Fernando Alonso insists he is “very proud” of the efforts made to make the Honda project a success, even if it ended with vain with Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix marking the final race of the partnership between the Japanese manufacturer and McLaren.
As he has continually done since 2015, the Spaniard extracted the maximum from his car at Yas Marina scoring his third consecutive points finish in ninth place, overhauling Felipe Massa after the Brazilian had pitted to avoid what looked like a repeat of two weeks ago at Interlagos when he was stuck behind the Williams throughout the race.
For the double world champion, that result was enough to be considered a high on which to end the year after a problem-free weekend highlighted the progress that has been made by both McLaren and Honda.
“This was an important race for us as it was the last one of this project and we wanted to finish it in a good way,” Alonso stated. “It wasn’t that exciting from our position, but we had an interesting battle with Massa in front and Carlos [Sainz] behind.
“We chose to undercut Felipe and it worked quite well, but after that, we were struggling with the pace and running alone for most of the time. We had a solid race, a good start, a good strategy and scored two points, so I’m happy.”
On Thursday, the 36-year-old admitted the inability to get close to the initial target of challenging for championships with Honda meant there were no real stand-out moments on-track from the partnership but behind the scenes, it was a different story and that remained so after the final chequered flag.
“It has been a tough season and a tough three years for us, but I’m still feeling very proud of this project,” he claimed. “We didn’t succeed in terms of results and we delivered below expectations, but nevertheless everyone fought and worked very hard.
“Now that we are both going our separate ways, we wish the best for Honda and good luck to the McLaren-Renault project also. Now it’s a new chapter for both of us.”
