In 1988 we saw the most formidable and dominant partnership in Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. The McLaren-Honda MP4/4 designed by Gordon Murray was a wonderful piece of engineering. The monstrous engine in the back was a 1.5-litre V6 which was turbocharged.
Despite powering Williams and Lotus in the years running up to 1988, the supreme chassis by Gordon Murray and Honda’s power created a dominant era in Formula One for McLaren and Honda.
McLaren-Honda Relations: Why The Strain?
Fast forward to May 2013; McLaren formally announce that after much speculation that Honda would be returning to Formula One as their power unit supplier from the 2015 onwards.
The reaction in the media and among fans was already that of memories of those days in the late eighties; imagining that after a couple of challenging years for the Woking squad that once more they could back on top on Formula One.
In an Interview with former McLaren and driver and Sky’s F1 pundit Martin Brundle at the Japanese Grand Prix last season, When asked about the Honda power unit; Ron Dennis said “It is just mindblowing, the commitment and investment is huge, the engine is a piece of jewellery, it is performing better than expected than planned at this time in the development programme; the competitiveness of the engine will be without question. Brundle asks “For 2015?” And Dennis confirms “For 2015″.
In pre-season testing McLaren looked to have pace, unfortunately the first signs of trouble came at the second test in Barcelona when Fernando Alonso hit the inside wall at turn three in a very strange accident. Initial unconfirmed reports in the media claimed that Fernando was given an electric shock by malfunctioning electronics. These reports were still quickly dismissed by McLaren and Honda after an internal investigation.
Heading into the opening race in Australia, The McLaren-Honda was finally in the open and against the stopwatch for the world to see, losing out in Q1 and starting at the back after Manor failed to get both cars running for the event; it was a truly rude awakening from stark strong words Ron Dennis gave in the interview with Martin Brundle.
If there was a sign to show how much trouble the relationship was in; Kevin Magnussen’s power unit let go on the way to the grid. Given the opportunity to fill in for Alonso who under doctor’s orders not to race following his crash in pre-season testing was rudely snatched away.
Jenson told reporters during testing that although McLaren wouldn’t “have a race-winning car at the first race, we might have one at the last race”. This has proved a very lacklustre statement with how slow the development of the power unit has gone. Despite closing the gap on the field as the season has gone on, it has not been to the degree that was hoped.
Fernando Alonso told the media in Bahrain that McLaren were treating 2015 as a test season “Unfortunately, this is a sport and we are in the middle of the championship,” he said. “From the fans’ point of view, [you’re] in the fourth race in the World Championship and it is a test for us, so they don’t understand how it can be a test, but this is the only sport in the world where you cannot test. Hopefully from Barcelona we can enjoy a little more of the races, but when we will be competitive to fight with the top guys, this is more of a long-term.”
If 2015 is the test season it was so proposed? Then why are both parties are loggerheads over the development of the season so far?
There has been huge development this season despite it not always being seen on circuit; but parties need to stop criticising each other for the shortfalls as to what’s wrong with the car to keep the development programme strong.
Yasuhisa Arai; the head of Honda motorsport and refused to apologise in Monza after facing a barrage of questions from the media. It is clear he and Honda want to do things their way.
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