Fernando Alonso Pleased With McLaren’s Race At Sepang

Fernando Alonso has returned to the grid at last weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix after skipping the season-opening race as he restored his form and built up his strength from a concussion that he sustained in a pre-season test crash. The race didn’t turn out so good after Alonso was forced to retire due to an engine problem. Despite the mishap, the Spaniard is pleased with the progress that the team has made at Sepang International Circuit.

“This whole weekend has been better than I expected,” Alonso said via McLaren’s official website. “The main positive to take away from today is the fact that we were able to run with each other's cars. Jenson and I weren’t simply fighting with each other; that was the first step we needed to take, and we’ve taken it already.”

Starting at the 18th position, Alonso went up as high as the eight place closing in on Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat. However, Alonso’s debut for McLaren has ended after 21 laps when his MP4-30 struggled with DNF-ERS cooling problem.

According to the 33-year-old two-time world champion, the team will still have to look into what caused the problem that forced him into retirement. Alonso remains optimistic that the next race in China will be another “step forward” for McLaren.

Alonso’s teammate Jenson Button’s race was also cut short due to a turbo issue. Button, who started in the 17th pole, retired after 41 laps of the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Meanwhile, quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel won his maiden win for his new team Ferrari at the Malaysian Grand Prix, beating the ever-favourite outfit Silver Arrows. Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg took the second and third places at the podium, respectively.

Vettel started second at the Sepang International Circuit, but the German took advantage of the opportunity to take the lead from Hamilton, who was the defending champion, when the Briton pitted early on the race when the safety car appeared.

Vettel’s recent victory was his 40th title since the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix. It was also the first time that Mercedes had been defeated since the 2014 Belgian Grand Prix.

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