Alonso sees a "clearer and brighter" future for McLaren

Fernando Alonso says that he sees a "clearer and brighter" future for McLaren after admitting that plenty of data collection this season is going towards the design of next year's car. McLaren has been left disappointed with the opening half of the season, as it currently sits in seventh place in the constructor's standings.

McLaren is racing with Renault power this year after spending three disastrous years with Honda. However, it has admitted that it has had issues with the design of the MCL33. Alonso says that the team is working very hard to uncover the problems, and is confident that much can be applied to make sure next year's challenger is more competitive. 

"We are working very hard and very deep into the weakness of the car,” said Alonso. "In Barcelona, we introduced a new package with a new front nose and different things and we recovered a little bit so we performed well in Barcelona and Monaco.

"But then we came back to our original problems and lack of performance. Now, after investing three or four Friday FP1s doing just aero development and aero understanding, we know that maybe we compromised the race weekend a little but we get a lot of information.

"Now we are at the point that we know exactly what to do. There are some fixes for this year but let’s say that 70% of the knowledge and the understanding of the car will be for next year’s project because it requires time - three or four months development and wind tunnel time etc - that is probably better to invest for next year.

"Sometimes it’s good to go very deep into the problems and down in performance to understand the car. So I see a much clearer and brighter future now with all the problems and all the understanding now."

Fergal Walsh