Alonso says McLaren are getting "closer to the top guys"

Fernando Alonso claims his team McLaren are getting "closer to the top guys".

The Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday was the Spaniard's 300th F1 appearance and Alonso is optimistic about the future.

Alonso's second spell with McLaren hasn't gone exactly gone to plan and he has struggled since returning in 2015.

The two-time world champion says that "it's better this way" when asked about having fewer race wins and titles than some of the legends of F1.

"I will not be happy if I have many trophies at home and people think that I don't deserve them," Alonso told Autosport.com.

"Obviously we had some opportunities missed, especially the last three years, with McLaren-Honda, didn't deliver the results we wanted.

"Right now we are in the right direction to go back to the winning path, but we'll see at the end of my career in F1 what we achieve and what we should achieve.

"But I'm happy and I feel very privileged on everything we did so far.

"There are drivers here that I race against that I see their talent and they have never even been on a podium. 

"I see my team-mate now (Stoffel Vandoorne), I see Nico (Hulkenberg), I see Carlos (Sainz Jr.) - talented drivers.

Alonso went on to speak about his second spell with McLaren:

"In terms of results, it's definitely not the ones we wanted," the Spanish international said.

"Now the direction is definitely the right one and we are getting closer and closer to the top guys, but there's still a long way to go."