MELBOURNE, Australia -- Fernando Alonso knows McLaren won't be in the running for victory at this weekend's Australian Grand Prix, but says it "should" be fighting Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull by mid-season.
After three years of underperforming with Honda engines, McLaren switched to Renault power over the winter with the aim of returning to F1's winning circle. However, the results of pre-season testing suggest McLaren is only in the running to be the fourth best team at the first race this weekend, yet Alonso believes it will not be long before the former champions are back at the front of the field.
"I understand that we are not at the level of Mercedes now or the level of Red Bull or Ferrari -- or that's what we think after winter testing -- so we are not in that leading group yet," he said. "But we should be there in a couple of races time or in the second part of the championship or something, because we are McLaren so we should be there."
Referring to his championship challenge in an underperforming Ferrari in 2012, Alonso added: "We were not in that group then either and we were leading the championship in the last race so we will see what happens this year."
The two-time world champion is confident McLaren will unlock a big step in performance later in the year.
"This weekend will be our lowest level. We will be the team that will progress [the most] compared to other teams, just because the integration to a new power unit will require time. The chassis has been designed and the season programmed with many updates that will come very soon, in the first couple of races.
"What we see here is going to be important, yes, but we will be better and better. I expect the second half of the season, for example, a very strong McLaren."
But Alonso is no doubt that McLaren must start delivering results this year.
"Obviously it's an important season for us, with many changes on the team, especially on the power unit. It's time to get some results for the team after three difficult years. It's difficult to know where we are right now because winter testing is always only testing and we need to discover a little bit of things in the first few races."
"But we have a good baseline, a good car to work, we'll see. Expectations are always high because we are McLaren and we have to deliver better results than we did in the last year and this is the season to do that."
Rolex Australian Grand Prix Schedule on ESPN Networks (all times Eastern)
Thur., March 22
Practice 1 9 p.m. ESPN3
Friday, March 23
Practice 2 1 a.m. ESPN3
Practice 3 10 p.m. ESPNEWS
Sat., March 24
Qualifying 2 a.m. ESPN2
Sun., March 25
On the Grid 12:30 a.m. ESPN2
Race 1 a.m. ESPN2
Race (encore) 11 a.m. ESPN2
Race (encore) 1 p.m. ESPNEWS
Race (encore) 9 p.m. ESPNEWS