Autosport, although never was objective, is always thought as being more so than other publications.
I don't read it now as often as before, so it's even more remarkable that this caught my eye. But it is getting hilarious, desperately trying to cause a fight between McLaren and Alonso, while portraying Button as the gracious team supporter:
Headline: Alonso: I was made to look amateur
Expanded headline once you click: Canadian GP: McLaren F1's Fernando Alonso felt he looked 'amateur'
Actual quotes:
"Already I have big problems now. Driving with this, looking like an amateur. So I race and then I concentrate on fuel."
"no frustration" adding: "It was just a disagreement on when to save fuel.
"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."
"You are fighting and then you get to a group of cars where some people catch you and they are faster than you," he said.
"You look like an amateur driver and that's not good.
"We know we are not super-competitive, that we need to improve reliability.
"There are many things to do in our case. The weekend has provided us with some lessons to improve things. It was not easy here in Canada."
Today, top news item and visible intro: With Austria demanding on engines and Eric Boullier admitting Fernando Alonso could "turn mad" over McLaren-Honda form, the team faces a crunch weekend.
Content in the article:
WILL ALONSO 'TURN MAD'?
Come the race in Canada the first signs of dissent from the previously all-smiling Fernando Alonso appeared with his radio rant after being told after just a third of the way into the event to save fuel.
"I don't want! I don't want!" bellowed Alonso in reply, further bitterly declaring himself to be "looking like an amateur" as rivals passed to his left and right with consummate ease at times.
Alonso later claimed there was "no frustration", just "a disagreement on when to save fuel". How very PR once his adrenalin had subsided post-race.
Actual Boullier's quotes:
"If we are still like this next year, then yes, of course, I'm sure he is going to turn mad, but I don't think he will," said Boullier.
"You guys [the media] see him regularly and you can see he is happy with the team, happy where he is now."
Boullier suggested afterwards Alonso's words were perhaps a message to Honda to get its act together, appreciating the Spaniard's "impatience".
"There is a lot of work to do, first on making the parts reliable and then we can focus on performance because we are still far behind," added Boullier.
Meanwhile, for Button:
Jenson Button urges Formula 1 critics to give McLaren-Honda a break Ian Parkes (main news item back in that day).
Inside that, suddenly one finds suddenly, unconnected, in the middle of the text: Team-mate Fernando Alonso went so far as to say he believed he was made to look like "an amateur driver" during the race.
Don't get me wrong, it is fine if they keep helping Button as that's what national press do with all drivers.
But then they shouldn't enjoy the "objective" reputation they might have (which on the other hand, is decaying over the years).
Edited by prty, 17 June 2015 - 18:14.