Formula 1's Latest Rumours and Talk: Fernando Alonso, Mercedes and More
Fernando Alonso wasn't going to toe the McLaren-Honda party line forever.
The two-time world champion had said all the right things in public—telling the official Formula One website, for instance, how "we are all united" and "committed to this project"—but the frustration of the team's lack of performance was bound to appear at some point.
And that point came in Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix when Alonso refused to follow the instructions of the team, putting himself before the side. The Spaniard has defended his comments over the pit-to-car radio, but the damage has been done and it is clear that, behind the PR-speak, the team are far from united.
The unity of Mercedes was questioned following the Silver Arrows' pit-stop blunder in the Monaco Grand Prix, which cost Lewis Hamilton a certain victory.
It was unclear whether that mishap would harm the trust between driver and team, but all seemed well in Montreal as Mercedes secured yet another one-two finish, with team boss Toto Wolff stressing the importance of banishing the memories of Monte Carlo.
Mercedes' reliability issues opened the door for Daniel Ricciardo to record his first F1 win in Canada a year ago, but this year's event was humbling for the Australian, who finished well outside the points.
So disappointing was Ricciardo's performance, in fact, that the three-time grand prix victor has distanced himself from the blame, saying Red Bull's car, and not its driver, was the reason behind his struggles.
Also blaming his machinery was Kimi Raikkonen, who spun his car at the hairpin for the second successive Canadian GP. It cost the Finnish driver a second podium finish of the year, but Raikkonen has claimed a technical quirk was behind his loss of control.
Meanwhile, Raikkonen's former Lotus team-mate, Romain Grosjean, saw his race ruined after colliding with the Manor car of Will Stevens, who has explained why a collision of that nature was inevitable.
Here's the best of the reaction from the Canadian GP.
Fernando Alonso Explains Canadian GP Radio Rant
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Fernando Alonso has explained the reasons behind his team-radio outburst during last weekend's Canadian Grand Prix.
On yet another frustrating afternoon for McLaren-Honda at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, where the team's lack of straight-line speed was brutally exposed, frustrations appeared to boil over in a radio conversation between Alonso and his race engineer.
According to Autosport's Ian Parkes, Alonso was encouraged to save fuel on Lap 24, but the two-time world champion was reluctant to obey the team's instructions, telling the pit wall how he didn't "want" to.
The Spaniard went on to retire from the third race in succession, meaning he is still yet to score a point after seven rounds this season.
After the race, Alonso, who joined McLaren from Ferrari for 2015, defended what appeared to be an act of selfishness, claiming he was unable to prioritise fuel-saving when he was fighting rival cars.
He told Parkes: "Different parts of a race require different techniques of driving, so when you are in the middle of a battle, fuel is a low priority in that moment.
"You will have time later to focus on fuel. Let me race and then I'll save fuel later."
Although Alonso wanted to scrap with other drivers, Honda's deficit to their rival manufacturers meant he was always fighting a losing battle whenever he went wheel-to-wheel with other cars.
And he admitted that being unable to prevent his fellow competitors from sailing past left him feeling humiliated, telling the same source: "You are fighting and then you get to a group of cars where some people catch you and they are faster than you."
"You look like an amateur driver and that's not good."
Given the next two races in Austria and Britain are much like Canada in terms of being dependent on engine power, Alonso's patience with McLaren is likely to be stretched to the limit.
Mercedes Relieved to Bounce Back from Monaco Nightmare
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Mercedes secured their fourth one-two finish of the 2015 season in Canada as Lewis Hamilton converted pole position into victory and Nico Rosberg shadowed the world champion to the chequered flag.
And Toto Wolff, the team's executive director, admitted that it was important for the German manufacturer to achieve a strong result so soon after the disappointment of the Monaco Grand Prix.
Hamilton was on course for a routine win in Monte Carlo when the safety car was deployed in the latter stages of the race, with Mercedes opting to pit the British driver. In doing so, however, the team dropped Hamilton to third and he was unable to regain the lead before the chequered flag.
Although Rosberg won the race, taking his third successive Monaco GP win, Mercedes was widely condemned for supposedly robbing Hamilton of victory.
The chaos of Monaco, though, was replaced by calm in Canada, where Mercedes were in control all weekend with Hamilton crossing the line over 40 seconds ahead of third-placed Valtteri Bottas.
Mercedes' race was not without tension as Hamilton was forced to conserve his fuel while Rosberg, in the dirty air of his team-mate, had to protect his brakes.
At an event where the Silver Arrows' reliability problems first became apparent in 2014, Mercedes' management of the race to bring both cars to the chequered flag so far ahead of the pack was impressive, heralding the resumption of normal service and the return of vigilance to the pit wall.
And Wolff described his pride of his colleagues, telling Motorsport.com's Charles Bradley:
"The calls we made on the pitwall today were faultless—the execution was really good, so we're not always idiots. It's very rare, because today was very tight. We needed to keep concentrated.
If you have a weekend like Monaco, it's difficult to digest and come out of it in a good way.
The team needed that result today.
"
Daniel Ricciardo Mortified by Anonymous Montreal Performance
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Just 12 months ago, Daniel Ricciardo was the hero in the Canadian Grand Prix.
After knocking on the door with consecutive podium finishes in Spain and Monaco, it was at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve where the Australian secured his first Formula One victory, taking full advantage of Mercedes' reliability problems.
It was the race in which Ricciardo confirmed his status as a future star and he would go on to take two further victories en route to a comfortable third place in the drivers' standings.
Yet that star has been concealed behind Red Bull Racing's fall from grace this season and his season slumped to a new low in Canada, where he qualified ninth and finished a distant 13th.
At a race where there was so much joy and elation in 2014, there was only misery in 2015 and such was his disappointment after the grand prix that Ricciardo, who was outclassed by team-mate Daniil Kvyat for the second consecutive event, felt compelled to insist that the problem does not lie with him.
Ricciardo told Autosport's Ben Anderson and Ian Parkes:
"That was one of those races where I was going round and round, banging my head against a wall...
For now I'm smiling because I'm sure something was fundamentally up with the car today.
I know I am not a second slower than Daniil and I know I haven't forgotten how to drive...
I know it's got nothing to do with my capabilities, but it was disappointing to be lapped by the Williams.
"
The Australian added that the nature of his race was reminiscent of the 2013 Canadian GP, when he was convincingly beaten by Jean-Eric Vergne, his Scuderia Toro Rosso team-mate, and ultimately finished 15th.
Although there is little doubt that Red Bull's frailties on a power-dependent circuit were behind Ricciardo's lacklustre performance, perhaps Montreal, despite being the scene of so many good memories, is just one of those tracks that he struggles to shine on.
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Kimi Raikkonen Blames Canada Spin on Torque Maps
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In general, Kimi Raikkonen has performed far better in 2015 than he did in 2014, when he endured the worst season of his career and failed to reach the podium in 19 races.
A third place in April's Bahrain Grand Prix underlined his resurgence and, after qualifying third on the grid in Canada, the 2007 world champion seemed set to secure his second podium of the season at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Yet after running with no troubles throughout the opening stint, Raikkonen's race took a turn for the worst as he spun at the hairpin shortly after his first pit stop in a repeat of the incident that ruined his 2014 race.
The time he lost meant third place was gifted to Williams' Valtteri Bottas and Raikkonen eventually finished a distant fourth.
Raikkonen's spin and his failure to recover to challenge Bottas only further fuelled the perception that the Finnish driver, now 35, is a liability, but he has claimed that the incident was not due to his right foot hastily pressing the throttle pedal or his new tyres, but the torque maps on his Ferrari engine.
According to Autosport's Lawrence Barretto, Raikkonen said:
"Obviously it is something different than has been happening all year basically, otherwise I wouldn't have spun.
It was nothing to do with the tyres. It was something that is to do with the pitstop, maps and stuff like that.
It is something that we know now and probably should have been smarter about and been able to avoid but it's just on a map...
You move the pedal a little bit and you get a massive difference on the torque and there's no way that I could have controlled it anymore.
"
Although Raikkonen cannot be held accountable for the spin, the fact he finished fewer than five seconds ahead of team-mate Sebastian Vettel was concerning. He is in desperate need of a strong performance a good result and, indeed, a slice of luck.
Will Stevens Urges Leading Drivers to Show Manor More Respect
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Among the most notable incidents in what was a relatively dull Canadian Grand Prix was the incident between Will Stevens and Romain Grosjean, which forced both drivers to pit for repairs.
As he lapped Stevens on the long back straight, Grosjean edged across the circuit to regain the racing line before the final chicane, but misjudged the gap between the cars and his rear-left wheel made contact with the British driver's front wing.
Having previously been on course for a strong points finish, the Lotus driver suddenly had a fight on his hands to make the top 10 but overcame a time penalty to salvage one point. Stevens, meanwhile, went on to finish four laps behind race winner Lewis Hamilton.
Driving the most uncompetitive car on the grid, Stevens is accustomed to moving out of the way for the leading cars under blue-flag conditions, but his incident with Grosjean was one that, in his view, had been coming.
The 23-year-old has claimed that front-runners often swipe across the track while lapping the Manor cars, running the risk of having an unnecessary collision. And Stevens has called for the more established drivers to take more responsibility while passing the backmarkers, telling Autosport's Lawrence Barretto and Ian Parkes:
"If cars want to try and cut across you like this in braking zones, those types of accidents are only going to happen more.
I understand blue flags and that we need to let the guys past, but I feel like I am always really fair with that.
In return I think it would be nice if they could respect us and give us at least a car width's room to take into the corner.
Otherwise it ruins their race as they get damaged and it also ruins our race as well.
"
Although Stevens is justified in calling for drivers to show more respect, there exists an argument that, given Manor's performance deficit even to the midfield runners, there is no race to ruin and the cars of Stevens and team-mate Roberto Merhi are nothing more than mobile chicanes, obstructing the paths of the leading competitors.
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