Fernando Alonso enjoyed his best performance since returning to McLaren in Bahrain but the two-time Formula One world champion insists the British manufacturer have a lot of work to do.

Spaniard Alonso finished 11th as Mercedes rival and reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton won the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday.

Alonso was a rare shining light for McLaren after team-mate Jenson Button failed to participate in the main race due to electrical problems that saw the Brit miss qualifying altogether as a result of car failure during practice on Friday.

McLaren have three weeks before F1 resumes for the Spanish Grand Prix on May 10 and Alonso is hoping to see some improvement heading into his home race.

“There are many things to be done and we have three important weeks now when we have to increase the performance, increase the reliability,” said Alonso.

“So I am optimistic for the future because the steps are going in the right direction, but a lot of things need to be done.

“It is feeling better, today we ran competitive, we finished ahead of Sauber and were fighting with Toro Rosso and Red Bull.

“So definitely a step forward, but have to put many things in place and the next coming weeks are important to improve the performance.

“Spain is my home grand prix, Monaco is less power dependant, so there are interesting races coming for us. We just need to maintain focus and maximise those.”