Fernando Alonso says he’s helping McLaren-Honda team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne by towing him down the long straights in order to maxi꧟mise his opportunity in qualifying, after the Belgian driver producܫed a similar feat for him at Spa.

During both free practice sessions at Monza the pair of McLaren-Honda drivers practiced towing, with Alonso allowing Vandoorne to run behind in his slipstream down the back straight, in order to give his team-mate an extra boost of straight-line spee꧂d to compensate for its lack of power from the Honda e🌟ngine.

Alonso is set to start from the back of the grid for the Italian Grand Prix, having picked up a ꦅ35-place grid position penalty for engine changes, which means he will sacrifice his qualifying in order to aid Vandoorne who can profit from a number of other drivers who also have grid penalties to serve.

“We were able to conduct som💎e useful towing practice ahead of tomorrow’s qualifying session,” Eric Boullier explained. “On a track so notoriously fast and power-hungry as Monza, we have to utilise every tool we have in our armoury tomorrow to give ourselves the be💎st chance on the grid for Sunday.

“There are other cars that will also be out of position due to penal☂ties, so it’s all to play for.”

Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz all have 𝓰grid penalties 🉐for the Monza race along with Alonso.