Fernando Alonso says he envisages a “much clearer and brighter future” for McLaren, as it bids to understand the weaknesses of its current package.
McLaren split from its long-term Honda partnership after several years of strife and aligned itself with Renault, as it sought to return to a competitive state.
But it has struggled with its MCL33 and holds only seventh in the Constructors’ Championship, having scored just eight points across the past six Grands Prix.
Alonso, though, believes work undertaken across recent events, primarily during practice, has given McLaren confidence that it can turn around its current predicament.
“I think we are working very hard and very deep into the weakness of the car,” he said.
“First we identified them in race three/race four. In Barcelona we introduced a new package with a new front nose and different things and we recovered a little bit the level.
“So we performed well in Barcelona and Monaco but then we came back to our original problems and lack of performance.
“I think now, after investing three or four Friday FP1s doing just aero development and aero understanding, we know that maybe we compromised the race weekend a little and the qualifying but we got a lot of information on those Fridays.
“I think now we are at the point that we know exactly what to do.
“There are some fixes for this year but let’s say that 70 per cent of the knowledge and the understanding of the car will be for next year’s project because it requires time – three or four months development and wind tunnel time etc – that is probably better to invest for next year.
“Sometimes it’s good to go very deep into the problems and down in performance to understand the car. So I see a much clearer and brighter future now with all the problems and all the understanding now.”
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