Fernando Alonso insists he is happier with life at the back of the grid after rediscovering his motivation to succeed in Formula One.
The two-time world champion moved back to McLaren at the start of this season but, alongside team-mate Jenson Button, he has struggled in an uncompetitive and unreliable car.
Alonso has retired from the last three grands prix, the first time he has had such a run since his debut year in 2001, and has been slapped with a 25-place grid penalty for Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix as McLaren and Honda decided to change several components.
There was talk of Alonso going in search of a Mercedes drive for this year after leaving Ferrari as the Silver Arrows continue to dominant the sport - but he says he remains pleased with his choice of team despite the ongoing trials and tribulations, pointing to Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel's demeanour after the trio took the top three places for the race.
"I don't have any regrets because I'm happy now," he said.
"I'm enjoying the weekends, I'm enjoying my job and I needed this motivation. I lost the motivation last year to be second or third for so many years with no real progress and without motivation it is very difficult to work and I have all that now.
"It is a little bit sad when you've not got the possibility to fight for podiums, wins or be in the points.
"We are working flat out to arrive that position as soon as possible. Even when I saw today to be honest, I saw Q3 and television unfortunately as normal now, I saw the top three in the press conference and they were very sad.
"They were angry. One (Hamilton) because he spins in turn one, one (Rosberg) because he spun in the last corner and the other one (Vettel) because he is third - I was in that position for five years."
Honda have found their return to F1 difficult and a poor qualifying display was played out in front of the company's new chief executive Takahiro Hachigo - who was present at a grand prix for the first time.
The Japanese manufacturer insist they remain committed to a long-term project alongside McLaren - and Alonso appears to be firmly on board.
"I'm enjoying the challenge of building this project from zero," he said.
"It is from the very bottom because we are not very competitive. But if we can achieve something important together this will be fantastic and would taste better."
Both Alonso and Button will start Sunday's race in the pit-lane after being hit with their 25-place penalties, with McLaren race director Eric Bouiller questioning the logic behind such reprimands.
"The rules are the same for everybody," he said.
"We have to take the penalties as everyone should take them. But when you go back a year and the introduction of the new engine and see the other manufacturers struggling after three years of development, we should as an F1 community, have rethought the rules at this stage.
"I think it was a bit too harsh, too ambitious to turn up with this tech and be reliable. We have to respect the rules but I find it sad for Formula One to have two world champions in Jenson and Fernando sat at the back of the grid."
Source: PA
