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Fernando Alonso admits that he is disappointed after the first day of running. The McLaren suffered from reliability issues early on, and only managed 29 laps yesterday, the lowest of anybody.
McLaren have been plagued with reliability problems since their reunion with Honda back in 2015, and Alonso says that he can't help but think about the past difficulties.
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Fernando Alonso Admits 2026 Could Be His Farewell Season
"I cannot hide that I am disappointed," said Alonso. "Of course you think about what happened in the past, but I can say that there is nothing dramatically wrong with the current project," he is quoted by the Spanish press.
"After the many problems in the last two years, the temptation is there to say bad things, but that does not help us. We have to continue working to gain the power and the downforce we did not have last year," Alonso said.
At the same time, boss Boullier was back-pedalling on earlier claims that while McLaren is "ready" to win races, he is not sure if the same can be said of Honda.
"I didn't say that," the Frenchman insisted. "I simply said that I can only talk about McLaren because I know what we have done. If you ask if McLaren is ready to win, I say yes, of course -- always."
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Replies (4)
Login to replymclarenfan1968
Posts: 1,027
...and so it begins. That didn't take long.
f1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
Alonso to retire confirmed
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
If this season doesnt work out, Alonso is bound to ditch McLaren. I sort of suspected that Boullier's words had sort of been interpreted in the wrong way, his clarification make sense. But I think they should begin talking about them more as a whole, Honda is after all McLaren's works partner, and Im sure they are as eager to improve as McLaren is. I just hope these first two days wont be representative of their PU quality this year.
ZUKMAN
Posts: 40
Taking one PU at a time.