2018 McLaren will be Better: Alonso

F1 double world champion Fernando Alonso has said that he is likely to return to Daytona in the future. The Spaniard’s endurance sports car debut at the 24hrs of Daytona was nothing to write home about, but he feels “much better prepared” for Le Mans. Alonso said, “I can drive prototypes better than I could two weeks ago”. Coming to the subject of F1, he said that F1 remains his “number 1 priority” this year. He also said that the 2018 McLaren will be better and the team is “very confident”.

He said, “In recent years we have always hoped that the next season will be better, but these were just hopes. This time we also have facts”. He expressed a desire for McLaren to adopt an all orange livery in F1 this year. Last year, the British outfit unveiled an orange and black livery, after several hints of an orange livery were leaked.

When Alonso contested the Indy 500 in 2017, he raced in an all ‘papaya’ McLaren livery.  Speaking about his hopes for the 2018 livery, Alonso said: “I’m happy with any colour, but orange is part of the DNA of McLaren. So it would be nice if we saw an orange car like my Indycar.”

Alonso is competing in his seventeenth season of Formula 1 racing. Last weekend, he raced in the Daytona 24, finishing 38th overall. Unfortunately, his car encountered a number of issues.  He said, “It is a positive feeling despite the issues and reliability,” Alonso said. “It was a very nice experience the whole event. … The transition from night to day that was one of my stints was very nice to be on the track at that time. “I really enjoyed the traffic management [and] the car itself. The nicest thing was how competitive we felt.”