Fernando Alonso says McLaren's performance at the low-power Hungaroring circuit will be key to assessing where the team stands going into the summer break.
McLaren is using a 'free' engine in Budapest as a result of the FIA granting new suppliers a fifth power unit in their debut season, something which has been retrospectively applied to Honda for 2015. It means Alonso will not incur a penalty for moving on to a new power unit this weekend.
Alonso wants the team to use the new engine to find some positive answers ahead of the four-week break, especially as Hungary's circuit is less dependent on power than recent races.
"It's a weekend that we need to get some answers, not only on the competitive side but in practice to try and maximise the performance," Alonso said. It's an interesting weekend for all of us - it's a circuit with completely different characteristics from Silverstone, Canada, [Austria].
"This will put us in a good test because we will know how competitive we can be on a circuit with a low power affect. It's interesting to see how the weekend goes, obviously we have a new engine we can take without a penalty so we will put it in the car and try to extend the mileage a little bit because we were quite limited."
When asked if there were any upgrades on his new engine, Alonso replied: "Not much, I think it's exactly the same spec as we've been running."
Despite finally scoring his first points of the season at Silverstone, Alonso thinks McLaren needs to guard against judging its progress in Hungary based on results alone.
"I think we need to remain calm because we are so far back that even if we make big improvements it will not be so obvious in terms of results, in terms of how competitive we can be. Definitely it can only get better because we are at the back of the grid and we need to improve the whole package.
"On the power unit side there is a lot of room to improve, on the aerodynamic side there is room to improve, mechanical side, reliability ... We've been facing a lot of problems, not only in the races but also in the free practice, so there are a lot of things we need to put in place."