McLaren were "best of the rest" in Hungary according to Fernando Alonso and are fighting in their own "mini-championship" behind the top three.
The Woking team has outscored Sauber, Manor, Renault, Haas, Toro Rosso and Williams over the last three races and have scored just one point less than Force India since the Austrian Grand Prix.
Last weekend Alonso and team-mate Jenson Button both made Q3 for the first time since reuniting with Honda and although Button retired from the race, Alonso started seventh, passed Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz before losing out to Kimi Raikkonen to finish in the same position he started.
"It's a pity we couldn't improve, but still I think we were best of the rest," said Alonso after the race.
"Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari are out of reach at the moment for everyone – they're on another level – so, in the other mini-championship, we were quite competitive and I feel we delivered the maximum we could.
"There wasn't much action in the race though. For us, it was a little bit of a boring afternoon at some points – not the usual Hungaroring show – and the only retirement, unfortunately, was Jenson."
Alonso is confident McLaren and Honda have turned a corner with good performances at both Silverstone and the Hungaroring – two very different circuits.
"I’m happy about how the weekend went and hopefully we can keep this up progress," he added. "We’ve been more or less competitive here and at Silverstone, on two very different circuits, so I’m looking forward to next weekend at Hockenheim."
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