McLaren Finally Losing Patience With Honda in Formula One?

[Paul Jeffrey]

Over the Canadian Grand Prix weekend team number one Fernando Alonso has hinted the relationship between his McLaren team and Honda could be reaching breaking point.

The continual woes suffered by the McLaren Honda partnership have been well documented throughout the previous few seasons, and it appears that the strain is finally beginning to show as Fernando Alonso suffered yet another engine failure during practice one in Canada.

When quizzed by Sky Sports F1 Ted Kravitz following the conclusion of FP1, Alonso was on fighting form with his criticism of the Honda power unit. When discussing his teams form during the season so far, Alonso seemingly placed firm blame at the Japanese door when accounting for the deficit to pacesetters Ferrari and Mercedes on the F1 grid. Alonso said:

"The chassis especially is very competitive and among the best. We are lacking in the power unit. McLaren belongs to the top and fighting for world championships. After two and a half years, maybe now is the time to change the situation"

"I just want to win. Zak wants to win, Honda wants to win. There are some parts of the team which are now finally ready to fight for the championship, some others are not, and it's up to McLaren to change wherever they may feel is necessary."
​

The scything comments from Alonso should come as no surprise to either his McLaren team or the Formula One paddock as Honda continue to show no disenable signs of improving what is generally regarded as the weakest engine of the current hybrid Formula One era.

For Alonso's own part, at 35 years of age the Spanish driver must know his best years in the sport are growing fewer and fewer, and with it his chances of adding to the two World Championships already secured over 10 years ago, so even if McLaren don't look to make considerable changes to the structure within the team itself, then Alonso may look to find alternative opportunities either within the sport or in alternative series such as IndyCar or the World Endurance Championship.

"Same with me, I want to win. I joined this project because I wanted to be world champion and we are not in that position. If you don't see things changing and if you are not in a competitive position, maybe you change project."​

Regardless of if you are a McLaren, Honda or Alonso fan or just an enthusiast of the sport itself, the current position of both team and driver is to the detriment of Formula One and needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. If that come from substantial improvements from the Japanese engine manufacturers, or wholesale changes to the partnership between team, engine and driving strength remains to be seen.

Check out the Formula One sub forum for more news, discussions and community interaction around the world of Formula One racing.

Do you think McLaren should drop Honda at the end of 2017? Should Alonso look elsewhere for a drive in Grand Prix racing, stay with the team and tough out the difficult times or move to another series altogether? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[Gary Ludlum]

Just when Honda manage to build a decent engine, the rules will revamped again. McLaren should end this partnership before late.

 

[Joseph Wright]

Honda a failing everywhere. In f1, in IndyCar and even the Isle of Mann TT, where guy Martin's Honda engine decided to break and throw him off the bike. That's not a good showing by Honda. I say: stick to the road cars.

 

[kedy89]

Honda engineers in a nutshell

 

[JPL083]

If there only could be NA-Engines...

 

[thatmotorfreak]

I'm starting to feel more and more sorry for Alonso as the Honda break downs continue. This has to end soon, it's not funny anymore...

 

[Constantin Grimminger]

Honda a failing everywhere. In f1, in IndyCar and even the Isle of Mann TT, where guy Martin's Honda engine decided to break and throw him off the bike. That's not a good showing by Honda. I say: stick to the road cars.

Your realize thought that a HPD engine was winning the Indy 500 and the current champ leader is using a HPD engine?

Edit: of course it's super awkward that it was Alonsos engine which blew up at the 500, but HPD had always a bit more reliability issues then Chevy over the years. However, this season it seems to be the more powerful. Winning comes at a cost, it seems.

 

[St3fan]

Honda a failing everywhere. In f1, in IndyCar and even the Isle of Mann TT, where guy Martin's Honda engine decided to break and throw him off the bike. That's not a good showing by Honda. I say: stick to the road cars.

The new NSX is not selling good either, and I have read quite a few negative reviews of that car. The new Type R might attract a few people but personally I think it's ugly and don't look forward to its sale in the US. I feel like Honda has been making shopping carts for way too long they have lost idea how to make fast, powerful, and at the same time beautiful and reliable stuff.

 

[racelover]

Honda engineers in a nutshell

You're not saying that dogs are stupid, are you?

 

[Boby Kim]

What i have seen is Honda not performing in F1. I had hopes for the Indy but Alonso was punished by Honda. And now i saw Guy Martin in the Isle of Man 2017 going off BIGtime as his Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2 motor engine went in neutral not slowing down the motor and Guy had to jump ship at a terrible speed. He is lucky to be alive. As Honda having enough money to deal with these kinds of hardcore failures is one thing...playing with other lives is something else.

 

[Xx_TaT_xX]

I think it's time for McLaren to think about going with a proven power unit.... or possibly consider designing their own...

 

[Celestiale]

Honda a failing everywhere. In f1, in IndyCar and even the Isle of Mann TT, where guy Martin's Honda engine decided to break and throw him off the bike. That's not a good showing by Honda. I say: stick to the road cars.

You forgot the Japanese Super GT. The first race was the biggest embarrassment i have ever seen in racing history. If i just imagine something like this would have happened in the DTM, to Mercedes or BMW..unthinkable. Would have lead to a mass dismissal of every motorsport related staff

 

[Will Mazeo]

Honda a failing everywhere. In f1, in IndyCar and even the Isle of Mann TT, where guy Martin's Honda engine decided to break and throw him off the bike. That's not a good showing by Honda. I say: stick to the road cars.

The Honda Indycar engine is actually good and has always been, they just took a shortcut of pushing it to the limit at Indy when they noticed Chevy would get closer. One of the Honda guys said "we feel sorry for the guys with blown engines but we had to push every bit of HP we could for this race", turns out their bet was high risk but did worth it. Except for Alonso

You forgot the Japanese Super GT. The first race was the biggest embarrassment i have ever seen in racing history. If i just imagine something like this would have happened in the DTM, to Mercedes or BMW..unthinkable. Would have lead to a mass dismissal of every motorsport related staff

Problem with Honda in SGT was pushing that hybrid car, they messed up big time, now they need to catch it being pretty much 2 seasons behind everyone else. Still shows how awesome GT500 regs are, some people think the cars are all the same and all full DTM but they really aren't, there is a lot more car development allowed there.

 

[UKBall]

some people think the cars are all the same and all full DTM but they really aren't, there is a lot more car development allowed there.

For now, isn't the merging of the rulebooks due in a few years?

 

[Will Mazeo]

The main point of the merge is the engine formula, I believe the chassis regs are already the same, no? They already wanted to do a joint race even with DTM still using the V8 but the plans failed. Considering SGT has tire war I think they are going to be at least a couple of seconds faster than the germans
I wonder why the guys at Germany are taking so long to change the engines, this V8 formula is very old already

 

[formidable]

Since honda is using turbos in all models, is losing all the prestige xD.

 

[Constantin Grimminger]

The main point of the merge is the engine formula, I believe the chassis regs are already the same, no? They already wanted to do a joint race even with DTM still using the V8 but the plans failed. Considering SGT has tire war I think they are going to be at least a couple of seconds faster than the germans
I wonder why the guys at Germany are taking so long to change the engines, this V8 formula is very old already

Guess why - BMW, Merc and Audi are premium constructors over here, serving the upper class needs of motoring vehicles while the Asians always had to fight their bad reputation. Now imagine one of the Japanese would beat the Germans on home soil... would be a marketing disaster for the 'premium' guys.

It's not like DTM would need some new manufacturers sooner or later (rather sooner), but eg. the old chairman Aufrecht always delayed the merger in fear of the Japanese. Hope that things will change with Gerhard Berger, but I doubt it - as the constructors still have way too much power in DTM.

Edit: yes, the aerodynamic rules are the same though since... 2015, I believe.

 

[Angelo dos Santos]

Oh yeah, Honda is doing very bad in Indycars...it is terrible. They WON the Indy500...but they suck because Alonso´s engine broke.

Grid for tomorrow´s race at the Texas Motorspeedway:

1 83 Charlie KIMBALL EUA Ganassi Honda 46.586
2 9 Scott DIXON NZL Ganassi Honda 46.594 +0.008
3 98 Alexander ROSSI EUA Andretti Honda 46.610 +0.024
4 10 Tony KANAAN BRA Ganassi Honda 46.701 +0.115
5 18 Tristan VAUTIER FRA Dale Coyne Honda 46.745 +0.159
6 8 Max CHILTON ING Ganassi Honda 46.776 +0.190
7 7 Mikhail ALESHIN RUS Schmidt Peterson Honda 46.811 +0.225
8 26 Takuma SATO JAP Andretti Honda 46.817 +0.231
9 12 Will POWER AUS Penske Chevrolet 46.855 +0.269
10 3 Helio CASTRONEVES BRA Penske Chevrolet 46.872 +0.286

That is a **** performance, isnt? Absolutely...

Oh, btw....reigning champion in Moto GP. Marc Marquez for HONDA.

But Alonso´s car broke today, is pure ****....(hidraulics problem).

I support 100% Alonso leave Mclaren, if he have a better deal, with Mercedes or Ferrari, for instance. He is protecting his career. That is a fact.
Now to me will be, and Im saying this again, a huge mistake by Mclaren leave Honda to pay for Mercedes or Renault client engines.

 

[Tobiman]

Everyone expects better from Honda. That's the problem here. If anyone should be getting it right then it should be Honda. They have built their name on RELIABILITY.

 

[Celestiale]

The main point of the merge is the engine formula, I believe the chassis regs are already the same, no? They already wanted to do a joint race even with DTM still using the V8 but the plans failed. Considering SGT has tire war I think they are going to be at least a couple of seconds faster than the germans
I wonder why the guys at Germany are taking so long to change the engines, this V8 formula is very old already

DTM was over 8 seconds faster then GT3 class in Hockenheim, while GT500 is on average 7-8 seconds faster then GT3(00). If anything, DTM is faster currently, even though having a lot less max hp. V8 just have a way better power line then Turbos (still), and the new DTM tyres are killer...as soft as it goes, without killing themselves in under 40min. Probably somewhere in between supersoft and ultrasoft F1 tyres.
I hope they keep the V8s, best sounding engines in to date motorsport (yes, heard them life as well)