Formula One - F1 - Monaco Grand Prix 2015 - Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo - 21/5/15. Fernando Alonso of McLaren during practice-Reuters

Montreal (Reuters): McLaren are confident their relationship with Fernando Alonso is not about to go into meltdown after the Spaniard made his frustration evident in Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix.

Those who predicted a bumpy ride, after the double world champion returned to the team he fell out with in a stormy 2007 season, will have heard the radio exchanges with some foreboding.

Until Sunday, despite failing to score a point for a team wrestling with a misfiring and underpowered Honda engine, Alonso had been relentlessly positive. But the mask slipped somewhat in Montreal.

Told to save fuel after just 24 of the 70 laps, he exclaimed: “I don’t want. I don’t want”. “Already I have big problems now. Driving with this, looking like amateur. So I race and then I concentrate on the fuel.”

The ‘amateur’ reference lit up social media but McLaren racing director Eric Boullier, no stranger to fire-fighting after his time at Lotus, played down the suggestion that the relationship was starting to fray.

“If we are still like this next year, yes of course I’m sure he is going to turn mad, but I don’t think he will,” the Frenchman told reporters.

“You guys see him regularly and you can see he is happy with the team, happy where he is now. He wants to win, he wants to race, he wants to compete, we know he’s a winner and we have the same agenda anyway.

“He told me the other day he was considering this year like his testing year just to be ready next year,” added Boullier.

“At least he doesn’t put himself into a corner or a situation where he would feel frustrated.”

McLaren are starting a new partnership with Honda, with whom they won a string of Formula One titles in the late 1980s, but the Japanese manufacturer has considerable ground to make up with the new V6 turbo hybrid power units.

Champions Mercedes, Ferrari and even troubled Renault are well down the road after more than a year with the new and highly complex engines.

Neither McLaren finished Sunday’s race after both cars suffered exhaust problems, with Jenson Button also missing out on qualifying while the team changed his power unit.

“There is a lot of work obviously to be done,” said Boullier.

“We always say we have a mountain to climb but it looks like it’s a very high mountain.”

Ferrari make a step up despite Canada setbacks

Ferrari Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany drives his car during the qualifying session of the Canadian F1 Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal - REUTERS

Ferrari failed to finish on the Formula One podium for the first time this season in Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix but still found positives in the performance.

Team principal Maurizio Arrivabene said it was clear an engine upgrade had delivered even if champions Mercedes dominated the race.

“If you look at the pace of Seb (Vettel) during the race, it’s quite clear we were there,” he told reporters. “So I think in terms of performance it’s fine.

“But when you get points but not the podium you cannot say you are satisfied.

Arrivabene said the upgrade had given the team “the positive answer that we were asking for” but circumstances had not allowed the sport’s oldest and most successful team to make the most of it at a circuit that rewards engine power.

“It’s a long way to go. We need to recognise that at the moment they (Mercedes) are stronger than us without thinking that we closed the gap so we can beat them every race,” added the Italian. “This is not realistic.

“But the answer that we got during this weekend, especially with the race of Seb, was quite good.”

Ferrari remain comfortably second in the constructors’ standings with 180 points to Mercedes’s 285. Mercedes-powered Williams are third on 104.

Vettel, a four times world champion with Red Bull, finished fifth after starting in 18th place because of power unit problems in qualifying and a five place penalty incurred for overtaking while red flags were waved in practice.

Kimi Raikkonen, who ended up fourth after starting third, finished 45.6 seconds adrift of winner and world champion Lewis Hamilton.

Vettel did well in fighting through back marker traffic and past Mercedes-powered rivals Force India and Lotus but Raikkonen hurt his chances with a spin that forced a change of strategy from one stop to two.

The Finn still set the fastest lap, however.

Mercedes motorsport director Toto Wolff, whose drivers finished one-two for the fourth time in seven races this season, said the setbacks had masked the gains Ferrari had made and warned against complacency.

“I think we must not under-estimate the (engine) upgrade they have brought because we have seen a very strong pace on the Friday,” said the Austrian.

“My assumption is that we haven’t seen the best of Ferrari. So let’s not under-estimate them. I think that they will bounce back strong in Austria (next week).”