“It’s definitely some big challenges we have ahead now this winter, but I see all the things that the team has done in the last couple of months and they all seem very logical and very positive and I’m confident it is going to be a completely different season next year”.
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Honda’s troubled F1 return resulted in McLaren switching its focus to next season earlier than most squads, with Alonso and team-mate Jenson Button declaring on multiple occasions that the emphasis was simply on testing for the future.
Button joined McLaren as world champion in 2010 and raced alongside Hamilton until 2012, when his fellow countryman left to join Mercedes.
“If he’s in front of you, you’re holding on, and if he’s behind you, he’s pushing you along”, he continued. “I’m excited to be here in Abu Dhabi, with the 44th UAE national day and I’m here to try to win that 44th race, so it’s cool how it all kind of ties in”.
“It was a tough year”, said Alonso.
During their three seasons as teammates, Hamilton twice finished fourth in the drivers’ championship to Button’s fifth, while Button was second and Hamilton fifth in 2011.
Button has scored five more points than Alonso this season, but the Briton said that was coloured by the reliability problems suffered by McLaren in a hard first season for their partnership with engine supplier Honda.
“And on other race days, it was like, ‘where is he?'”
“Before this year he [Alonso] was regarded as the best driver in Formula 1”.
Should McLaren finish year down in ninth place it will be the team’s worst showing in the championship since 1980. “It’s incredible how quickly people forget”.
“He’s very talented, he’s a very rounded driver, a very complete driver”.
“But that’s great, I like that, I think that’s important in a team”.
Speaking to Sky Sports News HQ’s Rachel Brookes, Lewis Hamilton says he wouldn’t have changed anything from the 2015 season.
“I don’t agree with him”.
McLaren-Honda’s maelstrom of technical woes, however, arguably make comparisons inconsequential. “But sometimes you can luck into finishing a race when you’re in a good position”.
Britain’s two leading racers were teammates at McLaren for three years.
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“Having an experienced teammate is also exciting because when you do get to go out in qualifying together, or race together, at least you have the fight, in our situation”, he said.
