Alonso on mid season upgrade backfire

Fernando Alonso scored 50 points in the 2018 season, but only six of those came after the summer break, courtesy of a seventh placed finish in Singapore.

The difference between McLaren’s car in the first half of the season compared to the second half of the season is clear – they were much slower compared to the rest of the grid after the summer break.

The car suffered from an aerodynamic problem that plagued the team throughout the year, and it wasn’t helped by upgrades in the middle of the season, which seemed to make the car even slower.

Alonso admitted that the team “took some directions in this project that were not giving the results we were expecting”.

The two-time champion retired from the sport at the end of 2018 and suffered one of the worst runs of his career towards the end of the season, failing to score any points in his last six races.

He added: “Some compromises were made in the car [but] a lot of hopes in performance were not coming. So, we only took the downside of those decisions.

“I think next year should be much better and the lesson is taken.”