McLaren-Honda: Alonso Grumpy, Button Delighted
The fortunes of the McLaren-Honda drivers were contrasting in Abu Dhabi: while Fernando Alonso endured a painful race at the back of the pack to the point of wishing for a voluntary retirement, Jenson Button found his car to be making clear progress.
Fernando Alonso saw his race compromised from the start after a collision with Pastor Maldonado, for which he received a drive-through penalty. During the race, he expressed to his team his desire to return to the garage, but ultimately fulfilled his duty until the end: « It was a tough year and an unlucky weekend: I had a puncture in Q1 yesterday, and then I lost control at the start today, which caused me to run into Pastor. The race was over for me: there was no on-track battle, and I was completely alone. The race became more of a test session for me. Fortunately, we were able to gather some useful information for the winter, but I still had to save my tires and fuel. »
In less diplomatic terms, the Iberian was choking on his penalty: « When it comes to penalties, the FIA should be inspired by MotoGP and the World Endurance Championship (WEC), two disciplines more fun than F1 ». If the Spaniard wanted to definitively put an end to his sabbatical year rumors, he would probably have approached it differently…
During the last laps of the race, his team, seeing that the race was lost, allowed him to put on the ultrasoft tires to test the McLaren-Honda in faster conditions. The result was quite positive, with the third fastest lap of the day, behind Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. Eric Boullier, the racing director, was pleased: « There are a few other reasons to be enthusiastic, while staying humble, especially because our cornering speeds were more than respectable this weekend. (…) Alonso’s results [at the end of the race] are something encouraging. »
The McLaren-Honda, which was running with 50% of the 2016 car’s parts, was it making clear progress? Jenson Button’s performance might suggest so. Despite a collision with Valtteri Bottas in the pits, the Brit managed to finish in twelfth place, ahead of Valtteri Bottas, both Saubers, and the Toro Rosso of Max Verstappen. « It was probably my best race of the year » he confirmed at the finish. « I am happy with everything we did today. (…) Keeping a Williams-Mercedes behind us in the final laps, we wouldn’t have thought it possible, because it was faster on the straight line, but we did it! »
McLaren-Honda naturally hopes to make a leap in the hierarchy during the winter. The Woking team finishes the championship in a very poor 9th place in the constructors’ championship.
