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Alonso calls Austin performance "sublime" before Honda failure

Published on 23 Oct 2017 09:02
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By: Sam Gale

Fernando Alonso has hailed his personal performance in Austin as sublime before his car again failed him. Alonso qualified ninth for the US Grand Prix which became eighth after Max Verstappen's grid penalty and was solidly competing to be the best of the midfield runners before his Honda engine failed on lap 24.

The retirement marked Alonso's tenth non finish of the season, making it the worst season for reliability for a McLaren for 15 years, with most of the problems originating from the hugely frustrating Honda engine that is being ditched at the end of the year because of its lack of power and reliability.

Although Alonso was disappointed with the retirement, he was surprisingly upbeat after running in a competitive position for most of his race, saying: "I'm very happy with how the weekend went on a personal level - I think the level this weekend was sublime, both in qualifying and in the race, the championship standings don't reflect that. It doesn't change much for me to be 12th or 17th in the championship, but on merit I think we should be a lot higher up."

"I think the engine is broken, and in Mexico there was a chance that we could try to change the engine there and be penalised in order to arrive in Brazil and Abu Dhabi with a fresher engine, now it's basically certain we'll change the engine in Mexico, and therefore another weekend where you start last and it will be complicated to score again."

Sam Gale

F1 News Max Verstappen Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda

Replies (8)

calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
A pity we had so many engine related retirements this weekend.
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- Oct 23 2017 - 11:23
- f1ski
  
  Posts: 726
  A function of the rules set up to allow mercedes who helped draft the PU rules maintain the advantage they have for a long time
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  Oct 24 2017 - 17:56
Kean

Posts: 692
I think Alonso is one of the greatest F1 racers of all time, but really the guy needs to stop patting himself on the back. I'm tired of hearing how this race or that race was his best ever performance before the engine broke.
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- Oct 23 2017 - 21:07
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  I dont think he has given up on a top seat yet. This talk isnt for us as much as it is for the ears belonging to Wolff and Marchionne. Although he is about as likely at getting a seat in either of those teams as I am at winning the lottery.
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  Oct 23 2017 - 21:44
- Kean
  
  Posts: 692
  @Calle.itw Ferrari will never have him back, unless maybe Marchionne leaves (and I wouldn't mind if he did) and the way I understand it, it was Mercedes that footed the bill for that whole spy gate thingy, so Merc won't have him either. So the likelyhood is about as high as me winning the lottery, and I don't even play.
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  Oct 23 2017 - 23:06
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  Well, seeing as neither you nor I will partake in lotterys anytime soon, and seeing as neither you nor I seem to be very good at winning the lottery, it doesnt really look good for dear Alonso.
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  Oct 24 2017 - 12:07
xoya

Posts: 583
Alonso should not forget that his "sublime" performance was due to the fact he has a Honda engine in his car.
He also should not forget that Renault, despite having 6 cars worth of data and having been in F1 for longer than Honda has, still had 2 cars DNF with engine problems this weekend alone.
Honda has its faults but Renault has much worse faults than Honda, IMHO
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- Oct 24 2017 - 11:31
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  This year's Honda unit has been more reliable than the Renault unit, however slight the difference is, and Honda has been releasing far more upgrades, but thats pretty much it. Next year is an "anything can happen" situation though, really hope that'll benefit Honda.
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  Oct 24 2017 - 12:10