“I arrive to finish the job I started in 2007”
This sentence came out of Mclaren’s 2015 drivers line-up announcement last month, which heralds the new McLaren-Honda era, with the slogan “The Power Of Dreams”. These words came from Fernando Alonso, announced alongside Jenson Button, and defined the day for many people. With those words he showed that, not just that he was going to not hide away from the troubles of his and McLaren’s first spell together, but also showed the will and determination that is needed for this time to be the success that both Fernando Alonso and Honda crave.
The question is though will it be a success? Before I answer that, let’s take a trip down memory lane. In December 2005, whilst still at Renault, and having had won his first title, Fernando signed a three-year contract with McLaren for the 2007 season. In his final year at Renault, he retained the title to become, at that time, the youngest ever double F1 champion. Joining McLaren the following year, with the car been the fastest on track, it looked like a match made in heaven, and there were talks about Schumacher’s record of seven titles been under threat. Alonso’s team-mate for that year was débutante and McLaren youth driver Lewis Hamilton. Many expected there not to be a challenge, however, from the very first corner of season, where Hamilton overtook Alonso, it became obvious this wouldn’t be the case. As the season progressed, and with Lewis not only matching Alonso but beating him, things came to a head in Hungary, when during qualifying Alonso delayed Hamilton in the pits from completing his hot lap, after Lewis had earlier not let Fernando past in the session. From that moment on things quickly escalated, and then came “spygate”, where it had turned out that McLaren had confidential information regarding Ferrari. Fernando had emails of this, and threatened Ron that he would expose this to the FIA, but they were already opening up a case on it. McLaren got heavily punished. Alonso finished the season third in the standings, tied with Lewis, with Kimi Räikkönen taking the title at the final race in Interlagos. Alonso and McLaren decided to terminate the contract with immediate effect and no compensation payout.
Fernando returned to Renault for the next couple of seasons, where he was involved in more controversy. During the inaugural Singapore GP, Alonso’s team-mate, Nelson Piquet, Jr. crashed into the wall and brought out the safety car. This helped Fernando to take the lead and go on and win the race. A year later, it came out that Nelson had been ordered to crash intentionally to bring out the safety car and aid Fernando for the win.
In 2010, Alonso started his five year marriage with Ferrari. Even though up against the dream combo of an Adrian Newey designed Red Bull and the driving talent of Sebastien Vettel, he came extremely close on two occasions to gaining that much coveted third title. It is in this period that Fernando gained and enhanced his reputation as the best driver of his generation. After another fruitless year in 2013, and with rumours of a return to Mclaren, Fernando made it clear in end of season interviews that 2014 was a pivotal year for Ferrari. With all the new rule changes with the new power units, much was expected of Ferrari. It turned out to be their worst year since 1993, and ended up not winning a single race. The speculation that began a year ago now came to truth, and in December 2014, Alonso agreed to join McLaren for the second time.
Will it work this time? To answer that, we must first look back why it didn’t in the first place. Fernando came to McLaren in 2007, as a 25 year old hothead on the back of winning two world titles, with the fastest car on track, which was expected to win from the getaway. His team-mate was a rookie, who many thought, including himself, would not be a threat to him. His relationship with Team Principal, Ron Dennis, completely broke down, and the pair didn’t talk for years. His frustration at Hamilton in Hungary, and the resulting fallout from this, angered him in to making threats about revealing those discriminating emails.
Now, looking at these points, and bringing us into the present day, I will explain why it will work this time round. Fernando is not a 25 year old hothead any more, but a more mature 33 year old, who is still seeking that third exclusive title, and feels he running out of time to achieve it. He will want to put his best efforts into gaining that before he moves on from F1. McLaren are not the fastest car on track now, and haven’t had a race win since 2012. With this and the first year of a new engine supplier, then the focus will not be on beating the team-mate as in much as trying to get performance and reliability to become competitive enough. It will be more of a harmonious relationship of a developing team that is trying to achieve something together, than the intense intra team battle of a developed fastest car on the grid. Honda are an exciting prospect, and many believe they could be the dominant force in the next couple of years if they get it right. His team-mate is not a rookie, but an experienced and older driver, who is expected to beat him from time to time. Fernando and Ron have met many times in the last year or so, and have been very open and honest to each other on what went wrong and the way forward. They may not become best buddies, but F1 isn’t a sport for friendship, not at the top anyway, and both men have a great desire to succeed. Also, Dennis isn’t the Team Principal any more, Eric Bouiller is, and he seems an easier man to work with, whilst still been driven to win himself.
In short, Alonso is older, wiser, and a better overall driver. McLaren are driven, enthusiastic, and desperate to be a winning team again. The only thing that will prevent this from working out is really Honda and the car itself. If Honda really do deliver the goods, and McLaren can make it work, then the Dream will become the Reality.
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