Alonso surprised by McLaren performance "in some areas"

After visiting his former team McLaren at the pre-season testing in Barcelona, Fernando Alonso has said the team is "surprisingly good" in some area's of the new MCL34, even though the Spaniard himself never had a competitive car in last stint at McLaren.

Although he said he might return to F1 at some point, Alonso did say goodbye to the sport for the time being after the 2018 season. The two-time champion is dabbling in some other racing classes now, as he won the 24 Hours of Daytona earlier this year. He will also represent McLaren at the Indy 500 later this year, with the potential to complete his 'triple crown' there.

He still has contact with the Woking-based F1 team though, as he has taken on a test driver role. When visiting the team during pre-season, he was positively surprised by the package the team has put together for 2019.

“I think this week we confirmed the picture of the car so I think there are a couple of areas they need to revise and they need to keep developing to improve the performance,"  the 37-year-old told Motorsport.com. 

“Some others are surprisingly good so they are happy with the results and generally I think it has been a very positive two weeks. It is not perfect yet but the direction is the right one.”

With an entirely new line-up, McLaren are taking a slight risk, but Alonso thinks this is only a good thing.

“I think it’s a good combination of drivers and a good fit for the team as well because a lot of the team is new and young and coming from different teams as well.”