McLaren-Honda: Alonso thought he was driving in a lower class
The Canadian Grand Prix turned into a debacle for McLaren-Honda. Neither Fernando Alonso nor Jenson Button saw the checkered flag. The Spanish driver even seemed annoyed by his team's instructions encouraging him to slow down even more to save fuel.
After the Monegasque respite, the Gilles Villeneuve circuit, which favors engine power, had everything to test the fragile McLaren-Hondas. Fuel consumption was thus critical for both drivers.
The problems of the Japanese engine manufacturer even led to a mini-imbroglio on the track. Asked to slow down his race pace once more, even though he was already one of the slowest on the track, Fernando Alonso objected over the radio, preferring to adopt, since all was lost anyway, a pace as fast as possible: “When you’re battling in the pack, fuel consumption should be the least of your worries,” the double world champion explained after the race. “You can take care of it later. I just told my team to let me drive and have a bit of fun.”
Fernando Alonso then made quite bold remarks about the overall performance of his car this Sunday: « It felt like we were in a lower category. When everyone overtakes you, you feel like an amateur driver, and that’s not good for us. We are not very competitive, and a lot of work awaits us. »
Aware of the pessimistic aspect of his remarks, Fernando Alonso then aimed to give a less grim tone: « I believe in this project. The development of the car is taking a very positive course. I know it’s not easy for our fans, but they must be patient. They must keep believing. I believe it, we will soon experience better times ».
While he was only flying in front of the Manor cars during the race, Jenson Button – although sometimes slower than Roberto Mehri – had only one desire after the race: « I think I’ll quickly leave the circuit, have a good meal, and then reflect. It was obviously very tough for us. (…) We were not on the same pace as the others. (…) It’s easy to criticize McLaren-Honda, easy to say we have a lousy season. But that’s not the case. We have made tremendous progress since the beginning of the year. »
Honda is expecting engine upgrades for the next Austrian Grand Prix. Nonetheless, unless a miracle solution is found, the long straights of the Red Bull Ring are still likely to be largely unfavorable to the Japanese engine.
