Alonso: McLaren has ‘real chance’ at Singapore

Fernando Alonso says McLaren-Honda must target points at the Singapore Grand Prix as it is expected to play to the strengths of the MCL32 package after a frustrating two races in Belgium and Italy.

The two-time Formula 1 world champion’s future remains uncertain given the delay on official confirmation of McLaren’s expected split from Honda and new deal with Renault as its power unit supplier, leaving Alonso to focus on the immediate challenge of the final third of the 2017 campaign.

The Spanish driver is hoping for a positive upturn in form for McLaren-Honda at Singapore after back-to-back retirements in Spa-Francorchamps and Monza but has refused to detail any specific targets as he hopes the team’s unreliability can be cured.

“We knew the double-header of Spa and Monza would be difficult for us, but three DNFs out of four was still really disappointing,” Alonso said. “Still, we showed better pace than we anticipated, even though we could convert that into points.

“We’ve now put the European season behind us and we turn our attention to the fly-aways which signal the final chapter of the season. Singapore is a great place to start, as it’s one of the circuits on the calendar that suits our package better than others, and gives us a real chance for a more positive result.

“At Singapore you need a car with good traction on the slower corners and a high downforce set-up, so we definitely have a better chance there – we just need to make sure we also have the reliability.”

Alonso's last race at a circuit fancied to suit the McLaren-Honda provided him with his best result of 2017 when he finished sixth in the Hungarian Grand Prix while also setting the fastest lap of the race.