McLaren sure of improvements after dismal Austrian GP
McLaren Honda suffered another difficult weekend in Austria where both its cars were out of the race by lap 8. With Alonso eliminated by Raikkonen on lap one, Jenson Button did few more laps before a sensor failure forced him to retire his car.
McLaren was looking forward to the Austrian Grand Prix, set to make it a test session as it had fitted both cars with a new engine after Friday's running. Both cars were differently set up, with only Alonso having the new shorter nose on his car, but in the end the team failed to gather the data it had hoped for.
Fernando retired on lap one after Kimi Raikkonen lost control of his Ferrari ahead of him, at the exit of Turn Two. The collision resulted in both cars crashing spectacularly, immediately prompting a Safety Car to clear the debris.
"I got a good start, and made up a lot of places into Turn One and Turn Two", Alonso said. "Kimi ahead of me had started on the Prime tyre, and he exited Turn Two with a lot of wheelspin – I went to overtake him and he lost the car to the left, and that's exactly where I was – so we both went into the wall. Luckily, we're both fine. It was a strange incident, because he lost the car in fifth gear, so it must have been very low grip."
Jenson Button boxed under the Safety Car to fit Prime tyres, with the aim of running an effective 'one-stopper' to the finish. He then took a 10-second stop-go (a part of yesterday's grid penalty), but was then ordered by his engineers to retire the car as a precaution after suffering an intake system sensor failure. The failure limited power, and the team opted not to risk unnecessary damage on the engine.
Team principal Eric Boullier looked at the situation a bit philosophical.
"Murphy's Law famously states 'Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong'; as far as McLaren-Honda is concerned, this afternoon proved it 100 per cent correct.", Boullier said.
"Having been relegated to the very back of the grid owing to a series of penalties, our drivers started today's grand prix in 19th and 20th positions. Before the race was even a lap old, however, Fernando was out, following contact with Kimi's Ferrari. It was a pretty big shunt, so the most important point is that no-one was badly hurt.
"A few laps later, Jenson's race had come to an end also, as a result of an intake system sensor failure.
"These are difficult days for all at McLaren-Honda, in Woking as well as in Sakura, but we won't let our heads drop. Okay, I admit it, the going is getting tough; but, guess what, when the going gets tough, the tough get going; well, we're tough, and we'll get going; just you wait and see."
Silverstone should be another performance step forward, with Honda set to introduce performance updates and McLaren scheduling the debut of a new lighter monocoque.
Fernando remains in Austria for this week's test – he'll run on Tuesday, with GP2 championship leader Stoffel Vandoorne running on Wednesday.
