Work rewarded according to McLaren

The podium is not yet within reach but the feeling of progress remains in the clan McLaren- Honda after the Monaco Grand Prix. By taking advantage of favorable racing circumstances, Fernando Alonso managed to place his MP4-31 in fifth position at the checkered flag, his best result in 2016, notably having contained Nico Rosberg during the race.

If the result must be nuanced due to the very specific nature of the Principality circuit and the facts of the race, optimism reigns among the men of Eric boullier. “Even though we arrived with the hope of being a little more competitive here than our final result, we are happy today because we saw new evidence of development progress being made, and it is the result of important work carried out in both the UK and Japan. » appreciates McLaren's competition director.

Always optimistic in his remarks, Alonso reminds that McLaren still has to make a lot of effort to get back to the forefront. « We are heading in the right direction. We're still not where we want to be, which is at the front, fighting for wins and podiums, but I'm happy with the way things are going. »

In Woking to confirm this progress, on more conventional circuits. If Honda had made an engine upgrade for Alonso in the Principality, new and more significant improvements on the Japanese turbo/hybrid V6 are still expected during the season.

Find the full report and analysis of the Monaco Grand Prix, produced by our special correspondents in the Principality, in AUTO issue 2065hebdo, available from 22 p.m. this evening in digital version, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.