Fernando Alonso slammed Honda’s ongoing power unit problems after failing to start a Formula 1 race for the first time since 2005 at the Russian Grand Prix.
The Spaniard’s fourth retirement in as many races occurred as his McLaren came to a halt on the formation lap with an ERS problem.
Though team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne would offer some hope by reaching the checkered the flag for the first time in 2017, it did little to improve Alonso’s mood.
“Yeah yeah, definitely worse. We cannot even participate like today,” Alonso replied when comparing now to 12 months ago.
“It’s something that is not going right. Nothing I can do probably, the boss of the team they know what to do with their team. I am just the driver, I just come here, I drive as fast as I can, I try to help the team as much as I can. It’s frustrating at times but hopefully, we can improve soon.”
The double F1 champion isn’t all that optimistic, however, believing the problems within the McLaren-Honda partnership are more than just mechanical.
“We had a lot of problems in winter, we had a lot of problems in the first races, and we have problems right now. Until we change fundamental things in the team, we will keep having problems. We more or less expect this,” he said.
“The engine shut down and it was off. I don’t know exactly the reason until the car is back from the garage, but unfortunately we could not even participate in this race,” he added, explaining what happened in Sochi.
“Obviously not being able to participate even in the race and not being able to finish any race of this championship is something fundamentally wrong there. We try to improve. I try to come here every weekend, drive as fast as I can, help the team as much as I can. I cannot do much more than this.”
Alonso will now shift attention back to his upcoming appearance in the Indy 500 with a private test at Indianapolis on Wednesday, but even that could detract away from the issues at McLaren.
“Yeah I focus on different things. I have Indy, I have the go-kart school, I have many other things in life,” the 35-year-old said.
“Unfortunately we are not in the right direction here, but hopefully we can improve the situation soon.”