Alonso: McLaren ‘surprisingly competitive’ ahead of Mexican GP ‘sacrifice’

Fernando Alonso says he's been pleasantly surprised by McLaren-Honda’s pace during Friday practice ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix but is still expecting the race to be used as a glorified test ahead of bigger opportunities in the final two races of 2017.

The Spanish driver ended FP2 as the ‘best of the rest’ behind Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull just seventh-tenths of a second off of pace-setter Daniel Ricciardo having also impressed in the top ten in the morning session, but his hopes of a strong points finish at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez look unlikely give the 20-place grid penalty he is set to be slapped with due to engine element changes.

Alonso also fears he’ll be unable to make strong progress from the back of the grid due to Honda’s top speed deficit to its rivals – both he and Vandoorne were bottom of the speed trap efforts and almost 20kph off the top – but hopes the “sacrifices” made in Mexico can pay off in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.

“Today has been a very positive and productive Friday as we did a lot of laps, a lot of tests, and most of them gave us good feedback,” Alonso said. “We were only seven tenths away from the fastest time and two tenths from Bottas, so surprisingly competitive in both sessions on such a complicated circuit.

“We know it’s going to be a difficult race anyway, starting from the back, and with little chance of overtaking because of our top speed. We have to sacrifice this race in order to have a fresh engine in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.

“Some parts won’t stay in the car for tomorrow because we still lack a bit of information, they need to mature a bit and we’re basically gathering information for next year’s car.”

Alonso also fears he won’t be able to demonstrate his true pace in qualifying in order to purposely miss Q3 which means he will be able to pick what tyres he can start on – an advantage he missed out on in Japan in a similar situation enforced by engine grid penalties.

“We’ll have to decide what to do because in Japan, with penalties, we even got to Q3 and then had to start from the back on used tyres,” he said. “But if you decide not to do qualifying after Q1 is also a shame given the speed the car is showing.”