Alonso in despair at McLaren
IT SUMS up the pain of a suffering giant that a website has been launched called: ‘Has McLaren Broken Down Today?’
The question is almost rhetorical, the answer more often than not in the affirmative.
McLaren, 20 times world champions, whose part-owner Ron Dennis often referred to the team as the Manchester United of Formula One, have endured an awful time during pre-season testing in Barcelona, their Honda-supplied engines being a) unreliable and b) slow.
This is not how it was supposed to be when the new MCL32 car was launched amid much razzmatazz little more than a fortnight ago.
Instead, McLaren will arrive at the first race in Melbourne a fortnight today having completed fewer laps than any other team, while Ferrari have gone fastest and Mercedes are predictably strong. The chances offered to McLaren by the regulation changes have vanished before a wheel has been turned in anger.
Fingers are being pointed, entirely at Honda.
‘We have only one problem, which is the power unit,’ said double world champion Fernando Alonso. ‘There is no reliability and we are 30kph [19mph] down on the straight.’
McLaren have a long-term partnership with Honda, until 2024, but it is understood there are break clauses on both sides. If McLaren wish to cut free, they could do so at the end of the year.
Similarly, if Honda feel their problems are causing more loss of face than they can endure, they too could sever ties. That doomsday scenario is one both partners want to avoid, with each publicly committing themselves to one another.
But some home truths are being told, with McLaren’s racing director Eric Boullier saying: ‘They are trying to build a competitive power unit, but they do not have a Formula One culture.
‘They are a big, successful company and they have their own ways of doing things. To devise a power unit in Japan is a challenge. That is why Mercedes decided to make theirs in England.
‘We need a greater transfer of knowledge. They need to take on board the Formula One culture and to integrate that at all levels. You need to be fast in developing, as fast as F1 moves. Process, procurement, both need to be looked at.’
Nobody feels the dejection more keenly than Alonso, whose last world championship came in 2006. He is now 35. He has just this coming season to run on his contract and has said he will wait six months or so before deciding on a new deal. He may have been tempted to quit earlier — it could still happen — but that would mean sacrificing a £32million salary.
‘We’ve not discussed anything like that [Alonso quitting],’ said Boullier. ‘He has never been so well prepared. He wants to resolve the engine issues and wants to know what the next steps are. He’s very involved.’
Alonso said: ‘I want victories and podiums and if it all goes wrong, I will attack next year. It will give me more motivation to continue. I feel I’m still the best driver out there.’
Even if Alonso quit now, there is only a technical chance of Jenson Button returning to partner Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne. The British driver is a McLaren ambassador and reserve driver — part of the ‘retirement’ deal he struck with then chairman Dennis. He is paid £5m a year, with an option to return for the 2018 season.
Button has been spending time in America with girlfriend, Brittny Ward. ‘Jenson has moved to LA,’ said Zak Brown, executive director at McLaren after Dennis’s departure in January. ‘He has never had a problem with fitness, but you never know how ready you are until the phone call comes and we’re not set to make that call.’
If the call ever did come, Button would surely ask: ‘Why would I want to drive a car with an engine like that?’