Honda’s power shortfall “amazing” – Alonso

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In the round-up: Fernando Alonso says he is amazed by how little power the Honda engine has.

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Comment of the day

Carlos Sainz Jnr was held responsible for the crash that put him and Lance Stroll out of the race, but was the track design a mitigating factor?

I think this highlights the issue with where the pit exit is. Instead of coming out at the corner, perhaps the exit should be after turn two or even after turn three and lead out onto the the short straight prior to four.

That said, Sainz is fully at fault here. No sense in sticking his nose there. His tyres weren’t ready for an attack, the car was in a bad position, not to mention it was fully Stroll’s corner.
Justin (@Boombazookajd)

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91 comments on “Honda’s power shortfall “amazing” – Alonso”

  1. WeatherManNX01
    17th April 2017, 0:07

    Hard to disagree with Alonso. It’s utterly baffling that Honda can’t get any sort of power or reliability out of their PUs in their third season back, especially now that the development-by-token system is gone. They should at least be scoring points by now (even finishing races right now would be an accomplishment), but at this rate, Alonso and Vandoorne would have better luck pushing their cars around the circuit.

    So who breaks first? Does McLaren break with Honda in an attempt to get back on track, or does Honda pack it in and go home?

    1. It’s hard not to feel bad for Honda. While Alonso, rightly or wrongly pours on the scorn. I have no doubts that Honda are working flat out to make a competitive PU. I imagine it’s equally disheartening for everyone at McLaren and Honda. I feel as if they all rolled the dice in this partnership, Alonso, McLaren and Honda. It hasn’t paid off, that’s frustrating but it’s also motor racing and they knew the risks of entering a partnership, there’s no guarantees in F1. Personally, I feel as if Alonso’s comments are too strong and demoralising at times. Although true, I highly doubt that this public scolding is motivating the engineers at Honda, it would be better kept internal and through management.

      Apparently Mercedes are going to be passing information to Honda, similar to what they supposedly did with Renault and Ferrari if I remember correctly? McLaren are also a part of this supposed arrangement. I have a feeling it’s a part of a sweetener deal to get other suppliers on-side with Mercedes on engine regulations that are preferable to them.

      1. “I feel as if Alonso’s comments are too strong and demoralising at times. Although true, I highly doubt that this public scolding is motivating the engineers at Honda, it would be better kept internal and through management.”

        Thank you, I’ve been saying this since last year.

        1. ”Public scolding?” I think in public FA is fairly diplomatic . Let’s not forget that F1 determines what we get to hear on the radio, and they are choosing to let us hear a frustrated FA in the heat of the moment. The public can plainly see for themselves the situation, and the crew are as frustrated as FA. They are adults. I’m sure they are all motivated by the poor situation they are in and all understand FA’s frustration and aren’t demoralized by things he says that are obvious for all to see and that they already know to be the case.

        2. You are a die hard Hamilton fan and Alonso detractor so I take it with a grain of salt.

        3. I’m perplexed by the”general” attitude of fans that Alonso has every right to complain about McLaren-Honda’s competitiveness, while being his own number one fan. But God forbid any other driver on the grid find an issue or be disappointed at some point in the season.

          It annoys me seeing the attitude that Alonso deserves a Mercedes or Ferrari seat just because he’s Alonso. No driver in F1 has a divine right to a competive car. He needs to accept the fact he took a risk and that it hasn’t paid off and stop acting like his position is down to everyone but him.

          1. @aqualyn I disagree. FA is not any other driver. He is a driver that many tout is the best on the grid, so F1 suffers overall when such a driver is not in a top car, which frustratingly he should be in at McHonda by now. Nobody is forbidding other drivers from having issues or disappointments.

            I’m sure FA has accepted that he has chosen this path, but that still leaves him and F1 fans the ability to be frustrated, and in fact right now this is out of FA’s hands since he is not the one that builds the pu’s or the car. What is in his control is to choose to stay after this year, and I suggest he will not. He will be in VB’s seat next year at this time.

          2. @robbie I’d like to see him in a competitive car, too. But I don’t lose sleep over it or feel like he should have a competitive car. He chose McLaren so I feel little sympathy. I think he’s an interesting driver to watch and in press conferences he’s got a good sense of humour. But the outbursts don’t help me warm to him. I understand the frustration, but I don’t think it’s appropriate. It would be nice to hear some morale boosting messages from him.

          3. @aqualyn Fair comment, but I just think he is beyond morale boosting when he is in the heat of the moment. These ‘outbursts’ are not meant for public consumption unless F1 chooses to make them so. Away from the heat of the moment FA is much more diplomatic. According to Zak Brown who was interviewed on Sky after the race, FA’s frustration is understandable as is the teams’ and otherwise FA is a motivator within the team. I just think you are expecting too much of FA when it is the heat of the moment. If he completely didn’t care he wouldn’t be this emotional. I think if he sat their getting passed by cars as he did yesterday, and just said ‘oh well mates, tomorrow’s another day,’ (now 3 seasons into this project and still no progress) that would garner just as much criticism for him having no fire in his belly, and having given up.

        4. This is why Alonso has not been more successful in recent years, it is not all about the driver. The driver needs to be a leader in the team and motivate them. I believe this is in part why he wasn’t successful at Ferrari, especially in later years.

          Hamilton (selected as a recent successful driver), he will always look to thank his team and the whole factory and apologise for mistakes to them. Plus his direct team he has been trying to keep consistent for his time at Mercedes.

          Its only part of the whole game but an important part!

      2. @aqualyn I agree with all of that.

        But, I think Alonso’s outburst, on this occasion, was carefully aimed at some of McLaren’s quieter investors. I think these comments are calculated, planned, for maximum effect within the higher echelons of McLaren.

        I agree, which ever way you look at it, these comments are damaging. But, Alonso hasn’t made an emotional outburst here. I think that’s subtly important…

      3. If the engineers at Honda get their motivation from a driver then that explains exactly why they are where they are.

      4. Chris (@tophercheese21)
        17th April 2017, 2:19

        Agreed.

        It’s all relative really. There’s no question that the Honda PU is an astonishing piece of technology, but, compared to the other suppliers, it lacks.

        Their deployment issues were massively apparent last night. The initial acceleration up to 7th gear looked good, but they run out of puff after that.

        1. I think people still underestimate just how complex the power units are, especially compared previous Formulas. Although Honda is a huge company with a huge budget, their F1 development team will still be resource and time limited. They obviously had reason and data to suggest that the approach they were taking was the right one to progress with. This isn’t new in Formula 1. If Red Bull fail to close the gap they could be criticised for taking the wrong approach, but they obviously believe it to be the right choice at the moment.

          As you alluded to, software also plays a much bigger part in the overall power unit now. Not only is the engine complex from a mechanical standpoint and pushing the limits of technology, they’re now having to write equally complex software. There’s so many places for it to go wrong. It’s not like going down the list, ticking off boxes when they’ve fixed a certain issue they’ve had, fixing one issue can create three more issues for them to fix.

      5. Honda engineers dont understand English.

        1. Dynamometers also do not understand English.

          I don’t believe the engines are running perfectly on the Dyno-rig and
          then only acting up under car conditions.

          The different cooling & “size zero” packaging was contributory in the first year, but by this stage they must have established correlation between the lab and car environments and I think they must be down on power and reliability on the rig too…

      6. Honda came out saying, they underestimated the demands of the new engine. Meaning they didn’t take the job seriously. They thought it would be easy. Alonso has every right to complain. He is taking unbelievable risks trying to keep his car in contention with the others.

      7. At this point, I think Alonso isn’t carefully picking his words or trying to achieve anything with his comments. This is clearly a man who has had enough and has checked out of McHonda – if not out of F1 alltogether.

    2. Alonso’s rage is understandable. It’s a really frustrating situation but I’m beginning to wonder at this point how Honda’s lack of everything will affect Stoffel’s career. It can’t be good to not even have the chance to do something.

      1. For start… He gets to start less times…

    3. I think Alonso has had it and no one should blame him for all he has been through. Hamilton or Vettel would be no better and probably worse.
      To be fighting for 14th place after 3 years of engine development is unimaginable.
      I think the only way Alonso would even consider staying at this point is if McLaren
      drops Honda and gets a Merc engine.
      That may not be enough if it’s true Renault is in negotiations with him. They are hell bent on getting back to the top and have the engine and deep pockets to get them there.
      At this point I think Zak is going to do anything he can to get him to stay (Indy 500) but unless Honda comes up with a miracle in June he’s a goner. Honda may have trouble finding a team that wants their engine and thus quit.

      1. Fukobayashi (@)
        17th April 2017, 9:21

        I’m quite baffled by all the pundits and experts repeatedly saying Alonso has nowhere to go. Renault have the money, soon they’ll have the engine and by next year i’d wager they’ll have the chassis to at least be nicking podiums here and there. Hulk and Alonso would make great teammates and of course it’s the one team he actually has positive history with (crashgate notwithstanding but that was more Flav than anyone else). It will happen surely.

      2. Agree 3 seasons in, and Honda look to be going backwards vs 2016. Clearly they have some fundamental health of organisation issues.

        I don’t doubt they have the engineering talent to create a competitive PU, however the travails they are having point to fundamental leadership issues in how they deploy and organise the talent then develop, execute and measure.

    4. Alonso should man up and quit F1.

      1. *slow applause*

      2. Nah I think he should bide his time and take VB’s seat for 2018.

      3. @paeschli Alternative spelling of which is “taking the Rosberg cowardly route”.

        1. @montreal95 Rosberg had 4 seasons with Lewis and beat him in one. Alonso took the cowardly route after one season in McLaren in 2007.

          1. Such childish designations of ‘coward.’ What is this, a schoolyard?

          2. Alonso was the better driver though in 2007. It was only collisions with him and Massa that gave Lewis the extra points.

      4. You should ‘man-up’ and keep this forum civil.

    5. It was suspicious on first year, but now it’s absolutely obvious – Honda doesn’t have any stand at all. In other way they would find most of problems on stand tests.

  2. With regards to comment of the day, the pit exit was not a factor in the crash between Sainz and Stroll, it was just Sainz being very reckless. Looks to me that even if Stroll had gone as wide as possible that he still would have been hit because Sainz braked way too late for the turn. The penalty is deserved.

  3. Special mention to Billy Monger who is recovering from an horrendous crash in a British Formula 4 race yesterday.

    My thoughts are with him, his family and his friends.

    Keep fighting Billy Whizz!

    1. @andybantam I have to say that I don’t tend to follow F4, and this was the first that I’d heard of this accident, but after reading more about it and seeing a replay of the horrendous crash, I really do wish him a full and speedy recovery.

  4. Josh (@canadianjosh)
    17th April 2017, 0:52

    Honda is an absolute joke in my opinion. In F1 that is, because I’m sure old ladies love driving their Honda hybrids to church at 40kph every Sunday. I think Fernando wants to go faster though.

    1. @canadianjosh They’re good in Indycar and other disciplines like BTCC though, and have good performance cars in Type R and the NSX. It’s only in F1 that they’re a joke at the moment

      1. Yep I totally agree

      2. WTCC too

  5. John Rymie (@)
    17th April 2017, 1:38

    Credit to McLaren and their chassis, besides the obvious Honda problems, if they had a top flight engine I believe they’d be the fastest car on the grid.

    Most teams that are down on power trim downforce and are thus worse off in the corners, but McLaren is mighty in the corners.

    Either they’re over compensating by adding DF (which doesn’t make sense) or they have trimmed DF and are still that good.

    1. @johnnyrye On many occasions you read that the McLaren chassis is ‘great’ but that conclusion is based on what exactly? The engine in the car cannot push the chassis. If you put an engine of a Clio in the car the chassis in indeed great for F1 grade tracks. I don’t think their chassis is that great, it’s just easier to point all criticism towards Honda.

      1. Fukobayashi (@)
        17th April 2017, 9:23

        I think he’s drawing that conclusion from the fact that Alonso can often be found dicing with cars that supposedly have a 100bhp advantage and on occasion, passing them. Question is, is it the McLaren chassis or is Alonso really THAT good, I don’t know.

        1. Alonso really is that good…ask Jensen.

      2. What the hell?? Vandoorne couldn’t even start the race because of the Honda engine! It really doesn’t matter how good or how bad the chasis is, if you can’t even start a race! Can’t believe that people are still trying to defend Honda…

      3. You don’t need a super-powerful engine to move the car through corners. You need the power to overcome the downforce on the straights and get at least a decent speed. McLaren knows that its car is fast on the corners and horribly slow in the straights, and Vandoorne said in China that he was quickest than Williams in every corner and the car felt pretty good.

        This was the key to Vettel-RB four titles: an excelent chassis + aero, with a decent engine.

    2. @johnnyrye I think you are right, and the only way to stop McLaren from smashing everyone else is to give them a Honda PU. Bernie might be behind this, or Horner, or Ferrari or all of them.

      1. I’m not convinced the McLaren chassis is one of the best, their laptimes at Monaco are flattered by the far shorter lap length, braking it down to time lost per km, their actually further off the pace there than at most other grand prixs.

  6. With regard to the twit about Andrew Benson: does anyone take any notice of anything he says? It’s been years since I’ve regularly visited the BBC F1 website. There used to be some very good stuff in there from knowledgeable people but now it’s just Benson and, to be honest, he comes across as less well informed than most of the posters here. Perhaps its just Lewis-worshiping articles for a domestic market, but there is very little of value there now.

    1. Neil (@neilosjames)
      17th April 2017, 2:38

      I think Benson occasionally writes good stuff, and sometimes provides useful insights when he’s allowed to (rather than told to write attractive headlines for casual British fans), but I agree that the BBC’s F1 offerings are pretty poor, especially since they lost the coverage. They don’t even have Benson write half the stuff on there these days, just palm it off onto journos/work experience kids who don’t seem to watch F1.

      BBC’s close to ‘gold standard’ for news, but for sport other than football it’s not really worth bothering with.

      1. @neilosjames It’s everywhere that BBC has lost it, these past 5, 6 years have seen all the information in BBC become questionable, even the football writers are barcelona fanatics.

  7. COTD is spot on. It’s such a tight corner and the track is so wide, that even with both drivers being careful, there’s an inherent risk of collision which could well be fixed with not much effort. There’s a short cut there anyway that cuts turns 1 and 2 completely, so they can easily think about something there.

    1. I said this on Sunday – at some tracks it can’t be avoided but at Bahrain there’s no excuse not to have the pit exit after turn 3 to allow traffic to join the track off the racing line on the following straight up to turn 4. Interlagos does this perfectly. Even at Spa pit out is off-line after La Source.

      Because of the design I thought this was a racing incident – you can argue that Stroll should have left more space knowing that Sainz was coming out, likewise Sainz should probably have given way. But redesigning pit-out would prevent a similar incident in the future

  8. Neil (@neilosjames)
    17th April 2017, 3:25

    Put five regular F1 Fanatic users in a room and we could pick at and find problems with every pit exit in the world, but in most cases really it would just be us being picky. The old exit in Korea was dreadful, and the one at Baku looks dodgy if a driver ever has slicks on a damp track, but those two aside I can’t think of any major issues anywhere, Bahrain included.

    The risk of crazy divebombs causing crashes exists anywhere that drivers who really should know better choose to try to pull them off.

    1. Agreed.

      Today the clipping on Alonso’s car was shameful, once after overtaking Pascal and pull up nicely after the final turn the Sauber then was able to fight on the braking zone, all without DRS. There were many instances of that. When they are struggling this hard to keep the car going it’s almost futile to race. There’s actually been some opportunities to score but today Alonso looked extremely compromised.

    2. The risk of crazy divebombs causing crashes exists anywhere that drivers who really should know better choose to try to pull them off.

      Good point.

    3. @neilosjames Maybe we should not only comment on each pit exit but simply every corner. Surely a danger for idiocy can be found in each one. Make F1 straight again!

  9. Paul Ortenburg
    17th April 2017, 4:54

    Honda engines do a fantastic job!

    … at making Renault engines not look so bad.

  10. I didn’t think things could get any worse at Mclaren Honda .. up until this Bahrain weekend. It’s ridiculous that Honda couldn’t even put one car up on the grid, and that after frying 3 MGU-H units in a race weekend, they’re still scratching their heads to figure out what the problem is.

    Mr.Hasegawa is an absolute disaster of a team leader for Honda. After 2 seasons of constant failure, he had the humbling task of just copying a competitor’s layout. No one imagined that he’d botch it up so badly and be so ridiculously amateurish in every aspect of this engine building operation. They couldn’t identify vibrations before they put it in the back of the car, they couldn’t figure out the cause of a majority of their engine failures, they couldn’t design an oil tank correctly…. and the list just goes on. If they cannot figure out their problems, they’ll never solve them, so it’s safe to say that there is no light at the end of the tunnel here.

    I don’t blame Alonso for any of his outbursts. I think he should be throwing things at Honda engineer’s heads by now. I would be surprised if Mclaren don’t announce the end of their partnership with Honda sometime mid season. Honda don’t belong in this sport anymore.

    1. I wonder if they have a Mclaren chassis as a static test rig.

    2. @todfod

      I don’t blame Alonso for any of his outbursts. I think he should be throwing things at Honda engineer’s heads by now.

      I don’t disagree with the whole comment of yours, but let’s take another point of view. Fernando left a competitive team like Ferrari, and we know at what lengths Ferrari went to help him get the WDC. The Ferrari was almost all around FA, at times you couldn’t tell one from another. I do get he was fed up by the lack of WDC results and downfall in 2014.
      He chose to join a less competitive team in 2015 with his believe that things would turn for the better. Remember all the hype around McLaren Honda in 2015? He was a strong contributor of that hype, with things like “we build dreams” or things like that.
      Unfortunately for him, that dream crashed and turned out to be the worst nightmare. At this point, I don’t see why you have to bark at what you believed. It was his own choice. It turned out a failure, but he chose to be part of it, took the big gamble and didn’t worked out. So I would say, calm down, look at yourself and what you have done to be where you are, you can’t be excluded from failures and single out yourself as the best piece of the puzzle why the others are a bunch of idiots. Alonso chose to partner them.

      1. At the time Alonso left Ferrari, they were unwilling to make changes. They sacked Aldo Costa, the sack that mild mannered Italian now at Lamborghini, Stefano Domenicali. Everyone who complained about their wind tunnel was sacked. Mattiacci came in and began to belittle Alonso’s contribution and he too left. Many years later, Ferrari made changes and are finding their pace. How can you blame Alonso for leaving, when the team was not listening.

        1. Considering Red screwed Alonso out of one title by bad strategy and he had stayed with them 5 years although the never improved is reason enough to leave.
          It’s easy to look back and say he screwed himself but he wanted a chance of bringing McLaren back to it’s glory days.
          I give him credit for taking a chance – Honda proved to be inept to put it mildly.
          Senna had bad luck also – it’s always a roll of the dice.

        2. How can you blame Alonso for leaving

          Where did I say that? I said ” I get why he left Ferrari”. Aldo Costa was fired from Ferrari in January 2011 exactly because of Alonso. And they fired Chris Dyer as well. Read again my comment about the lengths Ferrari went to help him. Only one year in, and two of the top engineers were fired.

          Many years later, Ferrari made changes and are finding their pace.

          Many years later!! In 2015 (the year FA left) Ferrari was the first team to beat mighty Mercedes on genuine pace+strategy three times. It is 2017 as we speak and they look to be able to bring the fight for championship.

          You are missing my point. It was Alonso who chose to join forces and partner McLaren Honda with great euphoria and believe! Remember at the end of 2014 he was proudly saying “I can go where ever I want to”.

          1. Yes FA chose this. He needed to leave Ferrari. But he is also allowed his frustrations in the heat of the moment given McHonda’s ‘amazing’ lack of performance STILL. The beginning of the third season of the project that should have seen them showing at least some small signs of heading back toward the top 3…and yet…nothing…or even worse…steps backwards.

  11. All these Honda things remind me of BAR-Honda years during that time I was rooting for JV to win again season after season …

  12. Both Mercedes and Ferrari have a lot of work to do.

    Bahrain is perhaps more favorable to Mercedes than other tracks in the calendar, with stop-go corners and long straights, and they proved in Qualifying that was the case. Both on race day, not only are they matched and even surpassed by Ferrari, but they also got Red Bull pretty close behind as well.

    As for Ferrari, they have to figure out that magic Q3 mode that the Mercedes boys are enjoying. They can’t keep on starting 3rd on the grid and relying on good starts or strategies to move forward.

    It’s all down to the in-season development fight now!

  13. I like what I’ve seen so far in 2017. To make things better Kimi should step his game up and Red Bull must improve their race pace that seems to expire after 20 laps.

  14. Bottas mindset key to overcoming China struggles

    And the psychologists at Mercedes thought that issuing team orders would help Bottas’ mindset :p

    1. Lol well if they hadn’t, what would LH’s mindset have been?

  15. I’m wondering if there’s any truth to the rumors that Alonso has been DNFing on purpose….

    1. Fukobayashi (@)
      17th April 2017, 9:27

      A driver cannot ‘break’ a car without it being patently obvious to his engineers through telemetry. Why on earth would be be battling tooth and nail for the possibility of a point and then nuking it for what? Ridiculous rumours imo.

    2. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
      17th April 2017, 9:31

      I have thought for a while he seems to slow and retire every time he gets overtook late in a race/drops out of points. He’s done that since 2015. It makes sense to do so with the reliability of that engine because he might save himself a penalty further down the line.

    3. FakeSamurai_Alonso
      17th April 2017, 9:33

      Yes, He said to the team, Engine failure and out. Not the other way around. But drove perfectly to pit, no limping no issues.

      1. Must be true then,
        and I did see the flags moving and no stars in the sky either :p

      2. I don’t blame him.

    4. Funny thing is, he was actually classified +3laps.

  16. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
    17th April 2017, 9:23

    I’m finding it really hard watching Raikkonen struggle like this. All his speed, reactions and race craft from 10 years ago have gone to the point you would never know it was the same driver anymore. A little reminiscent of Schumi’s time at Mercedes. Would love to see Leclerc get that seat next year not that Ferrari would take that risk on a youngster for some reason. His sprint race performance was the highlight of my weekend.

  17. I don’t really understand why everyone so supportive of Alonso. Not pointing his mistakes.

    He criticizes the team publicly and directly or indirectly involved all the major F1 scandals so far.

    So much egoist person, last race he was reluctant to move on a blue flag for Ferrari (Vet), that time he used as seriously maneuvering for overtakes. But when Merc (HAM) came duly gave space.

    When Seb went on winning and Ferrari in lead both championships, he himself invented the Engine failure and quit race not even bothered to finish. Not a single word from the team about the engine failure or stop or out of the race. He drove perfectly to the pit stop.

    Pity for him, he have the talent, but wrong choices of team and wrong timings. He proved again he is not a developmental driver as other top drivers.

    1. He proved again he is not a developmental driver as other top drivers.

      He’s a development driver not a mechanical engineer with the iq of god that can come in and fix Hondas problems.

      1. Alonso is ensuring that other teams know that his pace is slow because of the car and he’s lost none of his enthusiasm, alonso to leave McLaren at the end of the season.

  18. It was rumoured that McLaren were thinking of an emergency return to Mercedes customer engines for 2018 a few weeks ago. This has all gone quiet now.

    I honestly think this is there only hope of keeping Alonso as a driver next season. They should just bite the bullet and drop Honda. Alonso is going at the end of the season whatever, be it to another team or more likely to a different series.

    Who knows, if he gets on well at the Indy 500 he may even go there full time for a year.

  19. Best thing that happened to Vettel… was Alonso leaving Ferrari (for McLaren)!

    1. Best thing that happened to Vettel in the last 3 years…

  20. I think this season clearly shows the different types of characters we have in F1 right now. Might be the best grid I’ve seen, with two legends fighting at the top, Ricciardo and Alonso providing some old 80s type nostalgia and the group of drivers in the midfield who keep impressing in their average cars: Perez, Hulkenberg and Grosjean. Might even add Ricciardo and Bottas to that list :P And the new drivers, Verstappen and Ocon really prove that we have a good, solid future on our hands!

  21. At the time Alonso left Ferrari, they were unwilling to make changes. They sacked Aldo Costa, the sack that mild mannered Italian now at Lamborghini, Stefano Domenicali. Everyone who complained about their wind tunnel was sacked. Mattiacci came in and began to belittle Alonso’s contribution and he too left. Many years later, Ferrari made changes and are finding their pace. How can you blame Alonso for leaving, when the team was not listening.

  22. At the moment vettel did his first pit stop, that’s when Mercedes should have switched their drivers.

  23. The five stages of being Fernando Alonso at Mclaren Honda.
    1: Denial. “‘We might be having trouble with the PU but I have a better chance at a WC here than at Ferrari.”
    2: Anger: “GP2 engine. GP2. Aarrgh!”
    3: Bargaining: “Nico’s retiring?” Starts reading the fine print on his contract.
    4: Depression: “Unreliable and lack of power. Again.”
    5: Acceptance: “There’s always the triple to go for.”

  24. The real problem with the Honda engine is reliability. Lack of power is the symptom and will continue to be until the reliability is addressed. If only they could dial the power up the Honda engine might prove to be adequate if the McLaren chassis is as decent as some are claiming. Even with the engine detuned enough to preserve some reliability is not working out. Now they are in the penalty situation. Pretty sad.

  25. Alonso is throwing his toys out of the pram like some spoilt kid. He doesn’t have the rightn to a “good” power unit other than what McLaren and Honda can come up with.
    Too many F1 pundits, I think, let Alonso get away with insulting and belittling his employers at every race in the most embarrassing fashion possible. I can’t help but imagine what the reaction would be if it was, say, Lewis Hamilton upbraiding his employers daily on the radio like that.
    Alonso decided to leave Ferrari when they were on the up and about two seasons away from a good car. He lacked the patience to see the slump out, hightailed it to McLaren thinking they would have the best car – very bad timing. He now is causing a ruckus at McLaren, has no patience to see the slump through, and will soon probably switch to another championship altogether. He’s making his bed, let him lie in it. After all, he doesn’t have to be in F1 – he’s a double world champion from a decade ago. F1 can do without his tantrums and his chip-on-the-shoulder tirades.

  26. There will be no Honda engine powering a McLaren in 2018. The divorce is in progress.

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