Red Bull are the Target According to Alonso

After seasons of disappointment with Honda, a double points finish for McLaren feels like a win.

Fernando Alonso came home 5th at the Australian Grand Prix to put a winter of difficulty and years of hurt with Honda seemingly behind the team. Teammate Stoffel Vandoorne capped off a positive weekend for McLaren securing a double points scoring finish for the team with 9th place.

Although it could be argued that Alonso's eventual finishing position was aided greatly by the virtual safety car, the experienced Spaniard held off an unrelenting Max Verstappen in the dying stages of the race to secure his best finish since the 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Although many up and down the paddock believed that McLaren might have struggled in Melbourne, the 36-year-old told reporters that he felt the team could push on from this result in the coming races.

"It was more or less expected to be honest," he said.

"We knew we had a strong race pace and better than Qualifying. We capitalised on some of the problems that others had.

"We had attacks from Verstappen all the last 20 laps and we were able to defend.

"I'm happy, it was great work from the team, the integration of our power unit in two or three months and we redesigned some of the car last winter.

"Now we are here, both cars in the points, fifth place so happy and a good starting point.

"Definitely it is going to be better and better.

"There is a lot of potential in the car but still to be unlocked. It is the first race with this combination so a lot more to come and hopefully from Bahrain we will see another step forward and Red Bull will be the next target."