McLaren in trouble in Japan

In view of the recent performances of the Honda-powered MP4-31, McLaren hoped to show itself to its advantage on the lands of its engine manufacturer Honda. Despite its improved Power Unit, Fernando Alonso was only able to rank 15th, two positions ahead of his teammate Jenson Button, who was blocked in Q1.

Obviously disappointing performances for Eric Boullier's men, but which find precise explanations according to the Woking clan: the MP4-31 does not have the best qualities to face the Japanese track.

“Suzuka is a beautiful circuit, but the truth is that our car is poorly suited to its long straights and medium and high speed corners, admits the competition director of McLaren Racing.

As always, we will do our best tomorrow to try to score points in the championship, but to be honest it will probably be a tough fight. »

“We struggle with our performance at high speeds as well as in a straight line, so it was difficult to know which direction to take in terms of support and balance, comments Alonso for his part.

It seems like our performance is changing from track to track, and we need to analyze that to find out exactly why we seem to be underperforming here. »

So much so that Fernando Alonso is waiting for outside help to try to get back into the points in the race. “Unless it rains tomorrow, it's going to be difficult for us to recover enough positions during the Grand Prix to score points. But I'm going to attack tomorrow, I have nothing to lose. »