McLaren 'years away' from title challenge - Brown

"That's the goal but it's not a prediction.' Brown said Fernando Alonso had been consulted on the changes to the team's management structure and is confident the Spaniard will extend his stay with McLaren beyond this season when his current contract expires - be that in F1 or IndyCar should McLaren enter the American series full-time in 2019 as part of Alonso's bid to win the final leg of motorsport's 'triple crown" at the Indianapolis 500.

Zak Brown says that "pressure" on McLaren led to the departure of team boss Eric Boullier. And even-though Alonso is pleased with his own performance he knows the team still have a lot to work on as they head towards the summer break.

McLaren announced the resignation of racing director Eric Boullier on Wednesday and the appointment of former Indianapolis 500 victor Gil de Ferran in a newly created role at the struggling Formula One team.

"So we have identified an area in which our vehicle this year is weaker than last year's auto".

"I was not consulted - I was informed about the changes and the new possibilities".

I deserved penalty for Hamilton clash - Raikkonen
But he surged back into contention and thanks to the safety auto being deployed on two occasions late on in the race surged into second place.

"Stoffel was also informed. We just drive cars". He likes the McLaren environment and he obviously believes in us because he had the chance to leave this year but chose to stay and I believe he wants to be here long term.

"Overall, I'm happy, but we know our limitations, which are the same as in France and Austria because the cars are still the same", added Alonso. The most important thing is to improve the auto and be more competitive.

"Some of the feedback or some of the input you may have with 18 years experience is different than other people who are quite young and quite new to the sport". I think everyone needs to recognise that. He seems to be caught in two minds as to continue with the Woking team for next season or not.

"What I see is we're too slow to react, we need to simplify things within the organisation and we need to operate like a race team". So there is always some good things that probably we do, off-track and on-track.

"We're in a pretty big fight for fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh - all the teams are very close there", said Brown. "I think today was without a doubt the best qualifying of the year, and the best weekend overall", Alonso told Spanish TV.