A year on from his "GP2 engine" outburst at Honda's own circuit, Alonso has higher hopes for this year's Japanese GP
Monday 10 October 2016 10:50, UK
Fernando Alonso says Honda have made big progress in the last 12 months, as he returns to Suzuka a year on from his infamous "GP2 engine" radio outburst at McLaren partners' home race.
At last year's Japanese GP Alonso labelled the team's performance "embarrassing" and likened Honda's engine to one from F1's feeder series as he struggled to battle with cars down Suzuka's main straight.
A year on, and with the McLaren-Honda project now delivering more consistent points finishes, Alonso was asked to reflect on his Suzuka rant, although stopped short of expressing any regret.
"We changed a lot from last year," said Alonso. "The engine last year was not ready to compete so I said [that] from the beginning of the year in all the interviews.
"Our boss from Honda was saying in all the interviews at the beginning of the year that the project was immature, we were learning a lot of things and we were in a process to improve the engine. So I was not saying anything differently.
Driver ratings: Alonso shines in Malaysia
"This year we are all saying again the same thing: we have made a lot of progress and are happy with the direction that we are going and we are able to compete with the other teams finally."
Alonso has previously claimed his radio messages are played out on the world feed more often than other drivers', and added: "My radio messages are quite interesting all the time. I heard many, many radio messages from other drivers - world champion drivers - that don't have that impact.
"It means probably I'm funnier, or something like that, which is good!"
Up to sixth in this year's constructors' championship, McLaren have scored points in six of the last eight races and Alonso believes they can target being the fourth-quickest team at the remaining five rounds.
"It will be the target to be in the points both cars every single race and being in Q3 every single race," he said. "We know that in some circuits it's going to be tougher than others, so that will depend circuit to circuit, but we have that possibility in our hands.
"Even if we are not the fourth fastest, in Singapore that was Toro Rosso, with the starts, with strategy and experience we can still fight for seventh place in the races. It's possible and it's our aim to always be the fourth or fifth quickest team in every single race."
