Fernando Alonso says McLaren endured a painful weekend after finishing 13th in the Belgian Grand Prix.
Honda updated its power unit ahead of the race at Spa-Francorchamps, with motorsport boss Yasuhisa Arai predicting it would result in a "big step" forward. However, McLaren was keen to play down its chances of a good result having opted to take a number of power unit penalties.
Having been uncompetitive all weekend and finished the race a lap down in 13th place, Alonso admits it was a difficult race to enjoy.
"It was unfortunately not a very interesting race in terms of fighting other cars," Alonso said. "But we did finish the cars and hopefully we got some information. But yeah – painful weekend."
And Alonso says he is preparing himself for a similarly difficult time at the Italian Grand Prix in two weeks.
"We were not competitive. We did a good start from P20 to P13 – that was the only joy probably, the first lap and the start. After that we dropped to our natural position and kept running there.
"Monza will be quite difficult, a tough weekend, but there will come some better races and we must maximise these opportunities."
Click here for Sunday's gallery of the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.
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