Fernando Alonso believes McLaren can now aim for podium finishes, pointing to the team’s form in Australia, and his own past experience with Renault, having outlined the next two months as "crucial" to the team's 2018 hopes.
Alonso has not mounted the podium since the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix, when he drove for Ferrari, with his prospects from 2015-17 hampered by the abortive McLaren-Honda partnership.
Alonso finished the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in fifth place, having risen from 10th on the grid, equalling his best result since returning to McLaren, in the team’s first outing with Renault power.
While wary that his result was assisted by the Virtual Safety Car and the double retirement suffered by Haas, Alonso reckons McLaren is now in a position to contend for podiums, and must ensure it puts itself in places to grasp any opportunities that come its way.
“I think the next, let’s say, two months are crucial for our hopes in this year’s championship,” said Alonso.
“Hopefully we can keep improving the car, keep putting [on] the performance, and if it’s not a world championship fight we will hopefully have some podium positions in the year or regular top six, top five positions.
“In Australia [the] P5 [was partly] because of the VSC and the two Haas retirements, but maybe the P5 can become a normality, that’s something we need to discover and find out.
“It’s probably the first time in the last three years that it’s up to us now to deliver that result, so we will try to do our best.”
Expanding further on whether targeting a podium finish was a realistic proposition, Alonso said: “Yes. We were two places from that podium already in Australia, and [Daniel] Ricciardo and [Kimi] Raikkonen were very close in the last 10 laps.
“Anything can happen in a race, I won two races in 2008 with that ING Renault car.
“I was in the podium in 2009 with the introduction of KERS and with that car I think we were ninth in the championship or something.
“Anything can happen in F1 and if you are close to that position then sooner or later that opportunity will come and we will be there to take it, so it’s very possible to take it.”
Should Alonso and McLaren managed to grab a podium in 2018, it would mark a rare occurence in breaking the supremacy of Formula 1's top three teams – Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.
Since Sergio Perez took a rostrum for Force India in Azerbaijan in 2016, Lance Stroll's repeat of the feat for Williams last year represents the only time that a driver outside of the top three teams has taken a trophy.
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