McLaren’s season gets even worse at Bahrain Grand Prix

One driver failed to start, the other could not finish, and neither has scored a point this season.

McLaren’s miserable Formula One campaign went from bad to awful at Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

So much, in fact, that two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso was sarcastic about his team’s glaring shortcomings and lack of speed after he returned to the garages shortly before the end of the race with yet another engine problem - even more humiliating considering his team had actually installed a new power unit the day before.

“The deficit in power and performance we had on the straights today was amazing,” the Spaniard said, turning his anger into sarcastic humour.

His withering assessment continued as he described how a car that was far behind him - Frenchman Esteban Ocon’s Force India - was able to surge past him on straight-line speed.

“Sometimes I looked in the mirrors at the beginning of the straights and saw the other cars 300, 400 metres behind, so I forgot completely about that car and started changing settings on the steering wheel and doing my own things,” he said. “Then, the next thing I see is that car alongside me.”

Alonso’s best race finish last year was fifth, while former teammate Jenson Button’s best was sixth. It was a difficult season then as McLaren struggled to adapt after switching back to Honda, the Japanese engine supplier with which it was once so successful.

But after retiring at the seasonopening race in Australia and then in China, Alonso feels the car is going backwards.

“(On Sunday) we never had the pace we had in Australia and China,” Alonso said. “You don’t enjoy the battle.”

There was nothing to like for Alonso in Sunday’s race, where he started from 15th on the grid and was back in the garage by the time Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel won the race to match Alonso’s tally of three wins in Bahrain. The 35-year-old Alonso’s last win in Bahrain was seven years ago with Ferrari.

While Vettel pulled clear at the front, Alonso became embroiled in overtaking battles and defensive moves with drivers who are not even close to matching his career achievements.