But the Spaniard remains a little undetermined when it comes to assessing his team’s performance level on a relative basis, while admitting that there is still more to come from Honda in terms of power unit development.
“We had two main issues last year: the performance and the reliability and at least the reliability I am happy with,” Alonso said.
“We cannot forget that last year we used 11 or 12 units to complete the championship, so that’s unacceptable for us. We had to redesign a little bit the power unit and I think the answers from the two weeks of testing are quite positive.”
While both Alonso and Jenson Button put the new MP4-31 through its paces and clocked some very encouraging lap times, the former isn’t sure where McLaren exactly stand in the pecking order on the performance front.
“In terms of performance, I am a bit on a standby because it’s difficult to read the time during the winter. It’s always changing.
“Some days some of the top times they seem reachable, some other days they seem unreachable. A little bit confused with the performance of everybody else and ourselves as well.”
In any case, McLaren-Honda remain a work in progress, an aspect Alonso is very much aware of.
“I think on the power unit, there is still potential to unlock in terms of performance and in terms of the following engine that will come.
“And then on the chassis side, there are many things to be tested. Some new concepts that we have in the car aerodynamically, some new redesign at the back end of the car that we keep studying and we keep understanding how to use that area to maximise the potential.
“So we wait for Australia, 5 o’clock. Everyone on track, same fuel load, same tyres for everybody and we get the answers.
