Honda: Very clear Alonso doesn’t want to stay

Honda’s F1 chief Yusuke Hasegawa says it is “very clear” that Fernando Alonso doesn’t want to continue with Honda power into the future.

Earlier this week, Alonso refuted reports that he had handed McLaren an ultimatum – Honda or him.

“It is absolute rubbish,” he said on Thursday.

“I am extremely happy here and l believe we could have the package to win a championship.”

However, Hasegawa is seeing a very different picture.

“It is very clear that currently he doesn’t want to stay with Honda – this is very clear,” he told GPUpdate.net.

“Also, he agreed that [once] he has some, how do I say, hope to Honda, or some expectation, or some possibility that Honda can improve… as soon as we can show him, maybe he [will] change his mind.”

But despite that Honda are determined to continue taking strides forward in the hope of enticing both Alonso and McLaren to stay.

“We can’t stop [bringing updates], so we need to show him some improvement,” Hasegawa added.

“It is very clear: if we don’t introduce anything, and stay with the current performance, McLaren or Fernando doesn’t stay with us – it is very clear.”