Alonso optimistic about Honda upgrades

As teams across the grid add nifty modifications to their cars ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, McLaren-Honda driver Fernando Alonso hopes that their upgrades will make the car more competitive.

The Spaniard, though, believes the car needs to be more reliable if they are to improve and compete at every race.

"As always, reliability is a priority first and foremost," Alonso explained.

"But I hope that the upgrades we'll test on Friday will see us continue to push race by race, and allow us to keep fighting towards the front alongside our rivals in the midfield," Alonso said.

"We're still learning a lot about our package as we visit each track, so it's useful that we already have a lot of data from testing there that we can use to understand its characteristics and how our car will react to them."

Going back to his home country, the two-time World Champion praised the support he gets every year at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and added that the track itself is one of the more challenging ones on the race calendar.

"I'm looking forward to going 'home' to Barcelona and race in my country in front of my home fans," he continued.

"The atmosphere there is always incredible for any Spanish driver, and I have some very special memories from my wins there in 2006 [with Renault] and 2013 [for Ferrari].

"It's notoriously difficult to overtake in Barcelona, so it's important to get a good start and stay out of trouble on the first lap. After that, it's a case of getting the strategy right, managing the tyre wear and maximising performance at the right times."