The McLaren-Honda team and its star drivers have not live up to expectations so far. But in testing this week at Silverstone, they showed they might be onto something that can up their game considerably.
The mid-season test session is currently under way at the famed British circuit, and on the first day Fernando Alonso posted the top time.
In fact his top time of 1:31.290 was not only a half-second quicker than he managed in qualifying for the British Grand Prix held there this past weekend, but was a solid second and a half ahead of the next fastest driver on the grid.
Mind you, with the exception of Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz Jr, Alonso was the only active F1 driver taking part in the session. Most of the other teams, as Autosport reports, used the opportunity to try out new test drivers. And Alonso was the only former champion taking part on Tuesday, recording more laps than anyone except Mercedes test driver Esteban Ocon, who posted the second-fastest time of the day. But with the other teams typically demonstrating better-performing packages, it’s still a bit of a surprise to see McLaren back at the top of the leader boards.
Finally, midway through the afternoon part of the starting light assembly hanging over the home straight blew off and crashed down on the track below. The incident prompted officials to red-flag the session, though no one was hurt and the wooden plank fell on the side of the track and off the racing line.
Photo Gallery
