Fernando Alonso says he has underperformed this season.

The Spaniard, who described his recent performance in Austin as "one of the best races of my career", today told reporters in Brazil that on the whole he feels he has underperformed this year, though given the equipment at his disposal who would blame him.

"I did some good laps here and there," he replied, when asked if there were any notable performances. "I remember Japan, Q2, I think that lap was at the limit.

"The whole Austin race was good in difficult conditions, wet, dry, dry tyres on a damp track," he continued. "There I felt confident with the car and able to push. Apart from these two moments I don't think that I have had the best season.

"Definitely I need to improve for next year," he admitted. "When you are running at the front you have more motivation, that helps of course. Currently I'm on standby, let's say, in economy mode. I will have more energy next year."

Whilst admitting that this year's problems have left him demotivated, he insists that this would not be an issue next year should the problems continue.

"Definitely it would be a frustrating year and it would be sad news because we have high hopes for next year," he said, "I really trust the team and believe we have the talented people and resources to do well. If we go to testing and we have a bad car, first it will be a surprise for me, it will be a disappointment for me. But I don't think it will be a problem, it will just be another year of learning and preparing for 2017.

"It will be sad to do that from the beginning, but it would be a surprise for me if we are not very, very competitive next year. We have everything, the car is responding well, aerodynamically we have the direction to go in, we are improving and I see when I am on the track how we attack the corners and how fast we are in the corners, so I am not afraid that next year's car will not be at the top level."

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