Alonso: “The car was fantastic”

If Fernando Alonso had not been in Australia last season due to his accident during private testing, McLaren was then in a very complicated situation since the team’s two drivers finished 17th and 18th.

This season, they once again grouped together for a run but a bit higher up on the grid, on the sixth line. If Fernando Alonso ultimately finished 12th, he was in 3rd position at the end of Q1. Nevertheless, to achieve such a performance, the Spaniard was forced to use a second set of super-softs, which clearly cost him in the next stage: « Since we used two sets of super-softs in Q1, where I finished 3rd, we could only do one stint in Q2. During my first stint, I felt competitive. I was 10th, running with the same tires and conditions as everyone else. I was only 1.2 seconds behind the Mercedes, which was a nice surprise. But then, I had to wait in the garage and watch the rest of the qualification, which is a bit sad. »

What the double world champion emphasizes more is the performance of his car, which he judged to be very good: « The car was fantastic today. I felt very comfortable, and I’m very happy with the car’s performance throughout the weekend. We didn’t expect to be fast here because our car is always limited in performance in certain areas. But we are more competitive than we expected. »

Similarly, Jenson Button is confident that his car will be even better in the race than in qualifying, which gives rise to hope: « The winter testing was good in terms of mileage but less so in terms of performance. So we were positively surprised to be so close to the Williams and the Force India. I think we even have a better race car than a qualifying car, which is the opposite of last year. Our strategy is as good as anyone’s, which will give us an advantage in the race. »

The message is therefore radically different compared to last year.