Fernando Alonso is not expecting his McLaren-Honda to be suited to the Circuit Spa-Francorchamps at this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix, but is hoping he can still score some surprise points.
Spa was one of McLaren's weakest tracks last year as the inefficiencies of Honda's energy recovery system were laid bare. The McLarens were unable to deploy their ERS boost for the full length of Spa's straights, resulting in Alonso and teammate Jenson Button finishing a lap down with only the Manors for company.
This year Honda has made significant progress with the ERS elements of its power unit and Alonso is hoping it can exceed expectations as a result.
"You have to have a strong package at Spa, in terms of performance and reliability," he said. "More than 70 percent of the lap is spent at full throttle, which will be a challenge in itself, but we've shown over the past few races that, even on the circuits that statistically should be difficult for us, we've worked hard and surprised ourselves with our level of performance relative to our competitors.
"We're seeing good correlation between the data back at base and in the car on track, so I hope we can continue our momentum and get the maximum out of the weekend. This circuit is always a tough challenge for car and driver but if we can pull all the elements together we can enjoy a positive weekend. It won't be an easy race, but as always we'll be pushing for points as hard as we can."
Alonso is hoping to take advantage of any mistakes by rival teams in Belgium.
"I feel refreshed and raring to go, and ready to take on the incredible twists and turns of this legendary track. There's a lot to think about at this circuit: strategy, tyres, fuel, power unit management, and then there's the weather. This is the sort of circuit that always throws up something unpredictable and there's usually some drama during the race, so I hope we can fight hard and take advantage of any situation that comes our way."