McLaren Honda
Fernando Alonso is sure that McLaren can move up the grid when Formula 1 action resumes at the Monaco Grand Prix on Saturday.
McLaren has pinpointed Monaco as a potentially strong race for the team due to the limited impact of the power unit, and has targeted getting both cars into Q3 and a points finish on Sunday.
However, Alonso was 12th quickest across Thursday's practice sessions, as Jenson Button crept into the top 10.
"We know this is a good opportunity for us in terms of circuit layout, so we perhaps expected to be a little more competitive in the sessions," he said.
"On the other hand, we need to stay calm – there’s a lot of potential in the car to be found by Saturday.
"The balance was not right: I had quite a bit of understeer so there’s definitely more lap-time to come from us.
"We’ll see the truth on Saturday, and I’m sure we’ll deliver when it matters."
Button echoed the comments made by team-mate Alonso regarding the pace of the MP4-31.
"There’s still a big gap to the cars at the front, but we’ll do our best in qualifying and I hope we’ll be more competitive," he explained.
