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F1 Rewind: Most Hilarious Radio Messages From Fernando Alonso in his McLaren Honda Stint

Published 12/31/2019, 5:20 AM EST

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If there is one thing that many F1 fans miss about Fernando Alonso, it is his hilarious radio messages during the nightmarish McLaren-Honda stint. The Spaniard hung up his boots at the end of the 2018 season, and has left behind plenty of memories of his anguished shouts over the team radio.

GP2 engine

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It is no secret that the McLaren Honda was a 300+ kph disaster and it was woefully slow on many an occasion. Alonso and his teammates did everything in their power to extract every ounce of performance. However, the occasions where they were helpless against their rivals, were much more frequent.

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During the 2015 Japanese GP, Alonso was seriously struggling for pace and it clearly showed. Sometime in the middle of the race, he was just a sitting duck as he was being passed, left, right and centre.

As he was being overtaken by a Toro Rosso, Alonso’s frustration boiled over. He angrily screamed over the radio, “GP2 Engine! GP2 Engine! Argh!”

I love your sense of humour

During the 2015 Russian Grand Prix, the McLaren Honda was propping up the back of the field, as usual. Alonso was informed by the team on lap 34 that they were racing Felipe Massa till the end. Alonso’s only reply was, “I love your sense of humour”. Unfazed, the engineer replied, “Well maybe we can have some fun trying anyway.”

Even if you put on a rocket-ship

In the dying stages of the Q2 session of the 2018 Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, the heavens opened and the rainfall was very heavy. However, Fernando Alonso was scarcely bothered, in spite of his pit-wall asking him to take a call on the strategy.

McLaren asked him to choose between a new set of intermediate tires or full wet tires, but he suggested pitting and waiting to check out the conditions. The team then informed him that it he pitted then they would only have time for one timed lap. To which Alonso replied, “I don’t know, mate. Put whatever tyre you want! The last sector is impossible so, even if you put on a rocket-ship, we will still be 11th.”

Looking like amateurs

During the 2015 Canadian Grand Prix, McLaren informed Alonso that the car behind him was Felipe Massa who was seven seconds behind. The crew then instructed Alonso to save fuel, and that was when the Frustration Dam explodes spectacularly. He ranted that they were looking like amateurs, so he should either race or look after his fuel. At this point it was clear that the Spanish 2-time world champion was past caring.

The engine feels much slower than before

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During the 2017 Spanish Grand Prix weekend, there was more trouble for McLaren and Fernando Alonso as expected. So, a ‘resigned to his fate’ Fernando Alonso reported, “The engine feels great! much slower than usual”. The race weekend wasn’t much better, with one car retiring and the other only only managing to scrounge into 12th place and no points.

Now we can fight

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The Australian Grand Prix 2018 was a surprisingly decent race for McLaren and Fernando Alonso with a welcome 5th place finish. As the team congratulated him, he declared  that after a long winter and long seasons in the past, they can fight at the front at last. Little did they realise that fate was only lulling them into a false sense of hope, as the rest of the season unravelled for the team very quickly.

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Written by:

Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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