Fernando Alonso is convinced success is on the horizon for McLaren on the day when he saw former team Ferrari return to glory . After missing the season-opening Australian Grand Prix as he recovered from a concussion sustained in a test crash , Alonso 's first outing on his return to the team ended in retirement after 21 laps of the Malaysian Grand Prix due to an ERS cooling issue . As Alonso spoke and delivered his verdict on the weekend when McLaren have at least made some progress , Sebastian Vettel was charging around in the background en route to his first win for 16 months . McLaren driver Fernando Alonso is all smiles in Malaysia despite not finishing the Grand Prix on Sunday . Alonso 's McLaren is wheeled into the garage after he was forced to retire from the Malaysian Grand Prix . The German is , of course , Alonso 's replacement at Ferrari as the 33-year-old opted to quit the Maranallo marque after five years without success of trying to claim a third title . What must Alonso have thought later when he saw Vettel stand on the top step of the podium , the first time a Ferrari driver had done so since the Spaniard himself in his home grand prix two years ago . Whatever Alonso 's thoughts , all he can do now is remain convinced McLaren 's early woes in conjunction with new power-unit supplier Honda will ultimately lead to the results he craves . It is a case of short-term pain for long-term gain as Alonso said : 'These reliability problems are normal . The Spaniard failed to finish the race on Sunday , managing just 21 laps at the Malaysian Grand Prix . 'What you normally find in winter testing , we have to find in the first couple of races unfortunately . We need to accept maybe some retirements and we are ready to do so . 'Definitely it has been a very nice weekend and a very nice surprise to see the improvements from Australia to here . 'If we keep up this rate then we will enjoy success very soon . ' Overall , Alonso expressed 'mixed feelings ' as to how the weekend had unfolded , adding : ' I 'm happy to be back and very happy with the progress the team has made . Both McLaren 's failed to finish the race in Malaysia as they continue to struggle for form this F1 season . 'Watching the race on the TV in Australia , we were very far off - four seconds in the race and just one McLaren running alone at the back . 'Here we were much more competitive in qualifying , running with everyone in the race , which was a very nice surprise . 'But not finishing the race is never a nice feeling , so let 's see if we can improve next time . ' Team-mate Jenson Button retired on lap 42 with a turbo issue , leaving neither of the team 's cars classified for the first time since the 2006 United States Grand Prix . Â .
Both McLaren drivers forced to retire at Malaysian Grand Prix . Neither McLaren finished for the first time since the 2006 US Grand Prix . Fernando Alonso was called in by his team after 21 laps in Sepang . Jenson Button lasted double the time his Spanish team-mate did .