Alonso feels that McLaren is "definitely moving forwards"

Fernando Alonso fully believes that McLaren-Honda is moving forward after a somewhat positive Austrian Grand Prix qualifying session. Alonso will start the race from P12, which, taking into account the severity of struggles Honda has endured this season, is quite a fine result.

Honda brought a 'spec 3' engine to Austria after encouraging testing in Baku. However, after the first two practice sessions, an MGU-H problem was detected in Alonso's unit, forcing him to revert to the old 'spec 2' design. Nevertheless, the Spaniard is happy with his day.

"I feel we did the maximum today – I'm happy with our laps, our result and our performance in general this weekend," said Alonso. "We had an unexpected change of engine, and I reverted back to the old spec today, so finishing P12 and feeling competitive all through quali was positive news.

"The team is working very hard to improve our situation: we bring aero updates to every race, we bring new engine specs whenever we can, and we're definitely moving forwards. We still need to improve our reliability, but hopefully we'll see further signs in the next couple of weeks."

Rain on the cards for Sunday

The weather forecast tomorrow shows the potential for rain, which could certainly spice up the action. Alonso is one of many hoping for a downpour before the race which could aid his chances of climbing up the order.

"From 12th place, with a good start or a good strategy, we could be in a position to score points. There's some possible rain forecast for tomorrow – if that turns out to be correct, it'll probably open up more opportunities for us, so we need to be ready to take them."

Fergal Walsh