Fernando Alonso believes title success in the near future is only possible with either Mercedes or McLaren, adding that he has no regrets about leaving Ferrari.
Alonso joined McLaren from Ferrari at the end of 2014, only for his arrival to coincide with a further dip in form for the British team as it partnered with Honda and a return to victories for the Italian outfit. This season McLaren has made incremental progress while Ferrari has recently slipped behind Red Bull as the best of the rest, but the two-time world champion has no doubt he is in the better of the two teams for his long-term title hopes.
"I was right. I was right because I felt I was right," he said. "In 2014 I made the decision and had two years more on my contract, but felt I was right to go. Whatever results they achieve in 2015 and 2016 or in the future, for me my time there was fantastic and I wanted to finish on that fantastic feeling. Every year was a little bit more stress because you are not winning and it seems that it is your fault.
"Now it is not a relief that they are not winning or having more problems, I don't wish any problems on Ferrari because it is a team that I will always have in my heart. But in terms of driving, how competitive I can be or my third world championship hopes, then you drive for Mercedes or McLaren-Honda. That is my opinion and the feeling from that decision."
Alonso has scored 26 points this season with a best result of fifth at the Monaco Grand Prix, but says results this year do not matter as McLaren prepares for a championship challenge under new regulations in 2017.
"We don't have an estimation and we don't think in that way, guessing which position we will be. We really don't care too much and we are just concentrating on being world champions. Being world champions requires a big improvement for next year and a lot of the efforts for this year are with a view to next year's car, so all the new parts that we are trying are being used in a way to understand what direction to go next year.
"The power unit will be a key factor for us and that is the main limitation we still have now. We need to understand and push for next year to have a power unit that is comparable to our opponents. So the priority is totally focused on 2017 in our heads. Definitely the 2016 car is still being developed at the same time, so we will bring new parts this year, but we don't know if those new parts will be enough to gain position or not, it's just more of an understanding thing."