Alonso: Honda has no reliability and no power

Fernando Alonso believes McLaren's only problem is the Honda power unit after another day of limited running at pre-season testing on Wednesday.

Honda has faced reliability issues throughout pre-season so far, necessitating a number of power unit changes and hampering McLaren's ability to complete mileage. Alonso was only able to manage 46 laps on the second day of the final test, leaving him with a total of 147 laps so far this winter – two fewer than Mercedes managed on Wednesday alone – and the Spaniard says the only problem is the power unit at this stage.

"Well, the chassis side is difficult because we are not pushing probably the speed that the others are doing because of a lack of power," Alonso said. "The chassis, everything feels good; everything feels under control. The car is responding well to changes and everything is working fine. I'm happy with the balance, I'm happy with how I attack the corner. I'm enjoying driving this car, so I don't think that we are too far back in terms of chassis.

"We have only one problem: that is the power unit. There is no reliability and there is no power. I think we are 30 km/h down on every straight. When you are 30 km/h down on every straight, it is difficult also to have a feeling on the car. Everything feels good, but when you arrive to normal speed you don't know what is going to happen."

Alonso also described the oil system issue that hampered Honda on the opening day of pre-season testing as "amateur" but insists progress is being made.

"We are improving. Every lap we do we are improving the situation slowly. The oil tank was quite an amateur problem that we had that day and then from day one we keep unlocking a little bit the situation in terms of power and in terms of reliability.

"With more laps you discover other things – temperature in the rear caliper or bodywork that is not properly tight – things that normally you discover in day one or day two of winter testing. As we do 40 laps every day, we are in day two of testing and discovering those things. Nothing to worry for Australia, I guess, because the team will be ready to compete at a good level and the only question mark is how much power we will have."

Asked if he is able to take Turn 3 flat at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Alonso replied: "Oh yes. For us, it's not only Turn 3! For us nearly all the corners are flat."