By Alan Baldwin
LONDON, March 16 (Reuters) - After winning two world championships, finishing runner-up three times, celebrating 32 grand prix victories and making 97 podium appearances, Fernando Alonso still has unfinished business in Formula One.
The Spaniard, who will be 40 in July, is returning this season with Alpine -- the team that as Renault (PA:RENA) took him to titles in 2005 and 2006 -- in a comeback generating plenty of headlines.
Since he last raced for McLaren in 2018, Alonso has won the Le Mans 24 Hours for a second time with Toyota, competed in the Indianapolis 500 and finished 13th in the Dakar Rally.
He also won the World Endurance Championship in 2019 but, 20 years on from his debut with Minardi, still feels Formula One is where he needs to be.
"The main (reason) why I am here or came back was because I felt that I was at my best in the last couple of years... I felt that I was driving better than ever," Alonso said during last weekend's testing in Bahrain, which hosts the opening race on March 28.
"I had to make a decision on what was the next challenge after Le Mans, Indy, Dakar all the things that I tried.
"I thought that being at my best now, maybe Formula One was the place to be and I have time in the future to rethink some of the challenges that were not completed.
"That's the main thing. I felt I had something to do here again."
TOUGH YEARS
Alonso's last race win was with Ferrari (NYSE:RACE) in 2013, at the Spanish Grand Prix, and he has not stood on the podium since his last year with the Italian team in 2014.
Four tough years that followed with Honda-powered McLaren reaped fewer points in total than he scored in any of his five seasons with Ferrari.
Renault finished fifth last year but had three podium finishes with Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon and are looking to build on that.
"I don't fear any particular challenge," said Alonso, who will race with titanium plates in his upper jaw as a result of a road accident while cycling in Switzerland in February. are a couple of things that after being two years out I will have to re-learn a little bit and get used to but in terms of driving, or approaching the weekend and working with the team, I think it should be quite smooth.
"I was not two years at home, I was racing every weekend basically. It should be fine," added the Spaniard.
Team mate Ocon, 24, agreed with that: "He doesn't look like a 39-year-old and he doesn't drive like a 39-year-old.
"Trust me, he will be ready and he will be performing at top level."