Double world champion Fernando Alonso has sent out a warning shot to McLaren to not get complacent in their push to break free of the midfield pack.
The Spaniard managed to secure a fifth-place finish in Melbourne after holding off Red Bull's Max Verstappen for the final half of the race, his best result since the 2016 United States Grand Prix.
While the result was partly down to some luck due to the double retirement of the Haas cars, Alonso claims the car felt good around the Albert Park circuit and believes there is a lot more performance to extract from the McLaren-Renault package moving forward.
After a tough round of pre-season testing where reliability appeared to be at a premium for the Woking-based team, the 36-year old is positive about the MCL33's potential and is aware the team are pushing hard to keep developments coming onto the car for the rest of the season.
"After a positive start to the season, I’m already really excited to head to Bahrain and get back in the car. Australia gave us a positive feeling and I hope we can continue that momentum as we head into these back-to-back races.
"I know the team are working hard back at the factory to push through the upgrades that are in the pipeline, as these, along with the development work we’re doing on the chassis and with the power unit, are what will be key to unlocking further performance from our car.
"We mustn’t get complacent – these two races in Bahrain and Shanghai are tough on the cars and it’s important that we maintain good reliability if we are to maximise our potential. The competition is very strong and we need to keep pushing forward for more points."
