08/03/2017
NEWS STORY
At some time or another we've all done it.
We've soaked up the bullsh*t, taken the pain, suffered the insults... all with a smile, knowing that to speak out might only make things worse.
Today however, following another hugely disappointing session in which further issues meant he only added another 46 laps to his tally and remains over 3.7s off the pace, Fernando Alonso could no longer bite his lip.
While the diplomatic thing would have been to follow the party line, mouth the usual well-worn platitudes, the Spaniard knew it was time... time to say what needed to be said, speak the words that should have been uttered days ago, months ago, years ago.
Arguably the best driver on the 2017 F1 grid finally spoke his mind.
I don't think we are too far back in terms of the chassis side," he said. "We have only one problem, the power unit.
"There is no reliability and there is no power," he continued. "We are 30km/h down on the straight, every straight, and when you are 30km/h down on every straight it is difficult 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.
"It is similar to last year to be honest," he admitted "In 2015, probably we were even more behind than now. Probably this year is a bit more frustrating because the change of regulations and things like that, you have higher hopes when you think you can close that gap over the winter.
"Definitely we need to improve and we must improve," he insisted. "The situation is far from ideal.
"We are a big team, McLaren has been dominating the sport for many years and fighting for the championship for many years. We need a reaction from everyone. We need to stay united, working close to each other. But definitely a big reaction that I expect from the team immediately."
Like many of us, it is probably the Spaniard's sense of humour that has helped him get through the last couple of years, and today was no exception. Asked if he was taking Turn 3 flat-out, he grinned and replied; "for us, every corner is flat-out".
Then the smile faded.
"The oil tank was an amateur problem we had that day," he said, referring to the issue that left him sidelined on the opening day of testing. "From day one we keep unlocking a little bit the situation in terms of power and in terms of reliability. When you do more laps you discover other things, temperature in the rear caliper or whatever, bodywork that is not properly tight. Things you normally discover on day one or day two in winter testing. We only do forty laps every day, so we are like on day two of testing for everyone else.
"There is nothing to worry for Australia I guess. We'll be fully ready to compete in a good level, the only question mark is how much power we will have."
Nothing the Spaniard said was out of turn or disloyal, these were words that needed saying, and one cannot help but feel that some at Woking will have breathed a sigh of relief that they were finally uttered.