SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium -- Fernando Alonso has no doubt Honda is working flatout to resolve its issues, but says it is still too early to predict whether the Japanese manufacturer will produce a winning engine in time for the the start of next year.
Alonso is now in the third year of his McLaren return, but another slow start to the season for engine supplier Honda has left him off the pace with just ten points from ten races. His current contract is due to expire at the end of this year and is expected to make a decision on his future in the coming month.
Asked on Thursday at the Belgian Grand Prix if he still has faith in the Honda project, Alonso replied: "I've shown everyone and proved that I have faith in everything, I've been here three years with different situations. The first year was very difficult with a lot of problems, the second year with a good progress I think and a midfield car in most of the races.
"This year we started in quite a difficult situation again but now we start again to be in the midfield cars," he said. "From the first day to the last day, I always believe in the project and I always try to be positive and try to be optimistic, be close to the team and keep working, 24 hours a day.
"Everyone sometimes is even surprised [in my faith in the project], [Nico] Rosberg said I could not do what Fernando is doing, [Mark] Webber is surprised about why Fernando has not exploded! I always stay calm and try to work and believe in everyone's job.
"It's not that we are underperforming because a group of people wants to underperform. Everyone is doing their 100 per cent, sometimes we can do it, sometimes not, in short-term and middle-term, but I will try to always help the team."
Asked why he had not "exploded", Alonso added: "Because I will have no benefit if I do that. There is no benefit. If I explode and I gain one second in the next race because they work harder, I do it, but we are fast as we can. All the guys they are doing their maximum so I'm thankful for that but obviously we need more."
Yet Alonso remained elusive over his plans for next year, saying he will "think in September" about his options. He reiterated that performance would be the key factor in deciding whether he would remain at McLaren, but said it was still too early to predict whether Honda could deliver the necessary performance gains.
"I'm not the expert to know that, I don't have their ideas, I don't have their knowledge of developing the engine, all I know is that they are working day and night to improve the engine. But it's difficult to predict what is going to happen in six or seven months' time, how much you can improve. I'm sure they will do the best job possible and they will improve as much as they can."