Fernando Alonso hailed McLaren’s progress as ‘fantastic’ despite qualifying a lowly 18th for Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix. Alonso and team-mate Jenson Button will start from the penultimate row, and have only been spared the embarrassment of propping up the grid after Manor were permitted to start tomorrow’s race by the stewards despite Roberto Merhi qualifying outside the 107 per cent rule and Max Stevens failing to post a time. It is the second consecutive grand prix where the McLaren have been knocked out in the first phase of qualifying, but Alonso, back in the cockpit after he missed the season opener in Melbourne through injury, moved to praise the team’s improvement. Fernando Alonso posted a picture with Ron Dennis (right) and Eric Boullier (second left) on Saturday evening . Fernando Alonso failed to make it out of Q1 and will start from 18th position in Sunday's Malaysian GP . Alonso, back at the wheel of a F1 car, hailed McLaren's progress since the opening race of the season . ‘I'd say the progress we've made since Australia has been fantastic,', said Alonso. ‘We're much closer to the cars in front now but we're still under-performing and we still need to improve.' Alonso then posted a picture on Twitter of him dining out with Ron Dennis, the McLaren chairman, and team principal Eric Boullier. The snap comes after Alonso contradicted McLaren's version of events surrounding the mysterious testing crash which ruled him out of the race in Melbourne. ‘Our form today wasn't unexpected but I think our performance so far this weekend has maybe been better than I'd have anticipated before arriving here in Malaysia,' Alonso added. ‘However, the steps we're taking with the car show a lot of progress, so I'm optimistic that I won't be qualifying in Q1 for that much longer. ‘This isn't an ideal position from which to start the race, but I'm fully aware that McLaren-Honda is a long-term project. We want to beat Mercedes, and to do that you need time, and to be prepared to take your chances as they come.’ Jenson Button will start from 17th on the grid, one place ahead of his McLaren team-mate Alonso . The Briton, sporting a moustache in Malaysia, believes there are a 'lot of positives' McLaren can drawn from . Button, who qualified one place ahead of Alonso, echoed his team mate's sentiments and admitted that the speed at which McLaren have closed the gap on the cars in front was a good sign. ‘Before qualifying, I think we'd have hoped to be a bit closer to the cars in front of us, but this weekend has seen us take a massive step forward in performance,’ said the Briton, who finished last and two laps down on race winner Lewis Hamilton at the curtain raiser in Australia. ‘Also, I think our race pace and our consistency over a long run look like giving us a little extra. I'd like to think we could get closer to some of the cars in front tomorrow; that'll be something to look forward to. ‘There are a lot of positives to take from this weekend: we've made a big step forwards in terms of pace. There's more to come from the engine and the aero package but we know what to do.’
Fernando Alonso will start on the penultimate row for Sunday's race . He will be joined by McLaren team-mate Jenson Button who qualified 17th . It's the second straight race where McLaren have failed to make it out of Q1 . But Alonso hailed the British team's improvement since the season opener .