The two sides of Fernando Alonso were on show after the Spaniard finished last of the classified finishers at the French Grand Prix on Sunday.

After a disappointing qualifying, which saw both McLaren drivers knocked out in Q1, the double world champion appeared to lose motivation in the race running outside the points, and particularly changed his attitude after being overtaken by teammate Stoffel Vandoorne.

Indeed, with just five laps to go, Alonso gave up the 13th place he was holding to pit for Ultrasoft tyres in an attempt to set the fastest lap, something that is merely a matter of pride rather than yielding any reward.

He would fail in that pursuit too, eventually coming home in 16th after pulling into the pits on the final lap, and initially, the response he gave was in line to what most were expecting.

“This was by far the worst performance of the year,” Alonso said. “So, I really hope it is a one-off and not the normality.

“All the race we were on the back foot, from the start we had to avoid a lot of accidents, people seemed to shortcut the circuit and nothing happened. We stayed on the circuit and came last.

"At the end, we had a suspension problem and couldn’t even see the chequered flag," he added. "So not a very competitive weekend for us but in five days we have another opportunity to forget this and I really hope that Austria and Silverstone will be better circuits for us."

Later though, he was asked if he'd rather be back at Le Mans where he won a week prior and his outlook was completely different.

“I’m surprised how negative you are because as I say, we are the 20 top drivers in the world and the questions are how I manage to be positive, how I manage to smile, how I manage to breathe, to eat – I manage quite well, you know and I feel very privileged,” he stated.

All of this comes as speculation over a switch to IndyCar continues and with Red Bull's Helmut Marko suggestion McLaren are after Daniel Ricciardo, it does make you wonder if this will be Fernando's last year in F1.