MONZA, Italy -- Fernando Alonso says a repeat of his seventh position in Belgium is a long shot for the Italian Grand Prix.
Alonso qualified 13th for the Monza race as McLaren struggled on its weakest circuit of the year, one which exposes Honda's remaining deficiencies. Alonso claimed an impressive seventh from the back row of the grid at Spa but knows a repeat performance is unlikely this weekend.
Asked if seventh was too much of a target this weekend, he replied: "Yes, too far in Monza. It's very different and more tough for us. There are only six corners and the rest is long straights, so we cannot make up much time in the corners.
We will struggle in the race, but we knew that, so we will try to enjoy and do our own race and see the result in the end. If there are any points in our pocket at the end of the race it will be welcome and if not it will be a good learning because we have some good experimental parts on the car that need some good mileage."
Qualifying outside the top ten means Alonso has free reign when it comes to tyre choice and he admits starting on the hardest compound, the medium tyre, is a possibility to try and gain some positions with a long first stint.
"We will see. We have a good choice of tyres, so let's make that work."