McLaren lost for words to express disappointment at Canada

The post-race comments from McLaren's drivers and Eric Boullier made it ever more clear that the team is increasingly getting exhausted by the current engine situation. While all remained considered, the comments spoke for themselves.

The team noted that for the first time this season, they dared to hope for a points finish, and that it would have probably felt like a win if it worked, but another engine failure put a blunt halt to it when Fernando Alonso's engine gave up 2 laps from the finish, due to a loss of oil pressure . At the time, he was running 10th.

Alonso also didn't miss the change to repeat that the McLaren chassis in his opinion is where it should be, and that all focus on now on Honda to get things sorted.

“As a driver, we try to come here and drive as fast as we can, so missing on that point is disappointing especially for the guys, who have been working so much day and night, preparing the car, preparing the strategy and taking care of every single detail.

“Our chassis feels quite strong in the corners, but we are being overtaken by everyone in the middle on the straights. It’s tough times."

The Spaniard interestingly didn't mention fuel saving, and he sure did seem less affected by it than his team mate Stoffel Vandoorne. The Belgian blamed his struggles at Canada on the engine, and the difficulties it causes for him to drive the car.

“It was a difficult race. I think we more or less knew that before the start. We found it tough on the straights, and also the amount of fuel saving we had to do today really hurt us. The closing speed of the other cars was really impressive, so we were a bit of a sitting duck. In the end, we made it to the finish, but it’s not the result we were hoping for.

“It’s incredibly difficult to stay with the group ahead, and when we can stay with the group we are vulnerable and don’t have the power to defend, so we have to invent some tricks to keep the other cars behind, and then it all starts to become very challenging."

Team principal Eric Boullier probably summed it up best, after dubbing Alonso's engine failure as 'gut wrenching'.

"It's difficult to find the right words to express our disappointment, our frustration and, yes, our sadness. So I'll say only this: it's simply, and absolutely, not good enough."