On the Honda turf, nothing has really improved for Alonso and Button
The revival of the McLaren-Honda duo remains challenging: on Japanese soil, neither Alonso nor Button managed to bring in any points. Worse, Fernando Alonso was visibly frustrated with the sluggish performance of his engine. Ron Dennis had to personally step in to defuse the situation and clarify uncertainties about the future of his driver duo.
23 years later, the legendary partnership between the manufacturer McLaren and engine supplier Honda made its grand return at Suzuka. After iconic images like the Prost-Senna collision in 1989, history was resuming its course. But we were far from such a summit clash this weekend! As expected, the race was tough for Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button.
Fernando Alonso and his frustration of driving “a GP2 engine”
Ranked eleventh, the first mentioned deemed his team’s performance “embarrassing” at the end of the race.
One of the standout moments of this 2015 edition will undoubtedly be the double world champion’s complaint over the radio about his engine, comparing it to “a GP2 engine”. The image is uncompromising even in the home country of Honda!
The Spanish driver nevertheless finished the Grand Prix with a rather encouraging result considering the six retirements experienced this season. However, he did not hesitate to show all his frustration even once he got out of the car.
“Of course it is frustrating to be overtaken like that on the straights. In the corners, the other cars can brake late and make mistakes but still get closer!”
“The motor handicap we have is obvious! It’s terribly frustrating to drive like this,” he admitted to the journalists present in the interview area. He continued in a more positive tone, however: “Fortunately, both McLarens finished the race, we’ll improve our reliability, and we haven’t repeated our mistakes from Singapore.”
This more insistent tone may therefore seem like a subliminal message addressed to Honda’s top executives. But the Iberian apparently didn’t have such developed ideas: “I think they know the extent of the problem, there’s no need to send messages like this.”
Thus, even if Fernando Alonso shows great patience this season, this long-term work could simply end up tiring him and leading him to leave the world of Formula 1, a possibility that has notably been acknowledged by Flavio Briatore, the former manager of the Spanish star.
When questioned about such rumors of a possible departure from Formula 1, he added, however, that his intention is indeed to stay with McLaren-Honda next year. His hope is strong: “I still think that we are the only team capable of dominating Mercedes in the near future.”
A feeling shared by his teammate Jenson Button
At the same time, Jenson Button confirmed to journalists this noticeable speed gap between McLaren and its rivals.
“There is such a difference in top speed between the other cars and us, especially in long corners like the 130R and I think that simply shouldn’t happen! I was never able to defend myself against the drivers behind me, especially in the 130R. I really could have used an SOS button to keep the drivers behind me!”
For him, these speed differences can even harm race safety: “Sometimes there are differences of 40 km/h, which can even be dangerous for safety and cause accidents.”
The 2009 world champion finished this race in 16th position. The traffic was clearly unfavorable to him.
“The pace was good and I was able to catch up with Fernando Alonso on my last stint. But I was stuck behind Ericsson for a long time.”
In a beautiful journalistic comparison, he summarized the difficulties of his car as follows: “It’s like a samurai without his armor and sword!”
Ron Dennis plays the appeasement card and reveals tracks for the 2016 line-up…
Ron Dennis probably admitted that McLaren is experiencing one of the most negative seasons in its illustrious history.
Translate: Speaking on the BBC and addressing the rumors of fatigue from its two star drivers, the supreme chief of McLaren was nonetheless reassuring about the future of his two drivers: “Things are as simple as this: Jenson still has a two-year contract with us, Fernando has a three-year contract.”
However, our site revealed to you last Monday a possible departure of Button at the end of the season, as he is notably using a specific clause in his contract.
The great leader of the English team reportedly spoke with him on the sidelines this weekend. It seems that the 35-year-old veteran has been convinced to extend the adventure: “I told Jenson on Thursday that I had no intention of exercising the option (which would end his contract). In fact, I think he was very happy with this news.”
Finally, Ron Dennis addressed the criticisms made by Fernando Alonso during the race: “These remarks were not particularly constructive. He is a completely different person from 2007; nevertheless, he sometimes expresses his frustration in different ways. But I am not going to get angry with him for these comments. He was in the heat of the moment and certainly wanted to make his message heard by everyone.”
