Fernando Alonso played down the significance of Pierre Gasly’s fourth-place finish at the Bahrain GP as Toro Rosso-Honda got one over McLaren.
The junior Red Bull team emerged as the midfield leaders over the weekend in the desert, as Gasly secured what would be fifth on the grid for Sunday’s race before taking advantage of retirements in front to score his first points in Formula 1.
It would also see the Japanese engine supplier achieve their best result since returning to the sport with McLaren in 2015, ending 48 seconds ahead of Alonso in seventh.
“It was great – but you didn’t ask about Toro Rosso in Australia,” the Spaniard retorted when asked about Toro Rosso’s performance by the BBC.
“Because, I mean, if the Toro Rosso question will become a normality, I hope it becomes a normality at all 21 races – because the championship is 21 races.”
While it’s true the Italian team had a difficult opening race of the season, there must be some worried and potentially red faces at McLaren at seeing the engine which they ditched for Renault so far up the road.
Stoffel Vandoorne was more respectful in his response to the same question though, adding: “[Honda] did their job well and took a big step forward. Now it’s up to us to catch them.”
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- Gasly revels in “unbelievable” fourth place in Bahrain
- Alonso wants McLaren improvement after Bahrain race recovery
After the race in front of their Bahraini backers, the Woking-based team has confirmed a slight change in the management structure with executive director Zak Brown now named CEO with Eric Boullier remaining racing director.
“The work of the past year at a corporate level has been focused on structuring and positioning McLaren for growth,” said Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa, McLaren Group Executive Chairman.
“These latest developments are a natural consequence of that work and are designed to bring greater simplicity and clarity to the structure and leadership of the group.”