Alonso: McLaren reliability ‘a step backwards’

Fernando Alonso has vented his frustration at McLaren’s recent poor run of reliability and is bracing for ‘double pain’ following his mechanical retirement from the Italian Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver saw his final race at Monza before retiring from Formula 1 end after just nine laps when he suffered engine misfires before being forced to pit when his car lost power.

Alonso has now failed to reach the chequered flag in six of the past nine races largely due to mechanical issues, albeit with his DNF at the Belgium Grand Prix triggered by the dramatic first-corner crash, and fears McLaren’s reliability record has worsened compared to the start of the season.

“It is a shame because we were in the points,” Alonso said. “The reliability of the team seems to make a step backwards. Very early I started to feel some misfire on the engine, something was happening in Turns 7 and 8. And then we tried to solve it but it was not possible.

“The car switched off, and I came rolling to the pit lane. Quite unlucky the last two races, especially even more today as we were in the points. We definitely need to improve that for the remaining races.”

The two-time F1 world champion, who will fly to the US this week for an IndyCar test ahead of his mooted switch to the US series for 2019, is also expecting to take an engine penalty later this year due to his latest mechanical failure.

“We decided to not change the engine to not get a penalty in these races hoping for points,” he said. “Now, later on in the season we will have to change the engine and start last. So it is a double pain.”