Alongside McLaren's massive motorhome,

a world champion posed for photos with the Formula One Red Bull Racing 'Grid Girls'. They smiled of course, as Button kissed them, said goodbye, and entered the scale replica of the Woking factory that they take to European circuits. Inside, he exchanged handshakes with another champion, this one a two-time winner. Fernando Alonso expressed his gratitude. "Keep working," they said with their eyes.

The truth is, the Briton is last in the World Championship standings with four points, the same number that McLaren Honda has at the bottom of the Constructors' table. And the Spaniard has yet to score, a situation that only also applies to the Manor drivers, a team with barely any resources. The situation is a total disaster. And from there, we could exhaust all the negative adjectives in the dictionary and wait for the anger of the two champions. But no. The two of them are setting an example this season, at least in terms of behavior. "Imagine if it were someone else instead of these two," a camera operator from Italy exclaims.

But maybe that's why they are in this situation, because they are two veterans who are tired of going around the world without winning. And they are still giving it their all, despite everything. To achieve their goal, they must take it step by step and return to having a decent engine. The last two Grand Prix races have done a lot of damage to Honda's credibility. After scoring points in Monaco, there were double retirements in Canada that repeated in Austria. And on top of that, Alonso's new engine was damaged.

The rule is unfair, perhaps it should have an appendix specifying that a penalty will only be given if the engine is changed due to a breakdown and not an accident, but the truth is that the Asturian driver will have to replace his power unit in Silverstone, one of the circuits where they have hopes of performing better. And he will have to start from the back of the grid... but it won't be the only time. According to AS, there is a plan for updates and improvements from Honda that also takes into account the reliability of the engine, and includes changing engines in several races that have been previously selected. At least in Belgium and Russia, they will start with a new engine because these two tracks, especially Spa, put significant demands on this aspect, with 75% of the lap pedal to the metal, which currently penalizes McLaren due to the lack of power.

If everything goes according to plan, these will be the only circuits where the engines will be changed, in addition to what was already planned for Austria in order to arrive better prepared for Silverstone and especially Hungary and Singapore, where they hope to reach a decent position, make it to Q3, and finish in the Top 10.

Japan is another circuit that they have great hopes for. At that point, they believe that they would have achieved good reliability and will not need to change engines again, as well as having fast corners that can help them go quickly along with the aerodynamic improvements they expect. But before getting there, they will have to suffer and start from the back of the grid in at least two circuits, three including the next one. The Spanish driver is hoping for a significant change within the next three to six races. Good luck.