Alonso: Ferrari success may take time

"It's not that easy. Michael Schumacher himself needed five years to win after joining Ferrari," Alonso told Spanish radio Onda Cero in an interview.

"Formula 1 is not simply mathematics. We see the same in football and in other sports, where you see that a great team can lose in a small team's stadium.

"In F1 it's more or less the same, and theory is not everything. Then things on track must go well and you have to prove things."

The two-time world champion, joining Ferrari from Renault this year, also admitted it is not easy to tell who his main rivals will be next year, especially with no testing before next month.

"It's hard to pick the order," he added. "The two Mercedes drivers, the two McLaren drivers, maybe the two Red Bulls, and also my team-mate Massa are in theory the big favourites for the title, but there could be some surprises, like it happened last year with Brawn or Toyota, which started the championship very well.

"Even though we'll see in February's test, as of today there are four teams who are favourites and the good thing is that Ferrari is among them."

The Spanish driver insisted he and team-mate Felipe Massa are getting along just fine, despite their past spats.

"The memory of the Nurburgring race is just for those who few who will be looking for any kind of controversy," he said. "Surely there will be a start in which the two McLarens are too close to each other and then there will be a debate about Button and Hamilton having problems, and the same if Felipe and I have it, or Michael and Rosberg.

"That's the expectation created by a big team, with the all media attention it brings. There's not a problem, we are both prepared to help Ferrari."