I think that the McLaren is fine, it's the Honda engines which are rubbish. Honda has reverted to being Honda. They are a company of tinkerers. We saw this when Button last drove for them.
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In the opinion of many automotive journalists, Honda is not just a company run by the tinkering engineers, but it's also the company composed of the most stubborn ones. These people religiously believe that their way is the right way, and they keep on doing things their way, always. Another problem is that according to many, Honda lost its way some time in the early 00s. They really should have moved their F1 engine building business into UK. At this point, Honda's involvement in F1 is looking just very bad. Their current return into F1 is looking worse than Porsche's in 1991. How could such great automotive companies go so wrong..
Here is the question for the experts: which drivers did not screw up something and run a great race from beginning to the end?
Felipe baby?
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From what I read, Sky is reporting that Alonso didn't retire the car due to a genuine reliability problem, but that it was a protest against the team for giving him a dog unable to finish in the points.
As much as I am aware that he is a prima donna, this sounds a bit too hard to be real. But then again, I wonder why Sky would report this without some kind of evidence.
I can't say I could blame him if he did something like that, but it didn't look to me like that's what happened. He was in 12th, and then appeared to suddenly lose ground dramatically, dropping to 14th in the space of a few corners. Of course, he could have just decided "screw it, I'm done" and backed off, but I wouldn't have thought he would do that so close to the end while in 12th, with the possibility of other retirements ahead of him.
He didn't have a *total* engine failure; rather there was a sudden and non-catastrophic drop in power, and maybe he could have limped to the end rather than pulling in to the garage. Maybe somebody is reporting on that?
Racing tends to be static. A lot of the drivers performance is dictated by their cars and whatever problems they have. Also by taking advantage of others misfortune. There's not many opportunities for the driver to influence the result.
So with that in mind. For someone unproven like Bottas. I thought his start and entry into the first corner, and first few laps, was of sufficient authority that it gives an indication he could've done more without any tyre issues. The start and first corner entry was a moment where he could falter if he wasn't up to it.
During the broadcast , they mentioned that they had heard reports that some Spanish friends of Zo had said that he would retire on the last lap as a protest if there was no way to get points .
I understand he has denied doing so .
Of course , given that they are so far behind , and were set to test at the track the next day , it would have been a good decision to have retired because having it in the garage for the trophy ceremonies instead of out there for the duration , giving the mechanics far more time to work .
Smart move , really , even if the only "problem" he encountered was being under-powered .
The un-edited radio transcript reveals all:
Alonso: Engine problem, I am retiring the car
McLaren: What's the engine problem Fernando?
Alonso: The problem is it has a big H on the top