turbof1 wrote:A reminder that Honda had to initially develop that engine in the timespan between 3th quarter of 2013 and first quarter of 2015, whereas Mercedes started from very early 2010. That's almost 4 years of development time Honda did not get compared to Mercedes, including crucially one year of race weekends full of data. Is anyone surprised that that leads to massive catch up issues, no matter how competent you are?
Maybe we shouldn't compare to Mercedes then, but to Renault? Or Ferrari?
Also, I'd also argue that Honda had the advantage to learn from others (and during that time wasn't limited to any F1 regulations as they weren't in the sport yet). McLaren was running that Mercedes engine for a full year. Honda could watch, follow and learn. This of course doesn't mean that they can just build up on that knowledge, but for this reason I wouldn't expect them to take the same amount of time to reach the same conclusions, knowledge and design choices. I remember very well of all that talk and speculation in 2014 if in 2015 Honda would come in ahead or behind. (to my defense; i speculated behind, so I guess I also downplayed the "advantage" of getting to watch the others prove themselves first).
McLaren took that conscious decision to go with Honda. They knew the stakes and the complexity involved. Honda did too.
I still wouldn't go out and blame Honda for everything though. They created an engine according to spec (e.g. a very high spec - that being to fit inside a package and to compete with Mercedes & Co.) and fell short and made mistakes in the process.
At the end of the day though, I think the most crucial aspect of this partnership is the joint leadership. Who is effectively in control? Honda? McLaren? Obviously, both. But this can also create a problem, as the two might be going off in different directions that might not be fully compatible. There will always be some sort of compromise. You sacrifice power for efficiency, efficiency for packaging, cooling for aero. There are so many compromises to be met and two teams with different sets of expertise and perhaps their own understanding of which are the correct compromises might lead to a less harmonic working environment. Or a scenario where both are limited by each other.
Ultimately, the lack of success will increase their frustration towards each other. This frustration could lead to an abrupt end. We don't need to look far to see how the relationship between RedBull and Renault disintegrated in 2015. The only problem being that McLaren is not only losing sponsorship money (as a result of their strategic choices and lack of success) but they have also been losing technical staff too. Sooner or later, this will have an impact on their overall ability to perform at their best. And surely, Honda, when deciding to come into the sport also had their expectations of McLaren. They needed to trust in their ability too. What if at some point, Honda starts to question McLaren's ability too (to create the best possible car)? Honda are in this to win too. If 2017 ends up being another lackluster year, I could well imagine Honda and McLaren wanting to go off their own, not unlike when Renault decided it was time for them to enter as a full manufacturers team too this year.
Some of this frustration in here probably stems from the fact that 2017 was going to be / should have been the year for them to pounce. The year when a lot is reset. Just like Mercedes targeted 2014, both McLaren and Honda should have been focused on delivering the best possible combo this year. But seeing their progress so far after 4.5 testing days make me rather doubtful this has worked out. Stil testing though, not all is lost. But the stakes are rising and rising....
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