Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

’Difficult for anyone to copy’ Honda - Alonso

Fernando Alonso admits Honda has taken a risk by going for its own “unique” approach with its power unit, but says it is the only way to have a chance of being successful.

Honda’s return to Formula One has been a difficult one, with the Japanese engine manufacturer struggling with reliability throughout the past year which in turn has limited performance. Alonso returned to McLaren from Ferrari at the end of 2014 in search of a third drivers’ championship, but he has so far scored points in just two races this season.

With Mercedes dominating over the past two years, Alonso says it is impossible for another manufacturer to beat Mercedes if it follows a similar path, insisting that while Honda’s approach is risky it provides a better chance of success.

Technical feature: Exclusive pictures of the Honda power unit

"It can be a weakness or it can be the winning formula," Alonso said. "I choose to believe it is the winning formula. If we want to copy what Mercedes do, you will only ever be close to Mercedes, you won't beat Mercedes.

"So being there, isolated with another culture, discipline and work ethic has been difficult maybe this year because some of the processes have been slower than what they could be, but some of the ideas we have had are very unique in the paddock. If we make them work it will be difficult for anyone to copy.”

Honda says it will use this weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to analyse how much progress it has made since first running its power unit in the back of a McLaren at the same circuit one year ago.

Technical feature: Exclusive pictures of the Ferrari power unit

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.