Alonso praises Aston Martin: 'No team more ambitious than us'

Fernando Alonso must decide in the coming weeks whether, and if so at which team, he wants to continue his long career. The Alonso camp is strongly exploring options at Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, while his current team Aston Martin has already indicated it wants to continue with the Spaniard for longer. According to rumours, Aston Martin even wants to try to loosen designer Adrian Newey at Red Bull.

Without saying Newey's name - even as he was asked about the engineer specifically at Suzuka on the eve of the Japanese Grand Prix - Alonso particularly praised Aston Martin's level of ambition. "There is no other team in the paddock with the ambition and the plans for the future that Aston have," said the two-time world champion.

"But at the same time, you need to achieve those goals and you need to deliver those results. Tthis team was very new two years ago. It doubled more or less the amount of people that works in the paddock. They were in an old Jordan building. Now they are in a super modern factory. Last year, we had a very fast car and we have to learn a lot of lessons off track of how to develop the car to match the top teams," the Spanish world champion added.

Aston Martin will have to deliver, believes Alonso

Alonso understands that this process will not be completed in a year or two. "This year, we are matching that kind of development. So I think they are all very good signs. But ultimately, you need to win races and to win championships," the Spaniard concluded.