Renault Sport Racing and McLaren Racing are pleased to announce they have agreed an engine supply partnership for the 2018, 2019 and 2020 seasons. The deal will see Renault Sport Racing supply McLaren with Formula 1 power units, while also establishing a close working relationship with McLaren’s engineers and technicians.
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Phil wrote:Maybe that's just what you get for trying "all or nothing"...
I personally prefer the approach Renault is taking (with their factory team):
Slow iterative steps, small improvements, steadily clinbing that ladder one by one.
The McLaren-Honda situation reminds me somewhat of RedBull in 2014. High level of frustration, demands of better performance, the car having way more trouble with reliabilty than i.e. their own sister team running the same engine, but perhaps with a less tight package running to the bear limit.
On one hand, i'd love to see McLaren switch to Renault, just to see if things would be better next year and how they'd stack up against other teams with Renault engine. Abd if not too well, what their attitude (as well as Alonsos) would be. If it'd be similar, i could definately see it as one of the last nails in the coffin. Finding sponsors would be more difficult despite perhaps more consistent races and they'd be without the fincial arm of Honda and without a works partnership.
There's a premium motorsport.com article that confirms exactly what you are saying. Unfortunately it is premium content that I would not post here.
McLaren need to accept that they're part of the problem. They need to acknowledge that they're at the back of the grid because of a bad PU and a bad choice made by them. I think the moment you accept that and recognise yourself as a team, the problem halves itself. At the moment, McLaren are publicly a separate division of this F1 racing project.
For this, Alonso is mostly responsible. I said this before and I say it again- They hired the best driver in the world at the worst time. Just look at how unstable McLaren has been in the past 5-6 years. Ron Dennis comes and goes. After Hamilton-Button split as a pair, they've had Perez (who at the time of his hiring felt like a desperate attempt by McLaren to get one over Ferrari because Mercedes got one over them), they've had Magnussen and they never knew whether they would keep Button the following year. From the first race Alonso has done for McLaren Honda there's been a question mark about him. Is he going to take a sabbatical? Will he go to Indy car? It's just been an endless thing. Uncertainty breeds insecurity. Alonso is the star of McLaren-Honda. He needs to be the first one to commit to the project and even if the situation is dire inside the team, he's the one who's supposed to tell us that it's all okay and there are ups and downs in every team and guts it out. Instead, Honda have been facing a media trial practically every weekend since their return. Honda might get fed up and quit, Alonso will jump at the chance of a Mercedes drive and in all of this a legendary team will lose out as will the sport.
People are raving about a Renault engine but what good has it done to Red Bull? Do McLaren really just want to be a Williams and score points? NO! McLaren is too prestigious for that. It deserves to win and all teams have a bad era. What McLaren need to do first and foremost is commit to Honda. They need to tell the media that it is what it is and commit to the remaining seven years. They're not exactly swimming in sponsorship money and they should appreciate the money they get from their supplier. Secondly, they need to participate in Honda's problems because they've not been able to resolve it all themselves. They need to get some people on board that act as a link in the chain to Honda and can help in the upheaval of the PU. Thirdly, they need to keep Alonso. For all his weaknesses, he is still the best or at least the top three F1 drivers. They need to ask him to take a pay cut because they need as much money possible to develop the PU and he's anyway interested in only winning. McLaren are a smart organisation and they know he has nowhere else to go. They need to ask him to commit for 4 years with no get out clauses and a clause in the contract that strictly limits his outburst to the media. I hear people say he's 36 bla bla bla. It doesn't matter! He's bloody good! Just look at what Roger Federer has done at his age and as a sportsman minus his mouth, Alonso is every bit as good as anyone ever. If Alonso disagrees to this, he can leave. McLaren should sign someone young and it will relieve them of a world of pressure! They can just go about taking baby steps and build towards a championship winning car.
This is just my opinion. I'm not a McLaren fan, but a big admirer and while it's sad to see them where they are it's not as bad as people make it out to be. All teams go through lean patches. What will truly make me disappointed is if McLaren lose the 'spirit' of wanting to win and be mediocre and that Renault PU sidestep screams of mediocrity!
"Sebastian there's very, you're a member of a very select few.. Stewart, Lauda, Piquet, Senna, Prost, Schumacher, Fangio.. VETTEL!"
Mclaren moving to Renault is starting to make sense to me, only 2-3 years until a new engine formula, they don't need to win in that time but i suppose the points and sponsors are what they need to ensure they can when a new, simpler engine comes into the sport.
Mclaren won't win races let alone championships with a customer renault, maybe they are forced to look much further ahead?
I still would prefer them to stick to Honda but this would be another winter of hopes and dreams!
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Your comment reminds me of a car.
I find it amusing how people still think Honda is going to catch Renault, while they failed in the last 30 months.
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If I remember correctly the development from that car went onto win the world championship the following year. Just cause you don't see the results on track should not discount for what happens in the background. Honda of all people will know that if there were signs of being uncompetitive next year they would pull the plug rather than drag McLaren with them and further damage their reputation. It's clear that the initial issues severely delayed the planned upgrades. We should have already had Spec 4.0 in Spa which was Mclaren's deadline. Whilst they failed it is evident that 4.0 with upgraded combustion will be better than the current Renault engine.
In similar context, a Red Bull fan would be saying the same stuff about Renault, its a case of two bad apples.
Your comment reminds me of a car.
I find it amusing how people still think Honda is going to catch Renault, while they failed in the last 30 months.
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If I remember correctly the development from that car went onto win the world championship the following year. Just cause you don't see the results on track should not discount for what happens in the background. Honda of all people will know that if there were signs of being uncompetitive next year they would pull the plug rather than drag McLaren with them and further damage their reputation. It's clear that the initial issues severely delayed the planned upgrades. We should have already had Spec 4.0 in Spa which was Mclaren's deadline. Whilst they failed it is evident that 4.0 with upgraded combustion will be better than the current Renault engine.
In similar context, a Red Bull fan would be saying the same stuff about Renault, its a case of two bad apples.
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And you think you have better knowledge of that than McLaren? Maybe they should replace Zak Brown and put you in place of McLaren.
Whilst they failed it is evident that 4.0 with upgraded combustion will be better than the current Renault engine.
And you think you have better knowledge of that than McLaren? Maybe they should replace Zak Brown and put you in place of McLaren.
Whilst they failed it is evident that 4.0 with upgraded combustion will be better than the current Renault engine.
Evident, based on what? The last 2 1/2 years?
well to be fair, the engine architecture is all new so the last 2 years is rather irrelevant. The reason why renault is fairing better is because despite the poor 2014-16, they have not significantly altered their engine design like Honda has, and neither has Ferrari. Therefore they can learn from the last 3 years and improve while Honda risked it all by starting from scratch. So to them its 2014 all over again
also mclaren should be partly to blame due to their failure to properly integrate the engine to the chassis. i believe that many of the failures were due to excessive vibrations. if thats the case chassis mounting and suspension setup could partly explain the vibrations.
Just watch it be like RB 2015/16 where they had a messy divorce only to come crawling back to renault....
And you think you have better knowledge of that than McLaren? Maybe they should replace Zak Brown and put you in place of McLaren.
Whilst they failed it is evident that 4.0 with upgraded combustion will be better than the current Renault engine.
Evident, based on what? The last 2 1/2 years?
well to be fair, the engine architecture is all new so the last 2 years is rather irrelevant. The reason why renault is fairing better is because despite the poor 2014-16, they have not significantly altered their engine design like Honda has, and neither has Ferrari. Therefore they can learn from the last 3 years and improve while Honda risked it all by starting from scratch. So to them its 2014 all over again
also mclaren should be partly to blame due to their failure to properly integrate the engine to the chassis. i believe that many of the failures were due to excessive vibrations. if thats the case chassis mounting and suspension setup could partly explain the vibrations.
Just watch it be like RB 2015/16 where they had a messy divorce only to come crawling back to renault....
Mclaren admitting blame? that would be something new? They pushed the whole "Size-zero" blame on Honda...And Honda being overly polite doesn't help either. That's why i am interested to see how Boulier/Brown/Alonso deal with Abiteboul/Ghosn/Renault.
I find it amusing how people still think Honda is going to catch Renault, while they failed in the last 30 months.
Your comments remind me of a endless pile of garbage
Because I don't share your opinion?
Mr. @Zak, it is you who do not share the opinion of others. When someone speaks well of Honda, you should always say something negative and offensive.
Your opinion is welcome, but you are saying the same thing every minute. People begin to lose patience with you.
Without offending you, relax.
OK guys, forgive me if I am annoying, but again I will bring the issue with very strange race strategy of Vandoorn at Monza. Until their respective first pit stops, Vandoorn has gaining on average per lap 0.18 sec to Hulkenberg, 0.4 sec to Saintz, 0.08 sec to Kvyat, 0.05 sec to Magnussen (source here: http://en.mclarenf-1.com/index.php?page=results&gp=989 ). After their pit stops he has loosing until his retirement 0.41, 0.49, 0.77, 0.42 per lap respectively to these drivers. I can't imagine that this is a normal race strategy. It seems to me that McLaren didn't want to show unexpected boost in performance at Monza because this would ruined their case that they have lost faith in Honda. The same could be said about the their strange choice to run tin aero at Spa in this way killing their only sure advantage in the chassis. IMO for some reason they already have taken decision to split with Honda before the summer brake, and they did everything in their competence to make sure that this will happen. The retirements because of the engine (what about the Alonso case in Spa) were just a bonus. Tell me where I am wrong.
