Fernando Alonso has welcomed updated aero parts for his home event in Spain this weekend but has stressed that McLaren-Honda must first address its sub-standard reliability.
McLaren-Honda has struggled this season, with Alonso retiring from the opening three races before failing to start in Russia, while team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne has already begun taking engine-related grid drops.
The upcoming event will be Alonso’s last Formula 1 action for a month, with the Spaniard missing the following Monaco Grand Prix in order to contest the Indianapolis 500.
“After a run of difficult races for us, I’m not sure what we can expect from this weekend,” he said.
“We’re expecting some various new parts – which we bring to every race – but we can’t really focus too much on performance until we have solved our reliability issues. That’s always our focus.
“I know the team is working extremely hard to get to the bottom of our recent problems, and I am hopeful we can have a smooth race and a weekend with very few issues.
“For me, qualifying has been an exciting session in the past few races and I hope we can repeat that in Barcelona, but the most important thing will be to maximise whatever grid slot we achieve on Saturday, on race day.”
Team-mate Vandoorne is hopeful that both his and the team’s previous experience at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya will be of benefit this weekend.
“I know the circuit well from previous races I’ve done there and of course from pre-season testing, and we have a lot of useful data about the track and the way the car behaves there,” he said.
“Hopefully this will mean we can start the weekend on a positive note and have a smooth weekend.”
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