He said his widely broadcast radio messages, in which he criticised the performance of his car’s Honda engine during the Japanese Grand Prix, were insignificant and had not upset Honda.
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Jenson Button has revealed the extraordinary lengths Ron Dennis and McLaren went to in their efforts to persuade him to stay in Formula One.
Double world champion Alonso vented his frustrations at another poor display by McLaren and their engine supplier Honda with a number of angry radio exchanges during the race.
Alonso was moved to describe the situation as “embarrassing” during the race and the likened Honda’s power unit to a “GP2 engine”.
“All season we have been very positive about the team and the vehicle”, said Alonso, who will celebrate his 250th Formula One start in Russian Federation on Sunday.
On Thursday he said the criticisms had been due to “the frustration of battling hard and being a competitive sportsman in the auto, racing hard and trying to give it all… fighting lap after lap and you keep being passed on the straight or before braking”.
“I hope not”, Coulthard added, “because he is a great champion and he deserves to win more titles than he has”.
But Raikkonen believes there are other channels a driver can use to criticise his team rather than just through the very public team radio.
“There were things that I felt I needed more information on, of where this team was going and that is why I spent a lot of time with Ron [Dennis] on the phone, but also at the MTC [McLaren Technology Centre] last week”.
“This is a very unique sport, that we have a microphone in our helmet and it goes live on television. Imagine that in the National Basketball Association or football”. Their engine has been underpowered and unreliable all year long.
“But I am happy that it was only broadcast in Suzuka because if you hear all the races, all the radio messages, from me or from Jenson you will be even more surprised”.
Because he has used more than the permitted five engines so far this season, that is a 10-place grid penalty in itself.
“But we’re concentrating on now, and there are going to be lots of changes within the team, with the power unit”.
At the Belgian Grand Prix this year at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, team McLaren incurred a record total of 105 place penalties after both drivers received new internal combustion engines.
Honda said there had also been “a minor reliability update on the turbo”.
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Button has had to do a few backtracking, too, after saying in Singapore last month there was no “joy” being in Formula One without competing at the front.
