Fernando Alonso acknowledges that this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix is expected to be a difficult one for his McLaren F1 Team, as the legendary Autodromo Nazionale Monza will expose all of the weaknesses that the MCL33 possesses.

The Spaniard has special memories of racing at Monza, particularly during his days racing with Scuderia Ferrari in front of their loyal Tifosi, but he expects this weekend to be as tough as last weekend was at Spa-Francorchamps, although he is hoping to avoid the kind of chaos that ensued on the opening lap when he was forced out following a crash instigated by Nico Hülkenberg.

Monza is amongst the fastest circuits on the Formula 1 calendar, and as a result Alonso expects to struggle, although he knows other tracks coming up will offer better opportunities for McLaren.

“Monza is a very special circuit for me and I have a lot of very happy memories there,” said Alonso.  “It has a different feeling to many tracks – maybe because of the heritage or the fans, I’m not sure, but the emotions you feel when the fans invade the track after the race is like nowhere else in the world – there’s so much passion there. 

“For us we know this weekend will be difficult, like in Spa. Better tracks are coming for us, that’s for sure, but Monza has all the characteristics that expose the weaknesses of our package. We just have to work as hard as possible and see what we can get out of it.”

With the races back-to-back, Alonso has praised his mechanics for getting the car ready this weekend and with enough spare parts following the large amount of damage the crash caused last weekend, and he insists he will be giving it his all this weekend to give them some kind of reward.

“After the accident in Spa last Sunday I know the team has been working very hard to make sure we have enough parts for this back-to-back race,” said Alonso.

“I’m very grateful for their efforts and I’ll still be giving it maximum attack even if it will be a challenging weekend.”