Fernando Alonso secured his and the McLaren-Honda team’s best result of the season so far with fifth place at the Monaco Grand Prix, and felt the progress the team are making as they strive for their first podium finish is promising.
The Spaniard felt it was tough to race in the wet at Monaco, especially after all the sessions before the race being held in dry conditions, with concentration everything so that he would be able to stay away from the unforgiving barriers.
Alonso knows the team are still working towards their ultimate goal of being a genuine front running team once more, but feels they are heading in the right direction with three points finishes in three races.
“In terms of driving and concentration, today’s was an extremely tough race,” revealed Alonso. “We started behind the Safety Car – with almost zero visibility – then switched to Inters; but nobody had done any laps on those tyres before the race, so it was unknown territory for everyone.
“Once we’d switched to dry-weather tyres, there was still only a very narrow dry line on the track, so if you went just half a centimetre off that line, you’d crash. There was just no room for mistakes today.
“Nonetheless, we got a good result – both cars in the points ought to make us reasonably happy. I think we’re progressing well: the results make it quite obvious what we’re achieving, so we’re heading in the right direction.
“We’re still not where we want to be – right at the front, fighting for wins and podiums – but I’m happy about how things are going.”
