From the outside, Fernando Alonso might be perceived as a man with more than a few regrets. Widely regarded as one of the most complete drivers on the grid, and one of the acknowledged great talents of his generation, the Asturian racer has two world titles to his name, and been in the title fight in 2007, 2010, 2012, and 2013.

Five years spent racing with Ferrari failed to produce the expected silverware, and Alonso's time with McLaren-Honda has been challenging to say the least. But despite the recent lack of trophies, over the course of an interview in the McLaren Brand Centre during the Monaco Grand Prix, Alonso revealed that the growing process of the past few years has provided a different sort of satisfaction.

"I switched to McLaren-Honda because I need this motivation and I need this challenge," he said. "In Ferrari I was getting the possibility to win races and to be on the podiums but never to win the Championship and I had a new challenge, which was this McLaren-Honda project.

"I knew the difficulties, but it's something that made me ... happy. It's made me a better driver, and a better person as well. You are working with different people and you are learning constantly different things. I think the philosophy in Ferrari and the philosophy in McLaren is quite different. Also, the Japanese culture is very, very different.

"So when you put everything together it's a learning process that we are in. Being in the middle of all of that is quite good for myself and for my career, in terms of character, in terms of driving as well, because you keep learning things. But also as a person."

Fernando Alonso cuts a much more philosophical figure now that he has changed his priorities. Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Still a competitive animal on track, in civvies Alonso has mellowed over the years, becoming increasingly philosophical, and revealing changed priorities. He is a man accepting of the path his life has taken, as he explained when asked if he regretted any of his career decisions.

"Not really. The decisions you make in the moment you made them, is because you think that is the best. It's not worth you know looking back and changing your decision, because when I made the move from Renault to McLaren it's because I needed that change. I was two times world champion, but the motivation was done.

"Then when I came back to Renault it was my choice -- I had the possibility to go to Red Bull. But Red Bull at that time was an energy drink, it was not a world championship team. No one has a crystal ball!

"I don't regret any decision, because at the time that I made the decisions, my heart told me to take the decisions and I'm happy with them you. I prefer to be a happy man than to have two more trophies in the home."

Fernando Alonso hopes to win his third world title at McLaren. Patrik Lundin/Sutton Images

And what of the future? No sporting career can last forever.

"Nothing clear yet. At the moment I want to keep driving, because it's my passion and it's probably the only thing that I'm sure that I know how do. There are other things, still to be discovered, that I am able to do in my life. But still driving will be the first priority. Formula One will be the priority, if next year the cars are enjoyable and I feel happy. If not, there will be other categories. I've said many times winning the 24 Hour Le Mans will be a nice target for me. And then we will see.

"In Spain I have also some projects with road safety and the circuit where I have a go kart school. Now we have around 100 kids from nine to eleven years old, so there is a lot of work to do there. I have a road safety programme that had 2,000 kids going through it in the last three months. So there are a lot of things going that will take my time and I will enjoy doing this kind of thing.

"On the personal side, having a family will be something nice. If I find a woman! That will be probably the biggest goal you know after I finish F1, the thing that I'm looking for. All my life has been behind a steering wheel. When my kids will be three, four, five years old I can teach [them] something in the cars and not in tennis or whatever because I have no idea.

"So it will be nice if I can give some advice to someone that I love. But on the other hand, it's a very demanding life so if in the future my kids love racing and they want to be Formula One drivers it's okay. But if not I will not be disappointed because I think this kind of life give you a lot but takes a lot off you. There are other ways of enjoying life apart from Formula One."