McLaren hail Alonso off-track contribution

Alonso's strong performances in the first three races of the year mean he is now tied with Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton at the head of the title chase.

But despite being impressed with his efforts in the races, McLaren's F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh believe that it is Alonso's hard work away from the spotlight that has really made a difference this year.

"Fernando's performance is inevitably judged on what has happened on the three Sunday afternoons we have had so far this season, which sees him as joint leader of the drivers' championship," Whitmarsh told the official McLaren website.

"But the reality is his performance from a team perspective is also judged by how he contributes to the team, how he contributes to the technical development of the car, how he helps focus and motivate the organisation.

"He has been tremendously focused on working with the team and helping us to make improvements in what we do."

He added: "Whilst it is difficult to analytically quantify in the way that we seek to do with our engineering developments, there is no doubt that Fernando has made a very significant and worthwhile contribution to our programme.

"It is his honesty, clarity, sincerity. He happens to be an extremely nice human being, but one who is very focused and intent on winning races and world championships.

"It is the way that he goes about that. He quietly but insistently puts across his point of view, which has enormous credibility and credence within the team."

Whitmarsh also believes that Hamilton must take all of the credit for his sensational start to the campaign - which has seen him finish on the podium in all three races so far.

"With Lewis everyone is rightly proud of their achievements," explained Whitmarsh. "But in reality the primary credit for what has occurred lies with Lewis, who has been very dedicated, focused and calm in the way in which he has approached his debut.

"In many ways probably his start in Malaysia, the way in which he dealt with the pressure from Felipe Massa at the beginning of the race and then resist great pressure from Kimi Raikkonen at the end was a particular highlight."