Breaking news
Formula 1
Alonso says 70% of McLaren car work focused on 2019
Fernando Alonso says "70%" of the recent work on McLaren's troublesome Formula 1 car was focused on 2019 and it has only brought one proper upgrade so far in 2018.
Ben Anderson
Edited: Jul 26, 2018, 5:25 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
McLaren admitted during the British Grand Prix weekend the MCL33 has less downforce than its 2017 F1 car, and the team has been using recent Friday practice sessions to try experimental parts and trace the problem.
Alonso says McLaren now understands why its 2018 car is so compromised, but the fixes will take too long to implement so instead it will invest "70% of the knowledge and understanding of this car for next year's project".
"We are working very hard and very deep into the weakness of the car," Alonso said.
"After investing three or four Fridays, FP1s, just doing aero development and aero understanding, we know that maybe we compromise a little bit the race weekend and the performance in qualifying, but we get a lot of information on those Fridays and I think now we are in a point of 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 this car will be for next year's project, because it requires time – three or four months development and windtunnel 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 understanding [gained].
"I think we have a clear direction now, so that's the most important thing."
Alonso explained McLaren would "keep that approach" of using first free practice sessions in particular to develop its 2019 concepts, but hopes Friday in Hungary can be "a little bit more normal".
"We have some updates into this race and we will concentrate in validating those as well, not only the normal understanding of the car," Alonso added.
"Also we need to test the performance and the gains of the last parts, so hopefully we see some better results."
Although McLaren has conducted many experiments and brought new parts to try on its car recently, Alonso says McLaren's 2018 form has suffered because the package it added for May's Spanish GP remains the team's only major successful in-season upgrade.
"We had basically one upgrade this year, in Barcelona," Alonso said. "All the other races we brought small parts that were not significant performance.
"Some of those parts were experimental, some of those were negative not positive, so overall we only brought one update.
"We were between seventh and 10th in Australia at the beginning of the year, we came back from seventh to 10th in Barcelona, Monaco, and then we are going back, back.
"Hopefully this weekend will put us in this front part of this midfield group."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article McLaren replaces Vandoorne's chassis after two-race slump
Next article Hungarian GP: Thursday's press conference
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Ben Anderson
How Lauda won F1's closest ever title battle
Formula 1
Formula 1
How Lauda won F1's closest ever title battle
Testing the tiers of Porsche's motorsport ladder
Porsche
Porsche
Testing the tiers of Porsche's motorsport ladder
Track Test: Lamborghini Super Trofeo
General
General
Track Test: Lamborghini Super Trofeo
More from
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso doubles down on poor F1 driving standards: "We all know who we're talking about"
Formula 1
Formula 1
Mexican GP
19 h
Fernando Alonso doubles down on poor F1 driving standards: "We all know who we're talking about"
Herta endorses IndyCar’s international return with Barcelona while marveling at Palou’s dominance
IndyCar
IndyCar
Herta endorses IndyCar’s international return with Barcelona while marveling at Palou’s dominance
More from
McLaren
"Two steps forward, one step back" – Oscar Piastri explains the route out of McLaren's car woes
Formula 1
Formula 1
Mexican GP
15 h
"Two steps forward, one step back" – Oscar Piastri explains the route out of McLaren's car woes
Why McLaren gave team order to Oscar Piastri in F1 US GP
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
Why McLaren gave team order to Oscar Piastri in F1 US GP
Latest news
"Slippery as hell" – Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar explain the "extreme" challenge of Mexico
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
25 min
"Slippery as hell" – Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar explain the "extreme" challenge of Mexico
Pato O'Ward questions promoters in Mexico after IndyCar Barcelona race confirmation
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 35 min
Pato O'Ward questions promoters in Mexico after IndyCar Barcelona race confirmation
Sergio Perez praises Colton Herta impact - but has no say over 2027 Cadillac F1 team-mate choice
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
1 h
Sergio Perez praises Colton Herta impact - but has no say over 2027 Cadillac F1 team-mate choice
Why “ignorance is a superpower” for Kimi Antonelli, according to Daniel Ricciardo
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
2 h
Why “ignorance is a superpower” for Kimi Antonelli, according to Daniel Ricciardo
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe