McLaren's "potential" is keeping Fernando Alonso's spirits up after he surprisingly missed out on Q3 in Australian GP qualifying.
The British team is hoping the decision to ditch Honda engines in favour of Renault can be a catalyst to jump back into contention for podiums and even race wins but currently they are unable to extract the best performance after cooling issues in testing.
Still to be behind both the Renault works team and the surprise package at Haas is a disappointment for McLaren, even if their lead driver is ignoring the current order.
"I think we have huge potential to unlock inside the car," he told Sky Sports.
"We still have some issues before we unlock everything so I think in the next coming races we can look forward to the season very optimistic."
After three years of trying to hang on to positions in the race though, Alonso, who will start 10th after Valtteri Bottas' gearbox penalty, is looking forward to trying to make some progress up the order.
"It's going to be a different race for us – more in attacking mode and it's going to be fun," he claimed. "Especially if it rains tomorrow, it's going to be amazing for the show."
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Teammate Stoffel Vandoorne starts one place behind his teammate and is also hopeful to make it back inside the top 10.
"We are in reasonable shape for tomorrow, we had some good long-run pace and hopefully we can get some points," said the Belgian.
"We're in that group with a few teams that are very, very close together. Hopefully, we can make a little bit of a difference in the race tomorrow."
