> Eddie Jordan: Alonso will need time

Former team boss Eddie Jordan believes that Fernando Alonso will not be able to achieve immediate success when he moves to McLaren next year.

Alonso became the youngest ever double title-winner in Brazil last month, while McLaren finished the season without a win for the first time since 1996.

Jordan believes it will take two years for Alonso and McLaren to become a championship-winning force.

“I have a feeling that McLaren needs Alonso more than Alonso needs McLaren right at this moment,” Jordan was quoted as saying by The Times.

“[McLaren team boss] Ron Dennis hasn't won a race for a year and a bit and that's very unusual.

“But you know, it takes time. It's a two-season job by the time Alonso gels into that team and gets his own people around him.

“It was exactly the same with Michael Schumacher. It was two seasons before he made any major impression with Ferrari and for Alonso I see the same situation.”

Asked what he thought Alonso’s motivation was in leaving the title-winning Renault squad, Jordan drew a parallel with Schumacher’s switch from Renault to Ferrari in 1996.

“If you track every world champion, Schumacher did the same,” he said.

“People said the same thing, ‘My God, how can Michael leave Benetton after two years?’ Then of course, he wanted to go, do his own thing and build his own team at Ferrari.”