Alonso pleased with reliability, targets performance

2016 F1 season

Posted on

| Written by

Fernando Alonso praised his McLaren team for improving the reliability of their car following his first run in testing today.

However the two-times world champion said there is more time to be found from the car after ending the day ninth on the times sheet.

Alonso racked up 119 laps. More pictures
“Most of the laps we did today were for aerodynamics studies and reliability studies,” Alonso explained, “brake temperatures, water temperatures, etc…”

“For a driver, these are things that are not very exciting, so I’m looking forward to doing some setup changes and running with different fuel levels to really enjoy the driving as well.”

“The first priority for the team this winter was to make sure we went through the problems we had last year and find some solutions,” he added, “and we’ve done this, at least on the reliability side.”

“I’m proud of the team and the job that everyone has done together on this car. I enjoyed today, but I think there is performance we need to unlock in the car.”

Alonso believes more gains will be found when the team has optimised the aerodynamic package on the MP4-31.

“On the aerodynamic side, there are a lot of parts that are quite new for us, so we need a little bit of time to mature the package, and the same on the power unit too,” he said. “or us, last year we learned a lot, and now with a completely new philosophy we still need a bit of time to understand everything and exploit its potential.”

2016 F1 season

Browse all 2016 F1 season articles

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

12 comments on “Alonso pleased with reliability, targets performance”

  1. So he’s staying?

    1. Well, the car didn’t try to kill him yet this year, that’s an improvement.

      1. You made me spill my coffee!

    2. until skyf1 are absolutely sure, we won’t know i guess.

  2. The problem is, they kinda have to make it work.

    They have kinda of put themselves in a position where they have no other option.

    The really sad thing is, another uncompetitive year might spell the end of Alonso’s F1 career. Can you imagine him being ok with another year at the back? I can not really.

    1. I don’t see either of their drivers staying unless McLaren manages to get itself in the upper-midfield zone by summer break.

  3. I think Fernandos saying “well so far it’s still in one piece – can we turn it up now so I can find out if it’s any faster”

  4. Nowhere has he mentioned any extra grunt from the PU. I really don’t think they can tune aero and PU to find those 2.5 seconds they’ve been missing.

    Honestly, it’s been massively disappointing to have 2 underwhelmed drivers, an unhappy team principal, and a fired engine head after the first 2 days of testing

    1. What felt more troubling was reading Boullier practically saying that in terms of chassis, drivers, and, well, everything Mclaren related, they are on target, as on the engine front, journalists should ask Honda. This translates to me as two sides that aren’t talking or aren’t communicating. That’s no way to create a complete package and impossible to respond to proper “teams” like Ferrari and Mercedes. That way Mclaren will underperform even compared to most costumer teams.

      1. Agree. It almost sounds like the blame game is about to start when Mclaren start to under perform again, and Boullier has already started pointing the finger at Honda again

  5. I don’t get the negativity, sure maybe we would all like to see McH blasting around with the Ferrari & Merc but their focus is primarily reliability at the moment, as far as I can see so far their times are within 0.3 – 0.6 secs of the Williams but I don’t see any comment that Williams are in trouble / poor / disappointing etc, in fact it they are still mentioned as potential podium material, given they have an established engine and a solid chassis then shouldn’t they be closer to Merc / Ferrari ? So with some upgrades to come next test and a steep learning curve to fine tune aero and driveability you could say that McH are in same league as Williams and therefore are actually stronger than we are all giving them credit for !

    1. These rumours that it has not improved enough have come from somewhere and no smoke without a Honda engine….sorry meant fire. Williams often test as they do on Fridays with loads of fuel and do not turn it up until it counts. McLaren have been no where near Williams for tears so safe to say they are no where near right now. However you never know look at 2011 turnaround from pre season until the 1st race.

Comments are closed.