Fernando Alonso believes Singapore presents McLaren with a "real chance" of returning to the points following two difficult rounds for the team.
The team suffered a double DNF in Italy, whilst Alonso also retired from the Belgian Grand Prix with engine troubles, despite this, the team showed promising pace on two circuits which they identified as their toughest.
But Singapore's tight nature and lack of long straights means it should play to the strengths of the McLaren chassis and Honda power unit, which gives the Spaniard, who took a tactical engine penalty last time out to prepare for this weekend, some hope.
"We knew the double-header of Spa and Monza would be difficult for us, but three DNFs out of four was still really disappointing," noted Alonso. "Still, we showed better pace than we anticipated, even though we couldn't convert that into points.
"We’ve now put the European season behind us and we turn our attention to the fly-aways which signal the final chapter of the season.
"Singapore is a great place to start, as it’s one of the circuits on the calendar that suits our package better than others, and gives us a real chance for a more positive result."
Alonso is wary that reliability could yet again spoil the party however due to the demands the circuit places on the cars and engines in particular.
"It’s tough – hot and humid, and hard on the cars and drivers. It’s really fun though: bumpy, tight and challenging, but exhilarating when you get it right.
"You need a car with good traction on the slower corners and a high downforce set-up, so we definitely have a better chance there – we just need to make sure we also have the reliability."
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