Fernando Alonso believes McLaren will need a miracle to stand any chance of avoiding an embarrassing start to the new Formula One season.

The British team have arrived in Melbourne in crisis after a poor pre-season in which they encountered a number of reliability issues with their Honda engine.

McLaren completed fewer laps than any other team during eight days of testing, and they were off the pace, too, with their sluggish Honda engine significantly slower than its competitors.

Indeed there is every chance that double world champion Alonso, who has won 32 grands prix, and his new team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne - hired following Jenson Button's retirement - will be fighting at the back of the field this weekend.

"I'm sure the team worked very hard in the last couple of weeks to improve the situation and arrive a little bit more ready to compete here," Alonso said.

"But in Formula One there are no miracles in two weeks so I expect a difficult weekend."

McLaren are entering the third period of their 10-year deal with Japanese car manufacturer Honda - but their dire winter of testing has raised significant questions over the partnership's long-term future.

Alonso, 35, voiced his criticism of Honda earlier this month in Barcelona and, again on Thursday, stressed the need for improvement sooner rather than later.

"I'm not writing off anything," Alonso, who is out of contract with McLaren at the end of the year, said. "We are not here to wait for four races, six races, eight races to improve.

"We need to improve for tomorrow. If tomorrow is not going okay then we need to improve for Saturday. And if on Saturday we don't qualify in a good position we need to improve for Sunday.

"This is Formula One. It's not a charity match where we can have fun here and there. We have to compete.

"We have to beat our opponents and we need to be the best. This is what Formula One is about."

Alonso is widely considered to be one of the finest drivers of his generation, but his career has stalled after he left Ferrari to rejoin McLaren in 2015.

Indeed the Spaniard has a best-place finish of only fifth to show from the last two years and has not been on the podium in nearly 50 races.

And Lewis Hamilton, who clashed so spectacularly with Alonso in his debut year that the Spaniard quit McLaren after just one season, hopes his former rival is soon back in a competitive car.

"This guy needs a good car so he can get up there and fight with us as well before his time is up," said Hamilton, who was sitting alongside his former McLaren team-mate in the pre-race press conference in Melbourne on Thursday.

"We are yet to see the best of Fernando and I think the sport needs that and he deserves to be able to show that."

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