Alonso's reckoning: good season despite car problems

W what do Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso have in common? Neither of them made any obvious mistakes this season. And both have dominated their teammates. “I'm 19-0 up in the training duel. I've never managed that in my career, ”Fernando Alonso looks back with relish. The Spaniard cannot mention often enough that he considers Stoffel Vandoorne to be the best of all young drivers.

He himself has become an even better driver this season. “The races in the WEC with Toyota and the test drives in an IndyCar broadened my horizons. They showed me things that I couldn't have learned in Formula 1. 'Examples? “How to handle tires and how to best use electrical energy. This impression from other series also helped me in Formula 1. 'Alonso has not yet specified his plans for 2019. He will end the WEC season, compete for a second time at Le Mans in June and probably also drive the Indy 500. “There's no news yet about Indy. I haven't bought any plane tickets yet. ”

McLaren turned in the wrong direction

This season, Alonso would like to score again at the end of his Formula 1 career for the time being. He sees greater opportunities in Interlagos than in Abu Dhabi. What the McLaren will lose on the home stretch, it can partly make up for in the corners. Especially in the race. “There are only six corners here,” Alonso lectures. I beg your pardon? Isn't it a total of 15 curves? “Yes, but you can only make up time in six of them.” Alonso lists them: 1, 4, 6, 8, 9 and 12.

Even if he only won Formula 1 next year Experienced from the viewer's perspective, he will keep a watchful eye on the scene. Alonso predicts a better future for McLaren next year. Because the team has not forgotten how to build racing cars, this year it only went astray with a few experiments. “We really had one of the best chassis in the field last year. Then unfortunately we turned in the wrong direction a few times. ”

The developments would not have delivered what they would have promised on paper. “That's why we ended up with bad compromises.” The engineers now know what they did wrong. They shouldn't make the same mistake again next year. “We recognized the problemsand have been experimenting with parts since July in order to be better positioned for next year. ”If McLaren proves to him in 2019 that the journey is back in the right direction, Formula 1 could be an issue for Alonso again in 2020.