Hey, Another little poll to keep us amused until the next race..... Poll options pretty self explanatory. This was of course somewhat prompted by the recent "that was then, this is now" comment along with Honda admitting it was "harder than we thought." Cheers, Ian
I think they'll struggle to win with the V6 turbo formula and will not win it. If the next engine is NA again I do believe they'll stick with Honda, unless Mercedes drop out for whatever reason. I think Mercedes and Ferrari will be too far ahead of Honda to ever be caught with this engine. They are perfectly capable of building a decent chassis and good aero, but that's not all that's needed. The Honda engine is too slow, too unreliable and slurps way to much fuel. A lot to fix whilst others keep making advances.
I don't think that have the ability to win the WDC/WCC. Ever. They will become more competitive, but probably peak at 3rd or 4th in the WCC. By then, there will be a new engine format. They will struggle again, as Honda has a tendency to over-think things. They will try to re-invent the wheel and be less competitive.
They will dominate. I'm not a fan, but I see what they're doing and who they have running things. Give them a couple years.
I gave 'em 5 years! [Which is supposedly when this formula runs to of course.] Personally, FWIW (absolutely nothing of course), I think they'll get there, but not for another 3 or 4 years yet. Cheers, Ian
Wow!.... Another almost "equally divided" poll. Guess it just goes to show what "we" know. Come on folks, don't be shy, throw your vote in - Lets see where it goes - There's nothing on the line after all! Cheers, Ian
One massive assumption that everybody is making is that Mercedes will stay in F1. They never have before when they dominated. I think once they have won both the WDC and WCC 3 times in a row they will retire, point well made. Shareholders will be happy that the bleeding of money stops ... If 2017 is the last year of this engine formula, maybe they will stay to this ends but I do not expect them to continue after that. Pete
I have voted option 3 - they will stick it out. There are so many issues to over come though. At the moment they have the worst PU on the grid. Even if Merc pull out (which is a realistic possibility in my view) they still need to over take Ferrari and Renault PU units before they are in the game. I have no doubt McLaren can produce a chassis and aero package that works - this is all about cracking the PU issue.
Like @subirg I think its far more likely that Merc will leave than McLaren. I think McLaren will continue to flounder around without success until they implement a major structural change.
I think McLaren will struggle on with Honda power for another few years and then go to Ferrari for a power unit on the basis that they already have all the Ferrari information they require to fit it to their chassis! (Oh....... he did not go there? - Oh yes he did! )
Sorry, I guess I wasn't clear with the question; Mclaren will *never* leave, but will Honda stick with them or pull out should have been my wording. Sorry 'bout that. Cheers, Ian
Albeit a little out of date these days. Cheers, Ian PS - Surprised nobody commented on my "better not take the barn find of the drawings to the copy shop Coughlan's wife used in Cobham"......
Used to be a "briefcase" back in my day! I've gotta say, I'm surprised at the results thus far - The (admittedly very slight) majority think it will take them more than 5 years, but that they'll hang in there. "This is why we watch." Cheers, Ian
If they want to win, they need to open the purse-strings as per AMG and buy everything in sight to do the job. Toyota had money but wasted funds on their design, creating an annual effort rarely approaching half poached status. Merc entered with a winning platform and proven engine, then recruited hand picked talent regardless of cost. The best or nothing as goes the slogan. I'm not certain Honda has it in them to weather the storm unless Renault pulls the plug and they acquire an immediate talent pool looking for work. I say they're gone after one more mizuiri.
I've gone for option 3 - will stay but not win a WCC; there will be driver changes and lots of catching up left in the next five years unless there's a change in regs or a new radical chassis is provided by McLaren. General consensus seem to be that McLaren has one of the better chassis around - once the power and reliability has been sorted, that's when we'll see how much modifications the chassis will require. In the meantime, Merc, Ferrari, et all will still be one step ahead. Best, Sammy
Unless they're going bankrupt in the future, they won't walk away from F1 even if they don't win a WCC in the next 5~10years+, company pride simply won't allow them to. All joking aside, if after 5 years Honda are still struggling (awaits all the usual statements that Honda will be dominant from 2016 onwards! ), then McLaren might start to look elsewhere for a power unit, or they might be forced to due to Honda bailing out of F1 (yet again!). The fact of the matter is, if Honda are not successful then they will walk away. McLaren on the other hand will only walk away if they have no other choice. (It would be interesting to see what they would do if they needed a new power unit and the only supplier available was Ferrari though. Would they suck up their pride and use Ferrari power units or walk away? Mmmm...... I can see another poll coming on! [Ooh eerrr Missus! ] )
+1 It's really a question of how quickly they can get their act together. My gut feeling is they'll be there in 2-3 (maybe 3-4?) years. I believe they're in this together for the long haul. Agreed. But for how long will they continue to try? McLaren will *never* leave F1. Ron would never, ever, put a Ferrari lump in one of his cars! None chance. Dayum, for many years he couldn't even bring himself to use their name! He always referred to them as "the red cars"....... There will always be at least one other supplier. May be a **** one - many have come & gone over the years - but there's just something inherently wrong about the idea of "McLaren-Ferrari"! Cheers, Ian
