There speaks a man who's had a belly full of watching midfield drivers in midfield cars drive off into the distance while he's powerless to compete.
If their engine wasn't shaming Honda already, Alonso off the PR leash will give it to Honda with both barrels if they don't supply at the very least a competent engine, which they won't!
Imagine what he'll say in Australia. If he's even still driving then. Seems like Honda are facing a 2015 repeat. Which is just inexcusable.
Alonso: Honda has no power and no reliability Amid ongoing problems for the Woking-based team, the Spaniard did not hold back on Wednesday in pointing out who shouldered the responsibility for McLaren's difficult situation. "I don't think we are too far back in terms of chassis side," he said, when asked to assess McLaren's position. "We have only one problem: that is the power unit. "There is no reliability and there is no power. We are 30km/h down on the straight, every straight. "So when you are 30km/h down on every straight it is difficult to have a feeling on the car. Everything feels good, but when you arrive to normal speed you don't know what is going to happen." https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/alonso-honda-has-no-power-and-no-reliability-880808/ Not a happy chappy indeed. Alonso and his career now 10 years without 'success'
Yeah, it's a shame for him and also for F1. Some people like him, and some hate him, but I think most people lament the battles that the sport has been denied because he's spent so long in a succession of uncompetitive cars (for whatever reasons - bad choices, bad luck, bad attitude). He's one of my all-time favourite drivers, and I hope that we see him in a competitive car at least one more time before he leaves F1. Sadly, it doesn't look like this is the year. And sadly (for me), if this year's car is as bad as it seems, this might be his final season in F1.
Unless Alonso gets some luck and finds himself a new drive before the year is out I think he'll be gone.
I'm glad he is telling it like it is. Holding back is not going to help anyone. Honda have to know it's not acceptable and I agree that Ferrari should be their model (for power unit and not politics haha). They went from underpowered embarrassments to powerful 2nd behind Mercedes in the space of a winter.
And agreed- we need the best drivers fighting it out in closely matched cars. Man, I'd love an exciting qualifying again. I know Alonso is like marmite for people and some might say he is getting payback for 2007, but he's World class and to see him stuck in a powerless car whilst bang average idiots get the limelight is really hard to watch for me as a fan of the sport.
I dunno, I think people are selling Bottas a bit short. I think he's an upgrade on what they had, probably as fast as Rosberg, but more naturally aggressive, although I expect Hamilton to come out on top of the team-mate battle at the end of the season, I don't think it'll be all plain sailing
I don't know if Alonso had the chance to go the Merc but he is a bloody idiot for staying put if he did.
I wouldn't listen to the PR people at McLaren at all now.. Sorry but Honda have had long enough to have at least a reliable engine! Alonso should unleash his wrath on this excuse of a PU at every opportunity until they get it right..
It almost seems like Honda threw away their last effort at a PU and started with a bank sheet of paper. Then sacked all the staff and moved new staff into the PU dept. It's like it is a brand new PU with designed by a team with zero experience. OK so that may be harsh but this a multi billion $ company putting their PU forward to create good publicity and failing badly. It doesn't look good when Sauber are using last years Ferrari PU and are faster than McHonda! All I hope is what ever is causing the issue, and I hope its just 1 issue, is easy to solve before OZ and the McHonda can run at full power. If McHonda would even issue a statement saying 'due to a known issue we are only running at 75% power or 75% rpm etc.' we would have some hope that 100% might be getting towards Renault or Ferrari PUs. I just want a bit of hope. In fact while writing this I am thinking of McHonda as an underdog!!! Who would have thought that looking at results from from 70's to 2012? So sad not just for Alonso but the engineers and other staff who will be pulling their hair out.......
They need to get a decent run in before Friday to be anywhere close to being ready at Aus, at the moment I think curing one problem will just highlight another, worse one (if using an engine a day is considered bad). As for Aus itself, I don't think they'll finish the race, and that is making the assumption they even get to start it, even without their current reliability, their lack of speed means the 107% isn't the foregone conclusion it should be.
It's a mess. They should be looking at trying to get another supplier. Whatever problems that brings, it can't nearly be as bad as the problems they have now. I cannot believe how shambolic this whole situation is.
+1 That last sentence especially. Fair enough, I would still expect Mercedes to hold the edge in performance after three years of development. But not being able to do more than 11 laps with your engine? Honda are an absolute embarrassment right now and if this doesn't turn around quickly, their reputation lies in tatters.
Its really bad for the sport because this is going to deter other engine brands from joining the sport.
