Alonso happy, but 'still a lot of work to do'

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Fernando Alonso launched his Malaysia Grand Prix from the back of the grid thanks to a 45-place penalty but held nothing back in another great drive which brought him all the way up to P7.

The remarkable result, coupled with Jenson Button's own top 10 finish, further validated McLaren-Honda's finish although the Spanish driver insisted there was still a way to go to level with the top tier of the grid.

"Things went well today," Alonso said.

"I was a bit lucky with the last Virtual Safety Car because we could do the final tyre change without losing places.

"Also, at the start, I managed to avoid all the cars but I couldn’t see much because Rosberg was spinning and there was a lot of smoke. With all that going on we managed to gain quite a few positions during the first lap."

McLaren had split its tyre strategies but every stop was executed perfectly its crew.

"Our plan was very aggressive, as we were going to use all new sets of tyres we had saved in qualifying.

"But once we saw ourselves so high up we had a few doubts and started to think about doing something more traditional to end up in 9^th or 10^th place, which was already good for us.

"In the end we decided to go on the attack and everything went our way."

Still, Alonso offered a reminder that McLaren-Honda was still a work in progress with much improvement still necessary before aiming for an outright win.

"I’m happy but there’s still a lot of work to do. We keep improving but the six faster cars are still very far ahead.

"Seventh is the best we can hope for at the moment but we have to push all the time. Vettel and Hamilton hit trouble, I finished 7^th so that would have been 9^th in normal conditions.

"So there’s no reason to start ringing the church bells because of this result."

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Phillip van Osten

Motor racing was a backdrop from the outset in Phillip van Osten's life. Born in Southern California, Phillip grew up with the sights and sounds of fast cars thanks to his father, Dick van Osten, an editor and writer for Auto Speed and Sport and Motor Trend. Phillip's passion for racing grew even more when his family moved to Europe and he became acquainted with the extraordinary world of Grand Prix racing. He was an early contributor to the monthly French F1i Magazine, often providing a historic or business perspective on Formula 1's affairs. In 2012, he co-authored along with fellow journalist Pierre Van Vliet the English-language adaptation of a limited edition book devoted to the great Belgian driver Jacky Ickx. He also authored "The American Legacy in Formula 1", a book which recounts the trials and tribulations of American drivers in Grand Prix racing. Phillip is also a commentator for Belgian broadcaster Be.TV for the US Indycar series.