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McLaren denies it's in a post-Honda crisis

Published on 08 Mar 2018 19:43
15
By: Rob Veenstra

Leading McLaren figures are denying the British team is still in crisis even after dumping Honda. Between 2015 and 2017, Honda got the blame for McLaren's struggles. But the Japanese manufacturer is now at Toro Rosso, and having a trouble-free winter.

"It's logical that we are being compared to Toro Rosso," McLaren executive Zak Brown said. "Honda is doing a great job, but my attitude hasn't changed. I suspected that sooner or later they would get it right and we wish them the best. But we're focused on ourselves," he added.

McLaren itself is at the bottom of the winter mileage charts, with the newly all-orange car regularly breaking down in the second Barcelona test. But Fernando Alonso said he is not worried. "If Australia was tomorrow, we would be ready," said the Spaniard.

"Of course we planned to do more laps, but I've been doing this for 18 years and problems happen in testing. The difference is that today, there are hundreds of journalists here and even a red flag causes hysteria. But there is nothing fundamentally wrong with this car. I'm sleeping peacefully," Alonso insisted.

Even team boss Eric Boullier says the Barcelona problems are not getting him down. "This is part of the game. We are sure that we will deal with everything," said the Frenchman. "We have a new engine supplier and a completely new car, but there are no special alarms. Give us time and everything will be alright," Boullier added.

He denied that most of the problems can be traced back to the rear end of the 2018 car, featuring a particularly tight layout. "No, it has nothing to do with it," Boullier insisted. "We have tried to create the best car in the championship and we are sure that our direction is right." (GMM)

Kean

Posts: 692

Agreed. Then again, Toro Rosso were in the exact same position. They too had to re-build, and re-think just the same as McLaren, and they're not breaking down. They've posted more laps and a faster time.

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Mar 8 2018 - 20:57

F1 News Fernando Alonso McLaren

Replies (15)

mcbhargav

Posts: 1,332
Its no easy feat to mould an F1 chassis to suit a new Engine in 4 months. RB's first test with v6 Renault was almost spent in garage. So, cut some slack, and give them some breathing space.
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- Mar 8 2018 - 20:40
- Kean
  
  Posts: 692
  Agreed. Then again, Toro Rosso were in the exact same position. They too had to re-build, and re-think just the same as McLaren, and they're not breaking down. They've posted more laps and a faster time.
  + 2
  
  Mar 8 2018 - 20:57
Kean

Posts: 692
Honestly, it is not looking good for McLaren. And it leads me to think that the blame for the past years is about 50/50 McLaren/Honda. Sure it's a big ask to reconfigure and change the car on such short notice in order to accommodate a new PU, but Toro Rosso had to do the exact same thing, and they did it with a smaller crew than McLaren, and they're not breaking down. The only thing we have to go on are the times and the laps from testing, and if you go by them Toro Rosso are in front of McLaren, they have more laps and a faster time.
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- Mar 8 2018 - 20:57
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  And Toro Rosso had to do bigger compromises to their chassis, since they had already begun to design their chassis around the Renault unit. I get that this could be temporary issues from having a new unit, but TR were in the same situation with far fewer complications this far, and do McLaren really want to be compared to Torro Rosso, the underprioritized sister team of Red Bull?
  + 1
  
  Mar 9 2018 - 06:11
- boudy
  
  Posts: 1,168
  That's actually a really good point. Don't forget Toro Rosso already changed their engine supplier the year before so they did 3 changes over the last 3 years. (Ferrari/Renault/Honda)
  
  However we don't know what the underlining issue's are with mcLaren. At the moment they look like bedding-in issue's more than anything. Maybe it's to-do with their design methodology and pushing to more extreme set-up.
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  Mar 9 2018 - 11:14
- Pauli
  
  Posts: 140
  Changing power unit is not only factor. Another factor is home much tolerances designs have. McLaren aims to win races and their tolerances are much smaller that STR design tolerances.
  
  IMO McLaren should have larger tolerances in the point system era which rewards reliability much more than old system where top 2 gained majority of points and other got nearly nothing.
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  Mar 9 2018 - 18:40
michielhimself

Posts: 132
If McLaren don't get a title sponsor this year, how well does their future look? Everyone says Toro Rosso did it with a smaller team, but those Honda dollars are now on STR's balance sheet and no longer on McLaren's.
How much of the issues converting to Renault are simply due to budgetary constraints?
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- Mar 8 2018 - 21:11
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  It a good point, and one I've been thinking about myself. Not only did McLaren lose their de facto title sponsor last season, they had to pay to break their Honda deal. All of this for a slightly better unit. It wouldnt surprise me if cash is running dry, and that we are starting to see the consequences of that.
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  Mar 9 2018 - 19:31
ajpennypacker

Posts: 2,475
It would seem to me that McLaren have the right ingredients to do a good season. They still have some of the high profile engineers and designers. They now have an engine that's at least comparable to the rest of the grid. I'm still puzzled however by the test results. Not so much the lap times but the low mileage. I think times are hard to judge unless they are very fast. But slow times could be for so many different reasons. My hope as a fan is that McLaren gambled a bit with am ambitious design with high risk/reward profile and that's why some of this gremlins are popping. If they don't manage to be at least very consistent midfield runners, I don't know what will happen to the team. Maybe they turn into heaven-forbid, Williams F1.
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- Mar 8 2018 - 21:27
talktohenry

Posts: 362
I think they will start a bit slow but get stronger and stronger, they will be there or there abouts, this year. New engine, what they have achieve so far is amazing.
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- Mar 9 2018 - 00:08
Mansell

Posts: 104
Watching Teds note book on sky theres a rumour going round the paddock that Honda have to change the engine every night for Torro Rosso to be able to go out in the morning
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- Mar 9 2018 - 02:33
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  Watching Ted's anything there will always be a rumor about something. Ted's notebook isnt necessarily a good spot for accurate information, or even accurate gossip. It could very well be Honda switching unit every day, but the same could apply for the rest of them. There is only really one way to find out.
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  Mar 9 2018 - 06:09
Major Tom

Posts: 152
In fact Honda have now admitted that they have used four engines (although they say they always planned to cycle the engines that way). I think that McLaren have clearly made a big step forward and, along with Renault, may be within striking distance of the front three on a good day.
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- Mar 9 2018 - 11:08
f1ski

Posts: 726
Lotus had issues that improved as soon a boulier left. Things aren't improving at mclaren with him behind the helm
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- Mar 10 2018 - 00:18
- Barron
  
  Posts: 625
  It’s an interesting point but it’s a team effort of hundreds of people. I’m pretty sure Boullier can’t screw with all of them..As I remember it, he did pretty darn well at Lotus with minimal resources. My only ‘beef’ with him is that Catering run out of pies very quickly when he’s around..
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  Mar 11 2018 - 18:48