Alonso: "The car was too slow and it was impossible to have any battles"
- Published on 29 Aug 2017 10:21
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- By: Chris Soulsby
Fernando Alonso had a race of two halves at Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix, having a strong start to move his under powered McLaren from tenth on the grid to seventh on the track within the opening lap of the race.
Due to the power deficit of Alonso's Honda engine, the Spaniard soon slipped through the field and dropped out of the points paying positions, being a sitting duck on the long straights of Spa. This removed him from contention and he was unable to defend or challenge for position. He then retired from the race in its second half due to a supposed power unit issue.
"In general, it’s been a good weekend,” said Alonso. “We played a good team game in qualifying, we had a great start – taking the outside lane was the right decision – and we were seventh after the first lap. It was fun for the first three or four laps! Then we tried to defend our position, but in the middle of the straights some cars passed us without even activating the DRS," he added.
“For sure, is not easy to race like this, as you cannot have any good wheel-to-wheel battles. It was a difficult afternoon and we were not competitive in race trim. The car was too slow on the straights and it was impossible to have any battles out there, so points were also impossible today. Eventually, we had to stop due to an engine issue. The situation is what it is and we need to improve it as soon as we can. I know the team is working day and night improving the car, and we hope we can see the results soon," he concluded.
Due to the uncompetitive nature of McLaren in 2017 and with Alonso's contract with the team running out at the end of the season, the Spaniard's future is unknown beyond this year. The double champion has confirmed that he has received a number of offers for 2018 and that his future will be decided within the next two weeks. One such rumour is that he may be on his way to Williams for next year, after he was apparently courted by the team in Belgium.
Chris Soulsby
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Replies (9)
Login to replyFreguz
Posts: 160
Stop crying, this is the everyday life of a Sauber :-)
f1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
Lol true.. but this is McLaren.. MCLAREN.. One of the biggest names in motorsport. They shouldn't be there, and neither should Alonso, arguably the best driver produced this century
Jutlandia
Posts: 191
Alonso is World Champion in selecting the wrong teams at the wrong time
Smiler121
Posts: 53
I'd be really interested to see Alonso go to Williams ?
cribau
Posts: 2
I see Alonso replacing Perez. Force India is the best of the rest team btw.
mcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
Alonso is super quick, World champ, and highly unprofessional.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I think Alonso is on his way out of F1. The only teams he could possible get a seat in are Williams or Renault, and Im not sure if he will truly settle with either of them.
mbmwe36
Posts: 533
I'm starting to look forward to the day he's no longer involved in F1 - All he ever does is cry. And if he could somehow take Max and his unbearable father with him, that'd be awesome
Maximaal Verslapen
Posts: 323
You forgot Vettel, he is also complaining all the time. And there is also Hamilton, just because I don't like him. And Raikkonen because he was also a world champion. Then you should probably have all the top drivers out of competition, you fill these positions with guys like Maldonado and you will have a great and very expensive demolition derby.