Formula One news

Alonso hopes to stay in F1 for another 10 years

While a few years ago double world champion Fernando Alonso could never see himself in Formula 1 for that many years the Spaniard now said he changed his feeling and admitting he loves the sport too much to quit it at an early age.

Speaking to The Telegraph Alonso admitted: "I still love this sport. There are ups and downs. The good moments are hard to forget. I can't get those feelings from anything else in life. It is true that two or three years ago I was thinking I would not stay that long in F1 like Michael did. I started at 19 with Minardi. Back then I was thinking that 19 or 20 years in F1 would be too many. F1 can sap your energy so I was thinking I did not want to lose my life to F1.

"Now my opinion has changed. I'm 26 and thinking, 'why not another 10 or 11 years?' I want more success and I'm ready to spend the time needed to get that success back."

"My present position has perhaps helped people on the outside appreciate better what I have achieved in Formula One, people from my country. The fans in Spain arrived new to Formula One because the sport was not well established there. Now I think they understand how difficult it was to get the results. Now is a time to recover and build the motivation again in everybody.

"At times it seems that I'm the only person thinking like this. But I know that Schumacher won two titles with Benetton, then for five years at Ferrari failed to win. I failed to win at McLaren and this year there is no possibility of victory, but that is only two years. Hopefully next year I will be a title contender again. I have plenty of time and my ambition is to win more world championships."

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