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Montmelo, Spain — Just when McLaren had nowhere to go but up, it sunk to a new low when Fernando Alonso's car broke down Friday (Maya 12) on the first lap of practice for the 2017 Spanish Grand Prix.
A puff of smoke enveloped the two-time former champion when his McLaren spun out of a turn and into the gravel at the start of the morning session at the Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya.
McLaren's team radio told him to "stop the car, stop the car, engine problem" as a pool of liquid dripped from the underside of the vehicle.
Gushing pour
The drip turned into a gushing pour of yellowish liquid when a crane lifted the McLaren away from the track.
By then, Alonso was being ferried back to the paddock on the back of a scooter, past many of the local fans who had come to give the Spaniard a much needed boost.
Alonso and McLaren are having a wretched 2017. After showing some progress with its Honda engine last year, the team has taken a huge step back with neither Alonso nor new teammate Stoffel Vandoorne yet to score a point.
Alonso didn't finish any of the four races. He endured the embarrassment of having to abandon the Russian GP last round when his car broke down on the formation lap.
And despite two weeks to work on their car, McLaren has made no progress.
The latest blow comes a day after Alonso issued an ultimatum: either McLaren gives him a competitive car by October of he will look to change teams or even consider leaving F1. Alonso has already decided to try his luck at the Indianapolis 500 instead of the Monaco GP later this month.
The rest of the opening practice saw Mercedes register the top two times under sunny skies in northeastern Spain following Thursday's showers.
Sporting a new funky nose to its Silver Arrows, Lewis Hamilton clocked a fastest lap of 1min21.521 seconds, with Vatteri Bottas only 0.029 seconds slower.
Ferrari pair Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel were third and fourth, about a second slower than Hamilton.
F1 leader Vettel also had a mishap early on, when what he suspected to be an issue with his gearbox forced him to stop coming out of pit lane. After marshals rolled him back to his garage, his mechanics quickly fixed the problem and he went back out.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, who won the race last year, and Daniel Ricciardo were next, within 1.6 seconds of Hamilton.
Practice will resume after lunch and again on Saturday before qualifying for Sunday's race.