Fernando Alonso certain he will succeed at Ferrari

The Spaniard came close to capturing the crown in 2010, with only a costly strategic error in the final round in Abu Dhabi leaving the door open for Sebastian Vettel to triumph.

Last year, Ferrari failed to fully get on top of its blown diffuser development and, suffering from windtunnel calibration issues early on, the outfit only took one victory when Alonso triumphed in the British Grand Prix.

But despite the disappointments, which fall short of the ambitious targets that Alonso set when he joined Ferrari, the 30-year-old has insisted that he remains convinced title success is just around the corner.

In an exclusive interview with this week's AUTOSPORT magazine, Alonso said he had no worries over not winning a title since 2006, or Ferrari being without a crown since Kimi Raikkonen's triumph in 2007.

"I don't think about it too much," explained Alonso. "I know that I could have more championships, but you can't move forward by looking back - you need to look at the future and the present.

"I'm totally confident that this championship will come sooner rather than later, because I'm in the perfect team to do that.

"I have more motivation than ever, so it only needs time. Hopefully not many more years because, as you said, I'm 30 - and I don't know how many years I will be here. But at the moment I'm at the peak of my career, and I'm in the best team. I don't have any doubts that championships will arrive."

As well as having faith that Ferrari will be able to deliver him a car that is capable of fighting for the championship, Alonso believes that he is a much better prepared as a driver to make the most of opportunities that come his way.

"Now I am a much more complete driver," he said. "Maybe in a single lap or in a race situation it hasn't changed too much. But in overtaking manoeuvres, at the start, pitstop approach, or in mental preparation to the race, I think in 2005 and '06 I was much weaker than now."

For the full Fernando Alonso interview, where he reflects on his time in Formula 1, the 2011 season and his feelings on racing for Ferrari, see this week's AUTOSPORT magazine - available here