Fernando Alonso believes McLaren can finish fourth in the Constructors’ Championship despite switching their focus to 2017 and the new changes to the regulations.
McLaren suffered their worst season in their history in 2015 finishing the ninth in the Constructors’ Championship with just 27 points. This season things are looking better, with back to back Q3 appearances from Alonso and 24 points in the bag already, both McLaren and Honda have come on leaps and bounds since the end of 2015.
“I think so. I think at some circuits we could be more competitive than others,” said Alonso.
“But it’s a different situation because next year the regulation change has some implications in terms of how much you develop this year’s cars.
“If we were in a normal situation we could keep improving and finish close to the top three teams.
“But next year’s regulations require a job to do, and all the teams will stop the development of this year’s cars and maybe we will get stuck at this performance level for the second part of the year.
“Let’s see, but what is clear we are growing, we are moving in the right direction, with a lot of things coming this year that will make us more and more competitive.
“If we want to beat Mercedes, which has been the main goal for me the last two years when I made some decisions, I’m in the right place and hopefully the right moment.”
“We need to combine these two things, and also for the team it’s important this year to finish as high as possible in the constructors’ championship.
“It’s not that you can stop completely this year, so we will try to do both things.
“We are a big a team and we are able to do both at the same time.”
