Alonso: Of course I am staying

Jenson Button has revealed the extraordinary lengths Ron Dennis and McLaren went to in their efforts to persuade him to stay in Formula One.

“As for the future, I don’t know if I’ll be racing in 2017 or 2018 but it looks very exciting, which is something the sport and the fans should be excited about”.

Alonso said also that his radio comments in Japan had not caused any problems within the team.

Honda are expected to change the architecture of their engine this winter, to facilitate a more efficient and effective installation of the turbo and ERS systems.

“I’m happy that it was only broadcast in Suzuka because if you hear all the races, all the radio messages – from me or from Jenson or from whatever – you will be even more surprised”. “Publicly… we have been very, very positive all the time”.

Having lost his temper on the radio at Suzuka, and telling reporters afterwards that he is not sure he will still be in F1 next year, Alonso insisted at Sochi that he will honour his contract to race in 2016 and 2017.

“There are a lot of good things to come over the winter, and you can definitely make good strides then”, said Button. “As long as we did it before next year that’s all that mattered”. “Therefore we will try not to take penalties at a race that’s important for us”.

Fernando Alonso says he is disappointed to be starting his landmark 250th grand prix in Russian Federation from the back of the grid after landing penalties for a Honda engine change, even if he says he is determined to enjoy himself regardless.

The two-time world champion has now moved to categorically confirm that he will remain with the team, despite only collecting points on two occasions during the season in Britain and in Hungary.

Because he has used more than the permitted five engines so far this season, that is a 10-place grid penalty in itself.

It comes as Alonso prepares to celebrate a quarter century of F1 starts in Sochi, 14 years after making his debut at the Australian Grand Prix with Minardi. Mechanically there are a few updates coming to improve the mechanical grip and reliability because we had a little bit too many retirements that we need to fix as well.