Eight races into the season, and the championship table has settled into a pattern. At the front is the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, who look to continue the intensity of their 2014 championship battle and take the title to the wire. Ferrari are lagging behind, with the best-of-the-rest tag, and a resurgent Williams edging to challenge them for second. Red Bull are between Williams and the quartet battle of Force India, Lotus, Sauber and Toro Rosso. Finally, McLaren find themselves taking up the rear with Manor.
It is uncharted territory for the Woking outfit, and falls well below the expectations for Honda’s comeback season in the sport. Whilst Jenson Button scored eighth place in Monaco, giving himself and the team four points, Fernando Alonso is still to put his name on the scoreboard. Austria saw him pick up the unwanted record of his fourth consecutive non-finish. The previous record was three consecutive non-finishes in his rookie season in 2001 for Minardi. It seems the dream might be turning into a nightmare, and critics are wandering: will Fernando Alonso regret his McLaren move?
Honda first announced their intention to join forces with McLaren again in F1 in 2013, with a view to entering the new V6 era in 2015. Even though they joined a year after the V6s debuted, and were behind the rest of the other manufacturers in development, there was optimism that Honda’s knowledge and resources would counter this. However, pre-season testing showed the multitude problems that Honda and McLaren would face this season, and even though progress has been made, McLaren are a long way off competing at the front.
Where has it gone wrong? As the old saying goes, to finish first, first you have to finish, and this lies McLaren’s biggest problem. Out of a potential 16 finishes, McLaren have only achieved five, and they haven’t completed a race since Monaco. They have suffered numerous technical issues every weekend, from FP1 to race day, which is hindering their development. When they have finished, they always seem a bit off the pace, with only one points finish out of five. The reason behind the lack of speed is due to the power unit being turned down, to aid the car to finish a race.
With the resurgence of Ferrari, will the Spainard be doubting his decision to leave the team? Only Alonso can truthfully answer this question. In his five years at Ferrari, Fernando lost two championships at the last race, and Ferrari were constantly second fiddle to the dominant Red Bulls. This was part of the decision of Alonso’s departure, as he was fed up with always coming second.
Mercedes have now replaced Red Bull as the dominant team in F1, and Ferrari, even though they have had a change of personnel, still find themselves lagging behind. If the Spainard had stayed at Ferrari, he would still be suffering the same frustrations. Another thing is the mentality of the challenge taken on. This has always been deemed a long-term project, and even though their start has been alarmingly poor, it was never expected that they would be competing in their first year.
At last week’s post-race test in Austria, Alonso tweeted a picture of him in the car stating how happy he was, and with good reason. McLaren clocked up nearly 200 laps over the two days. It is an encouraging sign, and with Silverstone around the corner, the team will hope for at least a double finish in their home race. McLaren’s biggest problem is the reliability, or lack of it. Once this issue can be resolved, then the power unit can be turned up. Critics and experts have stated that McLaren’s chassis is very good, so when the PU is increased, the feeling is that the car performance will massively improve, and be able to compete for podium places.
At the moment, Alonso will not be regretting his transfer from Ferrari. If the long term project does come to full fruition, and deliver the wins and titles he and the team crave, then this period will be seen as little more than foundation work. If, however, McLaren are nowhere near the front next year, then the positive tweets will disappear, and the smiles in the paddock will be replaced by the frustration of a man seeking that third title.
