Alonso: I thought about not racing.

Fernando Alonso is clearly still angry about the punishment meted out to him at Monza and admitted that he had considered not racing at Monza after being docked places on the grid.

Speaking to Radio Marca in his homeland, Alonso conceded that he had had misgivings about competing when penalised for what Ferrari claimed was an alleged block on Felipe Massa in qualifying but, having vented his disappointment at an impromptu press conference - where he said that F1 was 'no longer a sport' - he instead poured his frustration into a comeback drive ultimately thwarted by engine failure.

"The excuse they gave for penalising me was nonsense - so much so that even the Italian press admitted that it was not good for the sport," he explained. "I thought for a moment about not racing, but put that thought out of my head when I put the helmet on. I remained 100 per cent convinced that I could win the race, or at least continue adding points.

"Decisions may have gone against us, and in favour of others, but we have to forget what happened at Monza. I am convinced that we can still be champion. We have shown that we are still fast, and we continue to make progress with the engine, the tyres, and so on. Yes, the gap to Ferrari has changed in the last few races but I think we the last three races can go either way. If we succeed in two of them, we will be champions again."

While not agreeing with Renault team boss Flavio Briatore's comments that the championship was being affected by stewards' decisions, Alonso insisted that title rival Michael Schumacher should not be lauded as a great champion should he triumph.

Although he claimed that pitting himself against a driver of Schumacher's quality had been an honour and a challenge, Alonso was less appreciative of the German's often darker side, claiming that he was also the 'most unsporting' driver in F1 history.

"Michael is the driver with most punishments and unsporting behaviour in the history of F1," the Spaniard insisted, mindful of Schumacher's irrational past. "He is retiring with less honour than [Zinedine] Zidane."