At the season opening Australian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso scored the team's best finish since the 2016 Monaco Grand Prix with fifth, Alonso said that the team's target would be Red Bull Racing. McLaren had a relatively good start to the season with points finishes in the next four races, but in the next 16 races after Spain, McLaren only scored 22 points, 8 points less than in the same period in 2017. On 14 August 2018, Fernando Alonso announced he would not compete in Formula One in 2019, ending his four-year spell at the team. Carlos Sainz Jr. was signed as his replacement on a multi-year deal. On 3 September 2018, it was announced that Stoffel Vandoorne would be leaving the team at the end of the season, with Lando Norris being promoted from reserve driver to replace him in 2019. McLaren struggled with performance throughout the season, with the McLaren drivers being knocked out 21 times in the first qualifying session, and McLaren having the second worst average qualifying ranking of any team, only ahead of Williams. The team finished the disappointing season – after being helped by the exclusion of Force India's points from the first 12 races – in 6th place with 62 points, 357 points behind their target, Red Bull Racing, with the same engine.