A contrast of feelings has been the main scenario throughout this season for the Woking team, with Alonso and Ron Dennis’ ideas sometimes colliding.
Speaking to Autosport, the Spaniard says he doesn’t expect much more from this year’s McLaren, despite all the data they still collect that can help for the future.
“It is going to be difficult to see big progress. The limitations we have now are quite clear, and this requires a bit of time over the winter to make most of the progress.”
“But we are still using these remaining races for some set-up directions for next year, some aerodynamic improvements which might come to some races, and some more power unit experience.”
“Overall this year we are down on laps, we are down on mileage on the whole package, but every lap we do we are learning something, so I’m sure some very useful information for next year will come.”
However, despite the latest difficulties, especially when Alonso embarrassed Honda in their home Grand Prix, Ron Dennis remains optimistic towards the Japanese manufacturer, as reported by Motorsport.com
After spending some days in Tokyo in meetings with Honda senior staff, and also from the conversations between McLaren personnel and Honda’s in Suzuka, the Woking team chairman there is optimism on this partnership once again.
“I think the period I spent was extremely constructive and, over the course of this weekend, there have been discussions which are extremely constructive.”
“The way that you build relationships and achieve things together is by coming together and not going apart, and being transparent, and working together to solve the issues.”
However, more surprisingly is that, despite being well known that McLaren would have a tough season, Ron Dennis says that some of that pain was “necessary” to reach their future goals.
“You develop the engines as much as you want. There is total freedom away from the circuit and with the number of engines used.”
“Theoretically, in an ideal world, that should be every fourth races, but we’ve tried to move forward faster and that has affected reliability and made the whole thing challenging.
“In the end, this very acute pain that we have inflicted to a certain degree on ourselves is the fastest way to get back to where we need to get to.”
At the end of the day, Honda has a lot of work in hands but having the confidence from Ron Dennis can be a high motivation boost, and even Alonso, who was the harsher critic in Suzuka, showed some confidence: “I’m optimistic. The first results of next year seem OK, so let’s wait and see”
