Alonso: 'I Think We Should Be Optimistic'

McLaren’s Fernando Alonso believes his teams teething issues with the Renault engine are behind them.

McLaren switched to a Renault power unit at the end of last season after three poor years with Honda which led to them finishing ninth in last years constructors’ championship. But the new engine hasn’t been entirely successful with their drivers Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne completing less laps than anyone else in testing.

Alonso, however believes his team ‘should be optimistic’, saying:

“I think we had some reliability issues in testing but all of them are fixed now and the team did an amazing job in the past two or three weeks to have the car 100% for Australia.

“I think being in the points, being close to the top five, I think that will be the best thing we can do to start the season.”

McLaren, have not won a race since 2012, but the Spaniard believes the team should have ambitions in the constructors’ championship:

“I think top four is definitely a target for us and we know that Mercedes is a little bit ahead of everyone and is dominating the sport for the last four years,” said the former World Champion, who will also race for Toyota at the Le Mans 24 Hours in June.

“They are the big favourites again to start the new season. But then we have Red Bull, we have Ferrari and definitely McLaren has to the next team on that order.”