Watch the F1 Report in full as Mark Hughes, Mark Priestley and Natalie Pinkham look ahead to the season-concluding Abu Dhabi GP
Monday 27 November 2017 13:42, UK
Fernando Alonso values his place in history and is aiming to ensure he is ranked alongside motorsport's greats despite his recent lack of F1 success, Mark Hughes has told this week's F1 Report.
Alonso has said he wants to be the "best racing driver in the world" by becoming just the second driver to complete motorsport's Triple Crown of wins in the Monaco GP, Le Mans 24 Hours and Indy 500.
With only success in Monaco on his CV so far, Alonso has started focusing on the two other racing disciplines in addition to his McLaren F1 commitments. He made his oval-racing debut at this year's Indianapolis event, running impressively before retiring, and in 2018 is expected to join the field at Le Mans for the first time.
Alonso completes first Toyota test
WATCH: Fernando rates his rivals
Last week the Spaniard completed his first test in prototype machinery with Toyota in Bahrain, with team bosses left impressed by his performance.
Alonso's Triple Crown quest comes amid the longest period of his F1 career without a race win or podium, and a decade in which Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton have dominated.
"He clearly values how he will go down in history," says journalist and Sky F1 expert Hughes on the F1 Report.
"He recognises he's 36 years old and probably isn't going to win five world championships to be ahead of Seb so is going to have to put his mark down in history in some other way.
"He's absolutely of the stature of Hamilton or Vettel."
Although Alonso continues to be regarded as one of F1's current best drivers, and one of the most-talented of all time, he is now comfortably outstripped in the sport's record books for titles, wins and pole positions by Hamilton and Vettel.
The Spaniard's last race win came at Ferrari in 2013, while he won his two world titles over a decade ago.
Marc Priestley, who worked with Alonso at McLaren in 2007 during the Spaniard's brief but tumultuous first spell at the team, believes some career cul-de-sacs have cost the Spaniard plenty of further successes.
"If he made different decisions in his career he could have won 10 world championships," said Priestley.
"He got two at Renault and we now know that Red Bull offered him a deal - Christian Horner said that recently - and he could have been there during that four year run of titles."
Hughes added: "So the only way he can now put that right is come outside of that and say 'well, I'm going to win the Indy 500, the Le Mans 24 Hours and I'm a double world F1 champion'."
