Fernando Alonso said it will be “tough” for McLaren to get into Q3 in Bahrain despite both cars ending Friday’s running inside the top 10.
Reaching the final phase of qualifying is “one of the targets” for the team this weekend, said Alonso.
“I think it’s possible. Some of the times we saw, maybe we can beat them if we have a perfect day tomorrow.”
Alonso ended the second practice session in ninth place, six-hundredths of a second slower than Nico Hulkenberg in seventh. But he expects to see a tougher challenge from the Haas drivers on Saturday.
“We need to be ready to see the Haas a little bit in front also,” said Alonso. “Today they are 12th and 16th, I don’t think that is very representative.
“I think it’s going to be tough tomorrow, we need to deliver, we need to make a perfect lap.”
Alonso had a disrupted Friday in Australia and was pleased to have a trouble-free run in both sessions this weekend.
“We completed the programme,” he said. “It’s always important especially in FP2 in the night session to do as many laps as possible, understand the tyres also.
“[There’s] a little bit of higher degradation than probably we were expecting so we need to take this into account for Sunday.”
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2018 F1 season
- F1 feared “death knell” for Drive to Survive after Ferrari and Mercedes snub
- McLaren staff told us we were “totally crazy” to take Honda engines in 2018 – Tost
- ‘It doesn’t matter if we start last’: How Red Bull’s junior team aided Honda’s leap forward
- Honda’s jet division helped F1 engineers solve power unit problem
- McLaren Racing losses rise after Honda split
