Fernando Alonso Pleased at McLaren’s 2019 Progress

Former McLaren driver Fernando Alonso has now been appointed as the Woking team’s ambassador. Recently, he was present during the second pre-season test to observe their progress in their second season with Renault power.

Needless to say, the results seem quite satisfactory for the Spaniard. According to his analysis, the 2019 beast is ‘surprisingly good’. The double world champion was forced to endure four miserable years at McLaren with uncompetitive engines.

Now, inspite of retiring from Formula One, he is still opting to remain associated with the tea and will test the 2019 car at some point.

“I think we are learning a lot,” Alonso said while speaking to the media. “Even last week I was in contact with the team and I was aware of the debriefs and all the small problems and issues that we were finding.”

“I think this week we confirmed the picture of the car so I think there are a couple of areas they need to revise and they need to keep developing to improve the performance.”

“Some others are surprisingly good so they are happy with the results and generally I think it has been a very positive two weeks. It is not perfect yet but the direction is the right one.”

As a member of McLaren, one of Alonso’s roles is to provide technical feedback and support to McLaren’s current crop of drivers. The veteran is of the opinion that Carlos Sainz Jr and Lando Norris are perfect for McLaren and will improve themselves as the season rolls on.

According to Alonso, compatriot Sainz has more experience than Norris due to his long tenure in Formula 1. The 37-year old is also aware of Lando Norris’ natural talent, however, Alonso further explained that it needs refining. But he is confident that with experience he will become stronger and stronger after his Grand Prix debut.

Fernando Alonso believes that his job is to ensure that they are both well prepared. In addition to that, Alonso will also act as the bridge between driver and engineer. This is likely because drivers  often ‘speak one language and the engineers they understand differently’.