Fernando Alonso had a feeling of satisfaction after optimising the mid-race Virtual Safety Car to finish fifth in Sunday’s Australian GP.
The Spaniard hadn’t appeared too bothered when he and teammate Stoffel Vandoorne just missed out on the top 10 shootout in qualifying and his confidence was rewarded as McLaren enjoyed a stronger race performance.
In a year when the double world champion is hoping to fight for victories at some stage, to hold off a late charge from a Red Bull following the demise of Haas only added to Alonso’s hopes for the future.
“It was more or less expected to be honest,” the 36-year-old said later. “We knew we had a strong race pace and better than qualifying and we capitalised on some of the problems that others had.
“We had attacks from Verstappen all the last 20 laps and we were able to defend.”
Given the lateness of the decision to switch to Renault engines for 2018 and the niggles which resulted in testing, Fernando also sees McLaren’s MCL33 as a work in progress.
“Now we are here, both cars in the points, fifth place so happy and a good starting point. Definitely, it is going to be better and better,” he said.
“There is a lot of potential in the car but still to be unlocked. It is the first race with this combination so a lot more to come and hopefully, from Bahrain we will see another step forward and Red Bull will be the next target.”