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Alonso: Sochi will reveal true performance of McLaren

20:29, 27 Sep 2018

byBobby Vincent

Fernando Alonso believes Sochi will reveal the "true performance" of the MCL33, following a very disappointing season for the Woking-based side.

McLaren had a change of engine producer from Honda to Renault this season, and big things were expected of the British side this season - but in fact, the opposite has happened.

Reliability issues, tactical mistakes and the sheer lack of power have helped the downfall of the team.

Alonso, who is retiring at the end of the season, is expecting a tough weekend for McLaren in Russia - and believes the team's performance at Sochi will be a fair indication of where they are in the midfield battle.

"In a way, it's a weekend to prove our true performance," Alonso said. "I think we've been in quite extreme circuits lately, Spa and Monza probably the two weak circuits of our package.

"Maybe Singapore was one of the best for our package. We know the circuit and we adapt quite quickly there. I think we could be somewhere in the middle of this performance on a normal circuit, but at the same time we've been introducing some new pieces in the car aerodynamically in the last two or three grands prix, which would be a good place to confirm if we're in the right direction."