Alonso considered quitting

Fernando Alonso has admitted he considered quitting the sport last season whilst McLaren were struggling to find any consistent running with Honda.

The two time champion finished 15th last season scoring just 17 points in 20 races.

With an interview in F1 racing Magazine Alonso said: “I did think about the possibility of chaining series and stopping Formula 1.

“After i did the Indy 500 last year, when I came back there were a couple of races in Austria, Silverstone when I thought ‘maybe next year I could try a different series, I could do full commitment to the triple crown and do Indy and Le Mans and maybe thats the best thing’

“But I felt it was not the time for me to step out - not right now, not after these results not with this feeling, I knew I would regret it for the rest of my life and that I would have this bad taste for the rest of my racing career.”

Half way through last season there was speculation that Alonso was losing interest and hunger to win but in this latest interview, Alonso dismissed these claims.

“Definitely I still want to succeed.

“There is unfinished business for me and McLaren together. And I think this year is the time all these things will change. I feel pretty sure about that.”

During the pre-season testing, the McLaren car broke down multiple times with only a couple of days of good running.

In the final session, Alonso managed to push the car to finish 3rd in the standings putting the team in good spirits as they fly to Australia.

Reviewing the last three seasons, Alonso added: “To be honest with you, it has not been easy.

“There have been plenty of ups and downs, highs and lows. Not in the race weekend itself, because when you through practise and you start the meetings with engineers, prepare your qualifying runs and so on, the competitive sportsman inside you wakes up and you are ready to take any challenge.

“But between races it has been difficult.

"I had to push little bit more myself to stay focused and to stay in the game. I don’t like losing, I like winning in anything I do in life, not only motorsport, so every Sunday night when I’ve been getting back from a race, I have not been happy.”