Fernando Alonso hailed McLaren ’ s progress as ‘ fantastic ’ despite qualifying a lowly 18th for Sunday ’ s Malaysian Grand Prix . Alonso and team-mate Jenson Button will start from the penultimate row , and have only been spared the embarrassment of propping up the grid after Manor were permitted to start tomorrow ’ s race by the stewards despite Roberto Merhi qualifying outside the 107 per cent rule and Max Stevens failing to post a time . It is the second consecutive grand prix where the McLaren have been knocked out in the first phase of qualifying , but Alonso , back in the cockpit after he missed the season opener in Melbourne through injury , moved to praise the team ’ s improvement . Fernando Alonso posted a picture with Ron Dennis ( right ) and Eric Boullier ( second left ) on Saturday evening . Fernando Alonso failed to make it out of Q1 and will start from 18th position in Sunday 's Malaysian GP . Alonso , back at the wheel of a F1 car , hailed McLaren 's progress since the opening race of the season . ‘ I 'd say the progress we 've made since Australia has been fantastic , ' , said Alonso . ‘ We 're much closer to the cars in front now but we 're still under-performing and we still need to improve . ' Alonso then posted a picture on Twitter of him dining out with Ron Dennis , the McLaren chairman , and team principal Eric Boullier . The snap comes after Alonso contradicted McLaren 's version of events surrounding the mysterious testing crash which ruled him out of the race in Melbourne . ‘ Our form today was n't unexpected but I think our performance so far this weekend has maybe been better than I 'd have anticipated before arriving here in Malaysia , ' Alonso added . ‘ However , the steps we 're taking with the car show a lot of progress , so I 'm optimistic that I wo n't be qualifying in Q1 for that much longer . ‘ This is n't an ideal position from which to start the race , but I 'm fully aware that McLaren-Honda is a long-term project . We want to beat Mercedes , and to do that you need time , and to be prepared to take your chances as they come. ’ Jenson Button will start from 17th on the grid , one place ahead of his McLaren team-mate Alonso . The Briton , sporting a moustache in Malaysia , believes there are a 'lot of positives ' McLaren can drawn from . Button , who qualified one place ahead of Alonso , echoed his team mate 's sentiments and admitted that the speed at which McLaren have closed the gap on the cars in front was a good sign . ‘ Before qualifying , I think we 'd have hoped to be a bit closer to the cars in front of us , but this weekend has seen us take a massive step forward in performance , ’ said the Briton , who finished last and two laps down on race winner Lewis Hamilton at the curtain raiser in Australia . ‘ Also , I think our race pace and our consistency over a long run look like giving us a little extra . I 'd like to think we could get closer to some of the cars in front tomorrow ; that 'll be something to look forward to . ‘ There are a lot of positives to take from this weekend : we 've made a big step forwards in terms of pace . There 's more to come from the engine and the aero package but we know what to do . ’
Fernando Alonso will start on the penultimate row for Sunday 's race . He will be joined by McLaren team-mate Jenson Button who qualified 17th . It 's the second straight race where McLaren have failed to make it out of Q1 . Comment: