Following his untimely exit in Singapore, McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team driver Fernando Alonso is looking forward to getting back in the drivers seat at the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix, but knows that even though conditions are similar to the last Grand Prix, the set up will not favour the team.
“After Singapore, I’m already eager to get back into the car and hopefully make it further than the first corner in Malaysia!” said Alonso. “Of course, what happened was disappointing and it’s difficult to hide your frustration when you’re the victim of someone else’s incident.
“I felt we had the potential to be really competitive – one of our only opportunities of the year – and it’s a shame we couldn’t bring home the points to prove it, but these things happen.
Looking ahead to the race Alonso is realistic about his opportunities this time out.
“The conditions in Malaysia will be very similar to Singapore – hot, humid and challenging for the drivers and the car. The configuration will work less in our favour, but of course we will still fight for everything. There are six races left and we are still putting all our energy in finishing every race in the best possible position we can.
“Sepang will be more difficult for us in terms of set-up since the straights require good straight-line speed and power, but this track is a mixture of a lot of different characteristics, so we’ll see how much we can make up on the slower-speed corners.
“The 2018 cars will definitely be faster through there, which will surely be fun to experience, and I hope we can avoid any drama and have a solid race.”
