Fernando Alonso Q&A: McLaren-Honda can give me third title

Fernando Alonso started the 2007 season with McLaren, a third drivers’ championship firmly in his sites. It never happened, and less than a year later he had moved on. Now he’s back, older and wiser, but still with that same elusive goal. So why the return, and what makes things different this time around?

Q: Joining McLaren-Honda shows huge belief and commitment. Could you talk us through the process that brought you to your decision, and tell us what it was that persuaded you McLaren-Honda was the best team?
Fernando Alonso: First of all, I have to say that my first go-kart was a McLaren-Honda replica, I was three years old. When it was announced this partnership was coming back together last year it was already quite attractive option. It was a tough decision for me, leaving Ferrari, which is obviously quite an important step for any driver’s career. But I joined this project because it is the one I believe can give me the best results and a third world championship. I visited the factory in Japan and the McLaren factory and I saw enough things to give me the necessary trust and confidence that many good things will come. Obviously this started one and a half years ago, so I have to say thanks also to Martin Whitmarsh, to Eric [Boullier], to Ron [Dennis], to Yasuhisa [Arai] for all their convincing conversations. I am extremely happy already to be part of this partnership. Now it is time to work; hopefully we can bring back some good results as soon as possible.

Q: Honda are coming back from a six-year absence, and you’ll be working with them to get that success. How long a road do you think it is going to be before you have the car underneath you to take the chequered flag in first?
FA: I think we have to be realistic. We have to be confident, because we have all the resources and the technical people that can put us in a very competitive position, but we have to be realistic at the same time. Last year was not super competitive for McLaren, 2015 will be the first races for Honda with very technologically complex power units, so I think we have to put it together step by step. It is difficult to say when we will be competitive enough to win, but everyone has to be sure that we will give 100 percent commitment and determination to achieve it as soon as possible. I think we can do it: there are already signs that things are moving in the right direction.

Q: You drove for McLaren before of course, and you have been part of the DNA. Do you agree with Ron that there is some unfinished business to attend to?
FA: One hundred percent right. I felt this already when I left. I brought the No.1 cockpit when I joined from Renault in 2007, and now I want to do that again from the inside. It is something I want so much. I have achieved some good things in my career, some titles, and even when not winning races some reputation and good respect from everybody. But there is still one thing that was not right, the 2007 experience, and now we will do this.

Q: A quick word about the men who will be working alongside you, Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen. They are going to be a pretty good couple of guys to have alongside you aren’t they?
FA: I am looking forward to working with them. Obviously I’ve known Jenson for many years, he is a true gentleman and a great sportsman, very professional and committed. And I think with the experience we both have we can help Honda with the first steps of their power unit. Together with Kevin - the best rookie last year - sure we will help the team and learn from each other: from the speed, the experience, I think we have a very strong team. And with young drivers for the future, it always brings fresh ideas and opens your eyes sometimes. I am extremely happy. The other teams should hopefully be worried.

Q: Fernando, it is no secret that you had quite a poor relationship with Ron back in 2007. How hard was it to rebuild that, and what gives you the confidence you are not going to run into similar problems again?
FA: From 2007, with the years, things get a little bit exaggerated. It was not the best feeling in 2007. We arrived with good motivation and we fought for the championship, but in the end we split for different reasons. But as I said before, all those years I had only one feeling remaining to do: I was happy with everything I had done apart from 2007. I didn’t achieve, didn’t deliver, the best of myself. So now seven years later, more mature, you learn things and understand things probably you didn’t at 25 years old, and now I arrive to finish this job I started in 2007. This was the first priority to come back. Ron and I have spoken a lot during the year, we have been together for some dinners and I want to say some hotel rooms but it sounds very bad (laughs). And you know, we both understand ultimately that we both are extremely competitive, we love motor racing - so much that sometimes we didn’t agree. But as I said, when you are 25 you think differently.

You have to be honest with yourself - as long as you are, you think back and learn from the things you did. It is time to think of the future, and to be happy and competitive. That is what we want from this partnership. The other side, it is no longer 2007: it is not McLaren-Mercedes, it is McLaren-Honda, which is a completely different thing in my opinion. Jenson is not Lewis [Hamilton], which is completely different, and I am not the same as 2007. I had two years on my contract if I wanted at a very fantastic atmosphere. I am sitting here, ready for this challenge with McLaren-Honda, because I see no problems at all. I see this as a winning project: that is very clear.

Q: It could seem like a risk coming to McLaren: they haven’t won a race for two years, and the Honda engine is as yet unproven. What convinced you this was the right place to come to search for that third world title?
FA: I think in F1 there is not a mathematical formula for belief, but there are some feelings that put you in one or other direction and I think this was very important to see the commitment from Honda in Japan, the factory and facilities there are quite impressive. I think the new guys coming to McLaren, the technical staff, were quite important also in my decision. And I think the McLaren-Honda name and partnership is something that in my case I grew up with on television. Then you become a professional race driver, drive through different formulas and then arrive in F1 and one day see McLaren-Honda come back after 23 years and they have interest in you driving their new project… you jump in, simple as that.

Q: You’ve made it clear you don’t expect to win the championship in 2015, but what level of performance will be enough?
FA: We can never say we will not win the world championship, who knows. But as I said we have to be realistic, knowing that the deficit on the chassis side was important I think for McLaren this year, and the power unit is something we need to put in place and get experience [with]. Hopefully we can get everything right from the first race, but you never know. The 2014 cars showed us how complex this F1 is. But we will see. I think a reasonable level of competitiveness will be to fight for podiums, hopefully to win races in 2015 - that will be a good sign for our future. We will see how things develop, because if we can manage to have a good winter, have a little bit of luck… we saw even this year the big advantage Mercedes had, and we didn’t know if [Daniel] Ricciardo could fight for the championship until the end. So I think we have to put us in a good position, a competitive position, and after that it is up to Jenson and me as well to construct something.

Jenson Button Q&A: New McLaren deal worth the wait

 

 McLaren finally put to rest weeks of internal debate on Thursday by announcing that Jenson Button's Formula One career will continue into a 16th season, with the Briton partnering new signing and fellow world champion Fernando Alonso for 2015.

But while the delay might have been agonising, Button insists such a 'special' opportunity - both in terms of driving for McLaren-Honda and going up against the driver widely regarded as the best in the field - was well worth waiting for...

Q: Can we get your feelings about lining up on the grid for 2015? It will be your 16th season in Formula One racing - what will that mean to you?
Jenson Button: First of all it is very special to be sat up here as a race driver for McLaren-Honda, and alongside this guy [Alonso]. As you know it has been quite a long few weeks, but sometimes the best things in life are worth waiting for. My 16th year in F1, and more importantly my sixth with McLaren. I am not one to shy away from new challenges in life and I think this is a really exciting challenge; it really does mean a lot to me. To race alongside this guy is a big challenge, but an exciting challenge. I am very much looking forward to it.

Q: With regards to those negotiations, you mentioned they gave you an opportunity to reflect on life outside of F1 racing. Now you are back, what was it that made you decide your future was still in F1, and with McLaren-Honda?
JB: I did reflect on life outside F1 and it is nowhere near as fun as life inside from what I have seen. My heart has always been here, to race for McLaren and with Honda. I have had some very special times racing with Honda, and some difficult times as well, but there is a lot we can do together and achieve together which means a lot to me. It is definitely a decision that was worth waiting for, and I am very happy to be here now.

Q: Fernando is your 11th F1 team mate, and the third world champion to drive alongside you after Jacques Villeneuve and Lewis Hamilton. You are a world champion yourself of course, so how useful will it be to have a driver of Fernando's calibre alongside you next year? What will it be like having two world champions in the same team?
JB: For me in F1 it is so important having experience. To be racing alongside Fernando really does mean a lot: I think we all know what he has achieved in F1, not just his speed but how he works within a team, and how he is always there fighting. For me to have a team mate like that really does mean a lot. We have known each other since 2001, we were actually team mates at another team - I was racing and he was test driver, and then he took my seat for the next year (laughs). So we know each other pretty well. With 500 Grands Prix between us, I think we're pretty experienced, and I think we will play a major role helping McLaren-Honda achieve great things in the future.

Q: How have you felt over these past months, waiting for the decision between you and Kevin [Magnussen]?
JB: I think I've been very open in how I've felt over the last few weeks and months, I don't think there is any reason to comment further. The positive is where we are right now, and now we move on from there.

Q: Jenson, Ron Dennis said you provided some solutions in negotiations to enable [the deal]. You seem to have insisted on it being a multi-year deal. How important was that for you given the nature of this project? Would there have been any attraction in say one farewell season?
JB: I think we both agree that more than one year is a must. This is a new project, an exciting project. To be part of the legendary partnership between McLaren and Honda is not a one-year thing. I am very much looking forward to more than one year - I know we can't really talk about contract details, but it is not something I am doing just to be around for one year for. I am here to compete, to fight for the world championship, and whether that is in 2015 or future years, I am hopefully here for a long time.

Fernando Alonso returned to McLaren to make up for 2007 F1 season

Fernando Alonso says that he has returned to McLaren to finish the job he started in 2007, having described that year as the lowest point of his Formula 1 career.
The two-time world champion has rejoined the team he left in acrimonious circumstances seven years ago, and he says that the disappointment of that campaign is part of the reason behind him wanting to return for 2015.
"It was not the best feeling in 2007," Alonso said at the McLaren Technology Centre on Thursday.
"But in all the years since, inside I only had one thing remaining in Formula 1 to do.
"I was happy with everything I have done apart from 2007. I didn't achieve or deliver the best of myself.
"So now, some years later, you are more mature, you learn things, you understand things you didn't know at 25 years old.
"Now I arrive to finish the job that I started in 2007. This was the first and the main priority to come back."
McLaren boss Ron Dennis, who was at the centre of the storm with Alonso and Lewis Hamilton in 2007, said that the passing of time had relieved any tension from that year.
"In Formula 1 seven weeks is a lifetime - seven years is a huge amount of time," he said.
"I know the media will be looking for any kind of fracture in any part of the team's relationship, and especially Fernando and I.
"But I can tell you you'll be wasting your time. It isn't an issue.
"You always have challenges between drivers - I had them with Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna several times - but this one [2007] got away from us.
"I look back on my contribution to that with exactly the same emotion that Fernando expressed.
"You regret the mistakes you make in your life and sometimes you can't change what's happened.

"So could I have engineered a way out of it? I probably could have dealt with it better."
HAMILTON'S ROLE IN 2007
Dennis added that he believes Hamilton was a key player in the problems at McLaren escalating in 2007, rather than Alonso being solely to blame.
"To go back to that period, you look at this young guy, understandably perceived by many people as the chosen one," he said.
"But [he was] also someone who had immaturity, and really, who struck the first blow?
"I would say Lewis had his role to play in starting this process which escalated."
Alonso added: "As long as you are honest with yourself and you learn from the things you did, it's time to think of the future.
"This is not any more 2007 McLaren-Mercedes, this is McLaren-Honda which is a completely different thing in my opinion.
"Jenson [Button] is not Lewis, and I am not the same as in 2007.
"I am sitting here ready for this challenge because I see no problems at all and I see this as a winning project."

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone 'disappointed' in Sebastian Vettel

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone says he is disappointed in Sebastian Vettel for the way he behaved during his difficult 2014 campaign.
Ecclestone, who has been a long-time supporter of Vettel, believes the German adopted the wrong approach in getting frustrated by the troubles he had with poor reliability and a down-on-power Renault engine.
"I'm a super supporter of Sebastian, but I'm a little bit disappointed with his attitude, which I think has changed," said Ecclestone, in the foreword to the official Formula 1 season review.
"He's acting like a defeated guy, and he isn't - that's not his mentality.
"He's a competitive guy. He doesn't like losing at backgammon. Unfortunately, when he plays me, he does."
Ecclestone also suggests that Fernando Alonso could have acted better during a troubled second half to the season that resulted in him parting ways with Ferrari.
"Ferrari was very disappointing, getting lost somewhere," added Ecclestone.
"Fernando got a little bit like Sebastian halfway through, so I'm a little disappointed in him, too."

MERCEDES BATTLE SAVED SEASON
Ecclestone reckons, on the back of Mercedes' dominance, 2014 could have been a terrible season if the Brackley-based outfit had not let its drivers race against each other.
"If we hadn't been lucky with Nico [Rosberg] and Lewis [Hamilton] racing each other and one of them had got away and been dominant, the season would have been over by Silverstone," he said.
"I thought perhaps Ferrari or Red Bull or one of the other teams would catch up halfway through the season and make up a few points at the end
"We've been extremely lucky with what happened, these two guys have been racing each other and it's good that Mercedes allowed them to do that.
"If not, we would have had a really lousy championship."

Fernando Alonso admits leaving Ferrari F1 team was very difficult

Fernando Alonso says the decision to split with Ferrari and join Formula 1 rival McLaren next season was "very difficult".
McLaren has yet to officially confirm Alonso's deal to come back to Woking, while debate continues over whether Jenson Button or Kevin Magnussen should partner the Spaniard, but Alonso has finalised his own terms.
Although Alonso's relationship with Ferrari broke down over the summer, amid his overtures to rival teams and internal restructuring at Maranello, the double world champion said he was sad to be turning his back on the Scuderia after five seasons together.
"It is very difficult to close the door on Ferrari knowing that I will not work in this red colour next year," Alonso said following November's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
"That's a very, very difficult decision to make, but I guess that was the same for Felipe [Massa] last year - after a long relationship saying bye-bye to the team.
"But I miss being on the podium, I miss to celebrate with champagne, I miss to celebrate winning races, winning titles, and I think a new project for me will bring that possibility closer.
"Maybe not in one year's time, but in the future I have no doubts I will fight again."
Alonso said it would be tough for any team to topple the dominant Mercedes in 2015, but the Spaniard said he hoped his own results would be better after scoring just two podiums in 2014.
"I think with the Mercedes form this year, it is going to be tough for any team to recover that gap," Alonso added.
"But I hope to do better, and I hope to enjoy some battles, and podium positions, and a better performance."
NOT RULING OUT FERRARI RETURN
Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel will replace Alonso at Ferrari next year, but Alonso did not rule out returning to the Italian team in the future.
"I went from Renault to McLaren, and then I went back to Renault; I come to Ferrari, maybe I come back to the team," Alonso said.
"It seems the people who work with me give me one door open when it is normally the opposite of what I read - that I am very difficult to work with.
"At the end of the day, the teams I work with I can come back [to], so that is a good sign.
"At the moment it's not an option [to come back to Ferrari], because obviously if you say bye-bye you do not think five minutes later 'I will come back'."