Fernando Alonso said ciao to F1, but he never stopped racing and his love for speed remained intact. But why did the man decide to bid adieu to Formula 1? It was because of an engine maker. “The engine feels great! Much slower than usual,” said a distraught Fernando Alonso, as he was enduring a miserable stint in the McLaren-Honda partnership. They had gotten the car so wrong that Fernando Alonso declared it was as fast as a GP2 engine. However, now when everything seems like a fairy tale, is there a villain from the past waiting for the Spaniard?
Honda does not seem to have a partner for the future even after signing up as an engine manufacturer for the 2026 F1 season. And with Red Bull already having jumped ships to partner with Ford, the Japanese company doesn’t have many options left. And a team that has nailed the winter break seems like the right fit.
According to information gathered by Motorsport.com, Roberto Chinchero wrote, “Honda’s top management has currently moved in only one direction, and that is that of Aston Martin. It is no mystery that the ambitions of team owner, Lawrence Stroll, are to bring the team to compete for the world title, and the agreement with Mercedes, which proved to be vital for the growth of the structure, could become a limit in the long run. It is unlikely that a customer team can prevail over its official team, especially if (as happens today) it inherits the complete rear end.”
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While the man’s latest stint at McLaren was a nightmare, his previous one wasn’t a very happy one either. What happened the first time around?
Fernando Alonso-McLaren, a love story that couldn’t be
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Fernando was the reining double world champion when he decided to shift base from Renault and arrived at McLaren in 2007. And his problematic partnership with Lewis Hamilton became the reason why he departed. The issues had risen to a level where the team principal Ron Dennis had said that the team wasn’t racing Felipe Massa, instead they were racing Alonso.
“The situation that season was not well-managed by our bosses,” Alonso recalled to the Daily Mail. He further added, “We were young. We were immature. We were many of the things we are not now, and we needed help from the management that we didn’t get. I couldn’t continue with McLaren. It was a team with eyes totally one side of the garage.”
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Do you think the McLaren horror show from Alonso’s past will creep up into his happy life at Aston Martin? Let us know in the comments below.