chapter being written at McLaren next season, and that he believes in the work that is being done.

"There are definitely some big challenges ahead in this winter and I see all the things that the team has done in the last couple of months and these seem very logical, very positive and I'm confident that it's going to be a completely different season next year and I'm happy with the progress."