Fernando Alonso is still convinced McLaren can aim for the championship in 2017 despite failing to record a podium so far this season.?McLaren and Honda have shown vast improvement from 2015, when the Japanese manufacturer joined the V6 turbo era a year behind Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault. The team has become a regular fixture in Q3 and has already surpassed its 2015 points tally, though top ten finishes have not been consistent.?With a significant regulation change to come next season Alonso is happy to wait for future success.Next year we want to win the world championship, Alonso said in an interview with Autosprint. It may sound strange being where we are, but the goal is that. I would like to be ahead more often, but now the situation is what it is. I take it as a maturing project -- waiting for better times.Last year was very difficult, it was painful -- because we had problems at tracks that probably could have been solved with testing. This year we see that things have improved.We may be the team that has improved the most in the last 12 months. The problem is that the other manufacturers have been working for 36 months and is not easy to regain the lead in half the time.We have achieved reliability, but we still lack performance. That will come next year. And Im sure the time will come when we will be best of all.Ahead of the season Yusuke Hasegawa replaced Yasuhisa Arai as head of Hondas F1 project, while former Volkswagen Director of Motorsport Jost Capito is set to join as the teams F1 CEO after the summer break. Alonso says the changes being made are helping McLaren and Honda make up for lost time.Progress has come. The new boss Hasegawa comes directly from racing and is more open to new ideas -- and has a different philosophy. Things have improved, but we are aware that we are at least eight months behind on our planned objective. Plus there are still small mistakes we make on weekends -- like with strategies in qualifying or the race.Capito will have to get involved in those aspects, using the inspiration from his previous experiences in other categories. These small changes will help us progress quickly. David Bakhtiari Super Bowl Jersey . But by the time the game started, the Toronto Raptors forward felt even worse. And, for three quarters, it showed as Gay shot a woeful three-for-13 from the field. Clay Matthews Super Bowl Jersey . Francis told several hundred members of the European Olympic Committees that when sport "is considered only in economic terms and consequently for victory at every cost . http://www.shoptheofficialpackers.com/Elite-Billy-Turner-Packers-Jersey/ . -- For the first time in two months, an opponent was standing up to Alabama. Jimmy Graham Super Bowl Jersey . After Mondays hard-fought loss, the wait seemed longer than usual. Getting set to go their separate ways for a short Christmas break, the Raptors coach credited his team for their effort on a seemingly impossible three-game road trip, urging them to build on that success when they get back to work at the end of the week. Josh Jackson Super Bowl Jersey . - The Oakland Raiders re-signed offensive lineman Khalif Barnes on Friday. Kyle Edmund fell to world No. 3 Stan Wawrinka in the second round of the Shanghai Masters.Aiming for a major upset, Edmund instead succumbed 6-3 6-4 and had to settle for words of praise from his conqueror as his days reward.Wawrinka claimed the only break of the opening set in the eighth game, and then looked set to steam through the second after striking first for a 2-0 lead.But Edmund, the 21-year-old from Beverley in East Yorkshire, made a fight of the contest by reeling off the next three games, bringing the set back on serve and showing Wawrinka he would need to step up his game again.The US Open champion rose to the challenge in the ninth game, and then fended off three break points in the next to seal victory with a sliced backhand wiinner into the corner.dddddddddddd Edmund, at full stretch on the forehand, was unable to put the ball back into play.Wawrinka, who dismissed talk of him being a possible future world number one, said he had been wary about facing Edmund, who entered the worlds top 50 this week.I saw him play the last few days. This year Ive seen hes been playing rea