Fernando Alonso says McLaren-Honda would be racing at the back of the field in normal racing conditions, after retiring from the 2017 Australian Grand Prix.
The Spaniard put in a strong qualifying performance and lined up 12th on the grid, spending the majority of the race within the top 10, having profited from Romain Grosjean's exit.
A feisty battle in the closing stages with Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg dropped him back, before he retired due to floor damage.
Alonso believes he was only able to fight within the top 10 due to his qualifying performance, a good start and retirements.
“I think we are last,” he said afterwards, on where McLaren is. “That’s the performance we are now.”
“We were 10th because the qualifying lap yesterday was extremely good. At the start, I was lucky to gain one position and [Romain] Grosjean’s retirement gave us the second one.”
“So, I think in normal conditions on a normal circuit we should be last and before-last.”
Up to the point of him retiring, Alonso felt he was driving well and did not expect to be fighting so far up the field.
“It was feeling good, I think I was driving one of my best races so far,” he explained. “We were surprisingly in the points all the race long.”
“Also, we had to do a huge fuel-saving that was hurting us a lot but we were able to keep the position. So, as I said it was a surprise but at the end we didn’t finish and definitely we need to be more competitive very soon.”
Team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne finished 13th, as the final classified runner, after losing time due to a dashboard failure, which required a power-cycle at his pit stop.
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