Another disappointing day for McLaren

McLaren took more pain at Monza this weekend, taking an engine penalty which could help them at the end of the season. The race was just what we thought it would be for the team though, falling back through the order after taking another engine penalty, something which might help them at the end of the season.

Fernando Alonso’s day finished early though, with a loss of power from the Honda engine, “I got a good start today, then a couple of cars made contact at the first corner, which slowed me down. Then, at the second chicane, I came close to Jenson and eventually lost all the advantage I’d gained.

“Jenson and I were on two different tyre strategies, to try to cover all possible opportunities. I was on the prime, which was one second slower than the option, so I had a slower first stint, but then I was a bit quicker in the second.

“In the final laps, I felt a loss of power and was told to retire the car, so as not to cause further damage. We were outside the points anyway, so it was a wise decision.”

Jenson Button had been running as high as 9th at the start of the race, but when the Renault powered came through the order he fell back to 14th, “I had a good start, and took some cars into Turn One. The whole first lap was good – there were a lot of incidents, and I think I got up into ninth.

“Then, unfortunately, I just waited for the other cars to come by. It was a bit difficult out there, because the other drivers were overtaking me in places that I didn’t previously think were possible, so I had to look in my mirrors on the entry to every corner.

“At the end, I missed out on a good race with my team mate. We’d already had a good little fight for three laps, and there were six to go when he retired. I think it would’ve been a good fight between us – it’s easy for other cars to overtake us, but it’s not easy for us to overtake each other, so it would’ve been quite fun.”

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