2019 McLaren will ‘definitely’ be more competitive – Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso is predicting an upturn in performance for his McLaren team next season, believing the team have learned their lessons during a difficult period.

Although Alonso won't get to race the MCL34 with his pending retirement, he's confident Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris will enjoy a more competitive season in 2019.

McLaren currently sits sixth in the standings – in part thanks to Force India's mid-season points reset – but it's a far cry from their championship hunting years.

The Spaniard revealed that the team have been focussing on next year since July and that the current issues are now better understood.

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"It’s a private thing in the team," he said of where they believe they've gone wrong, "but definitely we took some directions in this project that were not giving the results we expected," Alonso told the official F1 website.

"Some compromises were made in the car for a lot of hopes on performance. They were not coming, so we only took the downside of those decisions. So next year should be much better and the lesson is taken.

"I think the car is definitely going to be more competitive. From July, we’ve been testing experimental parts [for] next year. I think there’s a lot of optimism in the team with the direction the car took in the last couple of months. We understood our problems."

Alonso won't get to drive the MCL34, instead the two-time champion will continue to compete in the World Endurance Championship whilst also taking a second stab at the Indy 500 with a McLaren-backed entry.

He sits tenth in the F1 standings with just one race remaining, with Haas' Kevin Magnussen five points ahead in ninth and Force India's Esteban Ocon just one point adrift in 11th.