Fernando Alonso says he's been pleasantly surprised by McLaren-Ho𒅌nda’s pace during Friday practice ahead of the Mexican Gra🅠nd Prix but is still expecting the race to be used as a glorified test ahead of bigger opportunities in the final two races of 2017.

The Spanish driver ended FP2 as the ‘best of the rest’ behind Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bu𓃲ll just seventh-tenths of a second off of pace-se🙈tter Daniel Ricciardo having also impressed in the top ten in the morning session, but his hopes of a strong points finish at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez look unlikely give the 20-place grid penalty he is set to be slapped with due to engine element changes.

Alonso also fears he’ll be una𒅌ble to make strong progress from the 🦋back of the grid due to Honda’s top speed deficit to its rivals – both he and Vandoorne were bottom of the speed trap efforts and almost 20kph off the top – but hopes the “sacrifices” made in Mexico can pay off in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.

“Today has been a very positive and productive Friday as we did a lot of laps, a lot of tests, and most of theꦫm gave us good feedback,” Alonso said. “We were only seven tenths away from the fastest time and two tenths from Bottas, so surp🧸risingly competitive in both sessions on such a complicated circuit.

“We know it’s going to be a difficult race anyway, starting from the back, and with little chance of overtaking be♍cause of our top speed. We have to sacrifice this race in order to have a fr🌟esh engine in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.

“Some parts won’t stay in the car for tomorrow because we still lack a ಌbit of information, they need to mature🔴 a bit and we’re basically gathering information for next year’s car.”

Alonso also fears he won’t be able to demonstrate his true pace in qualifying in order to purposely miss Q3 which means he will be able to pick what tyres he can start on – an advantage he missed out on in Japan in a similar situation enforced by engine grid penalt🌸ies.

“We’ll have to decide what to do because in Japan, with penalties, we even got to Q3 and then had to start from the back on used tyres,” he said. “But if you dec🍸ide not to do qualifying after Q1 is also a sha𓃲me given the speed the car is showing.”