McLaren-Honda's troubled pre-season stretched into the first race of the season as double world champion Fernando Alonso retired from the Australian Grand Prix due to a suspension failure.
McLaren's woes with their Honda Power Unit have been well documented and although it is down on power compared to their rivals' engines, the retirement was down to the team and not engine supplier.
Until the point of retiring, the Spaniard had performed very well and had a strong showing in the car.
"It was probably the best race of my life until that moment," he said.
"Few times I've had such an uncompetitive car, without any winter preparation, having to save fuel in a brutal way – I think we had to lift about a second per lap – and even so we were in the points."
In an interview with Sky Sports, Alonso still took the opportunity to point out the performance deficit to their rivals.
"I think we are last."
"We were ten because the qualifying lap yesterday was extremely good, the start I was lucky to gain one position and Grosjean's retirement gave us the second one."
"But I think in normal conditions we should be last"
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Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
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