Next two months crucial: Alonso

Manama : Fernando Alonso says the next two months will be “crucial” for his McLaren team’s ambition to compete for podium positions this season.

The two-time world champion finished fifth in the Australian Grand Prix but McLaren are a long way from their ambition of matching Red Bull for pace.

Alonso said: “There is still a lot to improve to catch the top three teams [Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull].

“It’s quite a reasonable gap to close but it is up to us now.”

McLaren have switched to Renault engines, the same as Red Bull, this season after three years of poor performance and reliability with Honda, who now supply Toro Rosso.

Alonso said: “The next two months are crucial for us. If it is not a world championship fight, it will hopefully be some podium positions.

“It is probably the first time in the last three years it is up to us - the car has the potential.

“We had some ups and downs in [pre-season] testing and then in Australia it was the same thing and the qualifying was not smooth enough to show the potential. It was a good race, help from the safety car, but we take this fifth place and move on.

“It is up to the team to deliver the performance in the next four, five, six races.”

The Spaniard qualified 11th in Melbourne, where the McLaren appeared to be about 0.8 seconds a lap slower than the Red Bull, for whom Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo qualified fourth and
fifth.