Fernando Alonso has the potential to rival the achievements of Michael Schumacher, but he may not want it badly enough – that is the opinion of esteemed former Formula One design guru Gary Anderson.

Anderson designed Jordan and Stewart's only grand prix-winning cars, and has a special interest in Schumacher's career having witnessed his very first Formula One test with Jordan 15 years ago. Now, he believes, reigning double world champion Alonso could go on to emulate the German's impressive feats.

“In a car that was probably not as quick as the Ferrari, Alonso kept his nose clean this year, simply got on with the job in hand, won the world championship and deservedly so,” Anderson said, speaking to Crash.net. “He has won two world championships in a row now and at an earlier age than Michael Schumacher. It will be interesting to see what he will go on to accomplish in the future.”

With Schumacher having now hung up his racing boots, Anderson said Alonso had become the new Formula One benchmark, but was confident the Spaniard would prove up to the task of picking up where the seven-time world champion had left off.

“He won the crown by beating Michael Schumacher, which was his biggest challenge,” the Irishman acknowledged. “Alonso won in 2005 when the Bridgestone-Ferrari combination wasn't really working very well. His big competition was Kimi Raikkonen in the McLaren. They were both very strong and won seven races apiece, but in a car that was not quite as quick as the McLaren Fernando kept his head and his poise and won the world championship.

“In 2006 Michael Schumacher came back again. The Ferrari-Bridgestone package was good this time, but again Alonso started the season well, kept his head and his cool and came out of it at the end after a lot of controversy. I think he needed to beat Michael Schumacher fair and square, and 2006 was when that happened.”

With those two titles now safely under his belt and his German rival out of the reckoning, Anderson said Alonso had the perfect opportunity ahead of him to stamp his authority on the sport in much the same way as Schumacher did.

“He is the man of the moment and I believe he could go on to achieve great things,” the former Brabham chief mechanic asserted. “It will obviously depend a lot on luck and the teams he goes to. He has changed to McLaren for 2007, which is a bit of an unknown as the team has gone through quite some upheaval with Adrian Newey leaving, but they look as if they are quite strong. The McLaren car I believe has the potential to be very good under next year's regulations regarding the tyres.

“I think the motivation of having Alonso there and his determination and commitment will be very strong, so I wouldn't be surprised to see Fernando nibbling at Michael's heels as far as results are concerned in the future. The only thing I'm not sure of is whether he wants it as a person. Of course he wants to win races and world championships, but I don't think he feels he has to be a ten-time world champion to beat Michael Schumacher. I think he just wants to be successful and then one day will simply say 'that's enough'.”