When it debuted in F1 in 2000, Fernando Alonso said in an interview that his goal was to win three world titles, like his idol Ayrton Senna, and then retire. Alonso was very close to it: after being champion in 2005 and 2006 by Renault, had everything to repeat the feat in 2007 by McLaren, but an English rookie called Lewis Hamilton did not allow.
Alonso thought that with his two consecutive titles should have undisputed status of the first pilot, but the talent of Hamilton overrode this and the infighting that followed ended up giving the championship that year to Kimi Raikkonen, of Ferrari.
The Asturian had a new real chance in 2010, when he reached the final race in Abu Dhabi with eight points ahead of Sebastian Vettel. If the German won, Alonso would have finished below fifth place to become champion in his debut year at Ferrari. However, ahead of the Spaniard was Vitaly Petrov and the Russian driving a Renault did not make things easy for the former driver of the French team. Result: ending in the seventh place Alonso lost the championship by a margin of four points to Vettel. In 2012 and 2013, it still would be front runner driving for the Scuderia, but left the Italian team at the end of 2014 season without seeing his dream come true.
A millionaire contract and the prospect of seeing the winning McLaren-Honda partnership recur took him back to the English team. A decision seen by many as controversial.
The results to date are far from expectations and the question that still remains is the fifth place finish in Hungary can be celebrated as a real evolution of the team or was the result of an unusual race? Whatever it is, the reality is that the clock is against Alonso. At age 34 it is impossible for him to even think about victories this season. Championship? Far, far, away.
In 2016, McLaren-Honda can progress, this is the bet of many, but this will be enough to defeat Mercedes, Ferrari and even Williams and Red Bull? No one can say.
As he has a contract until 2017 with the English team, Alonso faces the serious risk of reaching age 36 without a new title and no team to drive for. And worst, new talents such as Valtteri Bottas, Felipe Nasr, Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz, Jr. did not stop to arise.
Thus, Alonso can finish his career in a situation where, like Emerson Fittipaldi, could have gotten much more achievements in F1, but, having made choices that seemed the right ones at a given time and ended up proving to be wrong, would never be a champion again.
