Providing the McLaren did promise a wining car. I think it is not smart an constructive from Alonso to make such comments over the radio when the whole world is listening. Especially when you are on the home GP of your engine supplier.
I think Alonso knew perfectly fine what he was saying and when he was saying it. Almost a year has passed and every other GP we got the F1 lead from Honda (Arai) promising podiums, to match the pace of Ferrari and whatnot. First for the european GPs, then after summer break, then a bit later…
Still, today we got again Arai telling that McLaren is hiding their chassis problems. Maybe, but if that is so, at least those problems are not so big, since they can be hidden. The Honda engine problems are so blatantly clear that no hiding is possible. And, it seems that the engine issues cannot be addressed this season because deep redesign is needed, which may be the first ever declaration of that guy that I believe.
This was a calculated action to put Honda F1 management on the spot. A public message to the CEO of Honda: ‘this engine is total crap and I am tired of selling unicorns to the press, do something and do it fast, or next year is going to be the same’.
After race, sure, everybody scrambling back to the polite PR mode. Notice however how Dennis moves by the hour from protect-Honda-PR to protect-Alonso/McLaren-PR. If next season the situation is not hugely improved I don’t see the McLaren-Honda partnership surviving much longer. And it really shouldn’t, that engine is totally unworthy of F1.