McLaren eyeing first points in Spain

Fernando Alonso missed out on the first points finish for the revived McLaren-Honda alliance in the Bahrain Grand Prix by less than four seconds.

With a significant upgrade both to the chassis and the engine package planned for Barcelona, this is expected enough to elevate the car's performance to the point where it can finish in the top 10.

"After finishing eleventh nearly on merit, if we have the increase of performance Honda promises for Barcelona then we should ideally be able to not be lapped anymore and to go for points," Boullier told AUTOSPORT.

"Our qualifying pace is still far from other ones, so Q2 should be the target and after finishing 11th in Bahrain, we want to finish in the points."

Boullier added that the car's performance in Bahrain was in line with expectations.

The straight-line speed deficit remains one of its main weaknesses, with the car 9.3mph down in the main speed trap in qualifying, and Honda F1 boss Yasuhisa Arai expects progress to be made on this in Spain.

"Obviously there is an engine-performance deficit in the straight-line and you can see the top speed is not there yet, but it is coming," said Arai.

"We made some progress this weekend and our relative pace was better, so it's better than previous races."

Alonso himself has described his home grand prix as a significant race for the team, and also expects to see an improvement both at Barcelona and the following race in Monaco.

"It's a big race for all of us," said Alonso.

"The Spanish Grand Prix is obviously my home grand prix and Monaco is special.

"It is less 'power-effective' in Monaco, so we could perform better there, so we have to be focused and united now.

"I think the good results are coming."