Fernando Alonso is standing by a prediction he first made last June in Baku that he will be a Grand Prix winner in 2018.
Never known to back down, the Spaniard made the claim well before it was confirmed McLaren would be switching to Renault engines for this season and during the height of Honda's difficulties.
As the situation panned out, expectations are high that the British team can at least fight with Red Bull which, based on recent history, would put them in contention for victories at, at least the less power sensitive circuits.
Reminded of his earlier comment, however, Alonso was a little more coy on whether it will come true.
“I don’t know. We’ll see,” he told Spanish daily AS. “I said I was going to win and I’ll say the same thing, that I’ll win this year. We’re going to be much more competitive but I don’t know how much."
Explaining his greater conservatism, the two-time Formula 1 champion merely put it down to not wanting to get too far ahead of himself.
“Last year Red Bull looked like they were going to be strong due to the change in the rules and yet they had a slow start," Alonso reminisced.
“You always get asked if you are going to have a car…. but if you start badly, it’s a huge comedown so we can’t anticipate anything.
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“What I can say is that expectations are higher now than they have been during the past three years," he added.
"The atmosphere at the factory is more positive, everyone is determined to go that extra bit further because we all want to be much more competitive and I think we will be.”
