McLaren wants to remain optimistic before Sochi

The end of the season seems long for McLaren. The Woking team is fighting to maintain its 6th place in the Manufacturers' Championship while trying to resist the return of Racing Point Force India, which started from scratch in the middle of the year following its takeover.

Fernando Alonso nevertheless wants to maintain his optimism for his last Grands Prix by focusing in particular on his good race in Singapore where he took 7th place after suffering from several retirements.

“It seems like it’s been a while since our last trip to Russia as we raced here much earlier in the season last year. It’s even longer for me since I wasn’t able to start last year due to reliability problems (energy recovery system).”, remembered the double world champion.

“The last race was motivating for everyone, said the Asturian. It’s been a while since we’ve had at least one retirement this weekend. So it was positive to cross the finish line with both cars and we must do the same in every race. It was all the more satisfying as I had won points, even if we know that the next races will not be as favorable to us as the one in Singapore. »

Stoffel Vandoorne was not much more successful last year in Sochi since the Belgian had to start from the back of the grid following a Power Unit change to finish in an anonymous 14th position.

“Even though I had a disappointing qualifying in Singapore, we could see that our pace in the race was better. I know that I have to optimize my result on Saturday to improve on Sunday. In any case, I was comfortable behind the wheel and I think we can still do good things. Strategy and tire preservation will once again be very important in the race. In particular, we will have to work on managing the super soft tires on Friday.”, added the 2015 GP2 Series champion.