Two-time Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso has had enough of the current situation he finds himself in at McLaren Honda.
After being sold a project by McLaren under their new partnership with the Japanese manufacturer, Alonso regular towed the party line.
But as time has passed his patience has become thinner and thinner and now, in the final year of his contract the gloves are off.
Alonso was forced to retire from the Australian Grand Prix due to a suspension fault.
Having qualifying 13th and running in the top 10 for most of the race it was a performance by McLaren that surprised many.
However, Alonso believes that the characteristics of the Albert Park track helped McLaren hide the fact that team-mate Vandoorne was slowest through the speed traps in qualifying and Alonso third last.
‘I was driving one of my best races so far and we were surprisingly in the points all race long,’ Alonso told Sky Sports.
‘We are last in terms of performance. We were 10th because the qualifying lap [Saturday] was extremely good, at the start I managed to gain one position and then [Romain] Grosjean’s retirement gave us the other one.
‘In normal conditions on a normal circuit we should be last and second last.
‘We had to do a huge fuel-saving which was hurting us a lot but we managed to keep the position. It was a surprise to be so high but at the end we couldn’t finish and we need to be more competitive soon.’
Alonso’s criticism of Honda has seen Honda F1 chief Yusuke Hasegawa claim that Honda will have developed a new power-unit ready for the end of May.
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