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Alonso: Red Bull win motivation for McLaren.

11:18, 17 Apr 2018

bySam Bytheway

Fernando Alonso believes Red Bull's win in China can serve as inspiration for McLaren going into the rest of the season.

Red Bull’s win in China, was the Renault engine’s first win of the 2018 season, but Alonso believes the win puts pressure on his McLaren team.

McLaren, have yet to reach Q3 in 2018, although the Spaniard has scored points in all three races and is currently sixth in the drivers’ championship. McLaren’s race director Eric Boullier has said that McLaren’s 2018 car will arrive in Barcelona next month, suggesting the best is yet to come from McLaren.

"It showed us the potential of the power unit and it gives us good motivation that with this power unit we will be able to fight if we do a good job on the chassis side," the Spaniard said.

"We are not quite there yet. We need to close that gap and we need to work harder on the chassis side.

"We know that we have to improve, no doubts. We can't hide that. But at the same time we are doing our job on Sundays and scoring as many points as possible for the team.”

Alonso, believes his team has identified the issues and are developing on them, adding:

"We seem a little bit slow on the straights compared to the main competitors, so I think there is potential to develop the car in that direction and gain some free lap time. So let's hope to see some results."