Sainz: Alonso involvement will be a boost for McLaren

Carlos Sainz says he believes that having Fernando Alonso aid McLaren will be a boost to the team. Alonso will serve in an ambassadorial role, helping the team with the development of its 2019 and 2020 cars.

Although Alonso will get track time in the car at an as of yet unspecified date, Sainz says it will be a good thing that the two-time champion will provide insight and feedback to help the development of the car despite not racing full time in F1.

“I think I have enough experience to don’t do an in-season test and let it to Fernando. I’m not so worried about that.

“I think it’s a good thing to have Fernando on track on the car in a test just to have a good baseline and to compare it to last year. I’m not going to be in the hotel biting my nails over not being on track one day.”

Sainz also added that he had spoken with Alonso during testing as to how he can improve the feedback he is giving to help the development of the MCL34.

“We’ve been watching the cars out on track, we’ve been sharing some thoughts, trying to compare a bit the balance I had this year to the balance he had last year and starting to comment a bit on the car.

“I guess until he tries this year’s car it’s going to be difficult for me to actually try and build a conclusion on where we are and where we want to be.

“I’ve only done 100 laps in last year’s car and it’s not enough mileage to compare to see how much better or worse is this year’s car. I don’t know how many laps he did last year, 5 or 6,000, I don’t know, that will be easier to compare.”