McLaren driver Fernando Alonso says “there is no reliability, and there is no power,” from his Honda engine, and believes the team is giving away 30km/h to its rivals on the straights.
McLaren, entering the third year of its reformed partnership with Honda, has struggled across pre-season testing, amid a lack of speed and reliability.
Alonso finished 12th of the 14 participants during Wednesday’s second day of the second test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, amassing only 46 laps, as McLaren completed the least mileage of any team.
When asked to analyse the MCL32 chassis, Alonso expanded on its challenging pre-season to date.
“The chassis side is difficult as we are not pushing the speed [like] the others are doing because [of] a lack of power,” he said.
“So the chassis: everything feels good, it feels under control, the car is responding well to changes, everything is working fine, I’m happy with the balance, I’m happy [in terms of] how to attack the corner and I’m enjoying driving this car.
“I don’t think we are too far back in terms of chassis side, we have only one problem and that is the power unit, there is no reliability, and there is no power, I think we are 30km/h down on the straight, every straight.
“When you are 30km/h down on every straight it’s difficult also to have a feeling on the car, everything feels good but when you arrive to normal speed you don’t know what is going to happen.”
Alonso added that he expects a “big reaction” from the team, with only two days of pre-season remaining prior to the curtain-raiser in Australia.
“McLaren has been dominating the sport for many years, fighting for the championship for many years,” he said.
“When you think of McLaren you are afraid of them when you are an opponent as you know McLaren will sort things quickly, as a big team.
“So this is what we need, we need a reaction from everyone, to stay united, working close to each other, but definitely a big reaction that I expect from the team immediately.”
Alonso nevertheless took solace from Red Bull's build-up to the 2014 campaign, during which the team endured a troubled pre-season period before emerging as Mercedes' primary challenger.
"I remember in 2014 Red Bull was doing like seven laps in winter testing and won two or three Grands Prix that year, so let’s say that the season is long enough that you can have time to react," he commented.
