Alonso hopes for late-season Ferrari tussle

Although McLaren failed to score at the Italian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso feels there will be races later this season where they can fight Ferrari inside the top five.

McLaren left the Monza circuit without adding a single point to their tally with Alonso 14th to Jenson Button’s P12.

There was minor consolation for the Spaniard as he put in a late glory run on the supersofts to set the race’s fastest lap time.

It was the 22nd of Alonso’s career, his first since 2013 and Honda’s first fastest lap since the 1992 Portuguese Grand Prix.

Alonso, though, is confident that there is better to come for McLaren-Honda.

“We didn’t have the pace to be in the points,” he told Autosport.

“But we knew – we expected this coming here, so it was just a confirmation.

“From Singapore [next race] we should be in the points regularly with the performance of the car we have now.

“Some races, like Austin, Abu Dhabi, we can be in the top five fighting with Ferrari I hope.

“From Singapore onwards a different championship will start for us.

“The car seems quite competitive so we can be comfortably in the points.

“We know what we are doing, we know our weakness, we know the strong points of the car.

“There are some races coming now that should be good for us so we need to execute them perfectly and maximise the points.”