McLaren's Fernando Alonso believes he could have done 100 flying laps on fresh tyres and not bettered the effort which saw him qualify 14th for the Japanese Grand Prix.
Alonso progressed to Q2 for Honda's home grand prix but the McLaren driver finished over two seconds off Nico Rosberg's eventual pole time. McLaren continues to struggle in the first year of its partnership with Honda and Alonso thinks the fact he could only manage 14th with the "best lap" he's ever driven at Suzuka proves how far the team still has to come.
"I told the guys this is probably my best lap around here of my career so they could put 100 sets of tyres here for the afternoon and repeat the lap and I could probably not repeat the lap times," Alonso said. "It is frustrating, no doubt, but it is the situation and everyone is doing their best and working hard to improve the situation. It is not that we are relaxing or not giving the maximum effort - that's encouraging and we have to be patient."
Alonso was half a second away from making it into Q3 and admits there was even a slice of good fortune about him making it through to the middle session of the afternoon.
" I think to be in Q2 was already a little gift because I think the Saubers are quicker than us but they didn't complete a clean lap maybe. And then in Q2 the lap was very good so we're happy with the performance but frustrated to be that far from Q3."
McLaren suffered a double DNF at the Singapore Grand Prix, a race that was supposed to be its strongest of the season. The team used the limited running on Friday to focus on reliability and Alonso admits it will be a lift if the team can get both cars to the finish in front of the home crowd.
"That would be nice, especially for the home fans - to see the chequered flag and do a good race, that should be the minimum that we give them but it's not guaranteed.
"It will be tough, no doubt. I think there are people behind who are also faster - Verstappen and Sauber, probably, in the race situation - so it will be a tough race but we will do our best and hopefully have some miracles to get some points."