Real progress at McLaren for Alonso

Despite heavy penalties for changing the Power Unit, forcing him to start from the back of the grid, Fernando Alonso concluded the Belgian Spa-Francorchamps event in 7th place. The pilot McLaren benefited greatly from the intervention of the safety car and the interruption of the race caused by the violent exit from the track of Kevin Magnussen to move up the hierarchy, rising for a time to fourth position.

Encouraging results according to the former pilot Ferrari, who admitted earlier in the weekend to keep all his confidence in Honda, despite the problems encountered on the Japanese engine block.

“It was an exciting race to compete in and I had a good feeling throughout the event, comments Alonso. We had good pace this weekend and we did better than expected on this track. We were in the top 10 with Jenson yesterday in qualifying, and we scored points today.

Granted, we couldn't hold off Lewis, Sergio (Pérez) or Sebastian, because they were just too fast, but we had enough pace to stay ahead Valtteri Bottas »

A result which also allows the Woking team to now take the advantage in the championship over Toro Rosso. The Spaniard does not intend to stop there. “I think we can be in the points regularly from now on. So, to summarize, we have seen evidence of very good progress. We are heading in the right direction, that’s for sure. »

Find the full report and analysis of the Belgian Grand Prix, produced by our special correspondents at Spa-Francorchamps, in AUTO issue 2078hebdo, available this evening in digital version, and this Wednesday on newsstands.