09/06/2018
NEWS STORY
While the Triple-Crown is reachable, it is unlikely that Fernando Alonso will add a third F1 title to his tally.
Instead, as the Spaniard contests his 300th Grand Prix weekend, he must be content with two titles, finishing runner-up three times, third once and fourth twice.
Furthermore, the 1996 Kart World Champion has 32 F1 wins to his credit, 22 poles and 23 fastest laps.
The enormous talent that is Alonso first became evident in 2001 when he was with Minardi, the Spaniard never giving anything less than 100%.
Three wasted years with McLaren-Honda followed a frustrating stint with Ferrari at a time the Italian team was going through one of its darker periods. Then there was that previous stint at McLaren.
While he refuses to play on the regrets and lament "what if", Alonso insists that he is one of the best drivers to have graced the sport.
"I am one of the best to have raced in F1," he says, according to the BBC. "I am probably not the fastest in the race, or in the wet, but I am 9.5 in all areas. I try to benefit from that.
"In a way, it is better this way," he continues. "I would not be happy if I had many trophies at home and people think I don't deserve them. That would be even harder.
"Obviously we had some opportunities missed, especially in the past three years when McLaren-Honda didn't deliver the results we wanted.
"I think right now, we are in the right direction to go back to the winning path. We see at the end of my career in F1 what we achieved and what we should have achieved. But I am happy and I feel very privileged about everything we did so far.
"I have a lot of good memories. There have been a lot of ups and downs, but winning my two championships was definitely the high point."
"I could have won four or five championships, but at the same time I feel extremely privileged to have had 18 years in F1."
Referring to the Triple Crown, he subsequently told Sky Sports: The Triple Crown is an attractive target because it is so difficult to achieve. These are the three biggest races in the world of motorsport: the Indy 500, Monaco and Le Mans. It is challenging because all three require different style and a different driving technique."
"If you challenge yourself and try to be the best in all areas, you have to be a complete driver.
"I don't want to just be a good driver, I want to be a complete driver and hopefully the best driver in the world."