Fernando Alonso has predicted that his McLaren team will go from bad to worse in Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring. Spain’s two-time world champion, who in a frustrated outburst during the last race weekend in Montreal said his team were “looking like amateurs”, is not expecting them to turn things around here.
When asked about Sunday’s race, he replied: “It will not change too much this weekend, or probably it will be even worse.” To make matters even worse for Alonso he is expected to start from the back of the grid because McLaren are planning a tactical engine change, which would result in a grid penalty.
A Honda spokesman said: “Honda is making updates to Fernando’s power unit, which will be confirmed on Friday morning. As a result we are expecting grid penalties.”
Alonso has not won a point in six races – he missed the season’s opener in Australia following an accident in testing. McLaren have scored only once in 2015, when Jenson Button finished eighth in the Monaco Grand Prix during May, and stand ninth in the constructors’ championship, ahead of only Manor.
This season McLaren have replaced Mercedes with Honda as their engine supplier. Difficulties were anticipated but no one expected it to be this bad, and quite apart from the engine the car does not look the best either.
When Alonso was asked about the Austrian Grand Prix, he said: “Well, it will be another weekend where it’s going to be tough, where the results will not look good especially because there are probably some penalties to pay, so I think it’s going to be a test weekend for us.
“What’s very important is that there are some updates on the car, so hopefully we go out of this weekend with some answers and there is the test next week as well. There are important days ahead for us. I’m quite optimistic with the things that are coming to the car and for the near future but as I said in terms of result it will not change too much this weekend or probably it will be even worse.”
Damning with faint praise, Alonso added: “I am enjoying the starts and the first laps. In Barcelona I think I was P8 in corner three. In Canada I also was ninth or eighth in corner six and then slowly you are losing positions on the straight with our lack of speed, so that’s not an ideal situation.”
The good news for Alonso is that he will go into the race weekend with a considerable upgrade package, and the team will have another chance to work on their developments in next week’s final in-season test. There will be a new, shorter nose and also new front and rear wings.
The Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz, meanwhile, has denied his team may make an engine switch from Renault to Ferrari. Red Bull have not been slow to criticise their power unit suppliers this year, but Mateschitz said: “There is nothing to it [the rumours]. There is no alternative to Renault.”
He added: “I cannot guess what will happen in two or three years in Formula One, or even what goes on now. It is better not to make predictions in formula one. But with a customer engine you will never again be world champion. And if we see that we have no chances any more, because we are also restricted in aerodynamics, we will simply lose interest. We still hope. Hope dies last.”
