Alonso encouraged by progress despite penalties

By on Saturday, June 20, 2015
McLaren Honda

McLaren Honda

Fernando Alonso says he is encouraged by the improvements made by McLaren though concedes he is braced for a tough Austrian Grand Prix due to a series of penalties.

Alonso qualified in 15th position but was handed a 25 place drop due to McLaren changing several engine parts in his car, as well as his gearbox.

As a result, Alonso cannot serve his full sanction and must serve a drive through penalty in the first three laps of the race.

"The car felt good today – the new aero package means it feels more competitive in the corners," he said.

"It’s just a bit unfortunate that this is a high power-effect circuit, so we can’t maximise everything. Still, we’re moving in the right direction, which is very positive.

"We’ve had a lot of problems throughout free practice, so we definitely need to improve reliability, and we’ll have some extra penalties when the race starts.

"It's really a learning weekend for us – we’re running the cars in different configurations – but hopefully that will increase our learning.

"It’s going to be a difficult Grand Prix – a little bit painful – but hopefully we’ll get a lot of answers in the race tomorrow, and then use that data in the test next week."


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