Alonso lived a nightmare with Honda in his time at McLaren after saying goodbye to Ferrari, getting just 82 points in three seasons to forget before experiencing the first year with a Renault engine and saying ‘Hasta Later’.
The history of Formula 1 is full of technical relationships that have marked an era in the queen category of motorsport, a before and after that has taken those involved in them to the top, ahead of some rivals who have been able to do little to placate a mechanical superiority that has eclipsed the rest of the grid.
The hegemony that Mercedes established from 2014, the year in which the German giant was proclaimed world champion in the ‘Great Circus’ for the first time, continues to this day, since, although Max Verstappen reported on Lewis Hamilton in the drivers’ championship, those commanded by Toto Wolff secured their eighth consecutive constructors’ title in 2021, thus consolidating the longest streak in this regard.
Ayrton Senna’s triumphs with that red and white McLaren they enthralled a young Fernando Alonso who could not take off the television as a child, a passion that his father captured in a go-kart that replicated said livery as, after his sister discarded it, it served him to get started in the world of motorsports.
the return of Sling to Formula 1 in 2015, the manufacturer of the engine with which the three-time Brazilian champion carried out his feat, was key in Alonso’s decision to leave Ferrari to head for a McLaren that was willing to repeat the achievements of the past, something which ultimately turned out to be impossible.
dark years
The continuous dropouts and penalties that weighed down the Spaniard and Jenson Button, also Stoffel Vandoorne later on, made the less friendly face of #14 come out already in a first year that left them as the last team with points: 27, which was enough for them to overcome in the table only to Marussia.
The «GP2 engine» (“GP2 engine”) of the Spaniard during the Japanese Grand Prix, precisely the home race for Honda, did a lot of damage at the time, even causing the Japanese to remember Alonso after his second victory of 2019 with a tweet incendiary.
The breakdown of the relationship between Alonso and Honda was evident, a inflection point that prevented him from even considering the option of Red Bull for nurturing Japanese power units or participating alongside Andretti in the 2020 Indy 500.
New chapter
However, Alonso assures that this three-year period for oblivion is already history. “Obviously when they left McLaren, I think they were not at a point of dreaming of the title in Formula 1», declared the man from Oviedo. “However, they did a very good job, they appointed the right people. It seems to me that they changed management, introduced a new philosophy and got the job done.”
![Alonso, "sad" by Honda's goodbye to F1: "I hope they come back" Alonso, "sad" by Honda's goodbye to F1: "I hope they come back"](https://cdn-images.motor.es/image/m/694w/fotos-noticias/2022/01/alonso-triste-honda-202284212-1642194575_2.jpg)
«I am very happy for themI am sad that they are leaving now, but I hope they will come back, “he added, focusing his speech on the fact that from now on Red Bull will take over the Honda engines to develop them by itself.
«I was talking to Yamamoto during the last 3-4 Grands Prix, because I have a very good connection with him. He was the one who allowed me to try MotoGP and others, and we still have a very good relationship. He was the first one I congratulated after Max in the parc fermé, so I’m happy for them,” Alonso concluded.