Deal is done. McLaren Renault & Toro Rosso Honda for 2018

I guess it's a good deal...for everyone....Renault gets better drivers, Sainz a better team, Mclaren a better engiine..and Toro Rosso cheaper engines....

 

Yeh TR get cheaper engines...but will they be any good?

Alonso can stay at McLaren ,but who will stump up his huge salary?

 

I have a strange feeling Honda will make huge progress with their engines this off season. Just a feeling....

 

Great news for mclaren. Good news for Honda too - they will save a whole ton of money vs funding mclaren and Alonso. Good for TR - they get cheap pus and head towards independence. Thumbs up all round.

 

What he said

 

Bad news for McLaren.

First, they use to have the Mercedes engine. That engine is now in Force India. And, they ain't doing too badly with it.

Second, they went into this thing thinking they were going to win championships with Honda AND have an exclusive supplier of free engines for 10 years. Oh, and get the drivers at 1/2 price because of Honda paying the other half.

Now they are begging for the 3rd best engine so they can get rid of the 4th worst engine. And, the 3rd best engine is one they have to pay for now, along with all the driver's salaries and any other perks Honda tossed in for free.

This is something to celebrate? I don't think so.

Lastly, now the Honda engine is in the control of RB. If Honda gets their act together then the motor will go from TR to RB and McLaren will look pretty foolish if they win with it.

 

McLaren must have figured out that Honda would not come good before the end of this formula.
Waiting 3 more years wasn't an option.

Red Bull can take a gamble, because it has 2 teams and can experiment on TR, without damaging RB. .

 

Sainz will likely race for Renault already in less than 3 weeks

 

Thankfully, it is way past time for Palmer to leave.

 

SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

Sainz not confirming Renault switch

Carlos Sainz looks set to contest his final race for Toro Rosso this weekend in Singapore.

Multiple sources are reporting that, in Singapore, the Spaniard will sign a contract to complete his switch from the junior Red Bull team to Renault.

He will reportedly replace the struggling Jolyon Palmer, with Red Bull rookie Pierre Gasly jetting in from his Super Formula duties in Japan to fill in for Sainz at Toro Rosso.

It appears to be the move that completes the complex divorce saga between McLaren and Honda, with the British team switching to Renault power for 2018 and Toro Rosso signing up with Honda.

However, Sainz is not confirming his impending move.

"Red Bull does its best for my career and so whatever they decide, I will accept it," he told Marca sports newspaper during a sponsor event at the weekend.

"It is difficult for me because what I say may please one person and displease another, so I prefer to say nothing.

"All I know is that there are many people in Toro Rosso that I want to think for making me the driver I am today," Sainz added.

Asked if a conclusion to the entire McLaren-Honda-Renault-Toro Rosso saga is now imminent, he answered: "I don't know.

"But I think for the sake of the teams involved, they are going to have to decide sooner rather than later, because (preparation for) 2018 is already here," Sainz told EFE nes agency.

Germany's Auto Bild said the transfer fee agreed between Red Bull and Renault for Sainz is EUR 8 million.

The publication said Sainz, 22, had a seat fitting at Renault's Enstone factory last week.

 

Given that a team with the resources of McLaren could not generate decent results with the Honda power unit, I'm puzzled that some of you think Toro Rosso can. This seems good news all around, except for Toro Rosso.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

I have a strange feeling Honda will make huge progress with their engines this off season.

 

STR 2018 World Champion

 

Well, for sure NO ONE can say they're expecting this outcome

 

Illien has taken over the development of the engine. Aside from my Swiss bias, you have to consider that it was him who brought several other engines from ok to fantastic, in F1 and IRL.

If anybody can make the Honda engine more powerful it is him.

 

at 4000-1 I wouldn't mind sticking 20 on it.

 

If only betting was permitted in Brazil....Anyway I'm moving to UK so that's a good bet, Bas!

 

Alonso to Toro Rosso in shock move!!

Just kidding. I wanted to see who was awake this morning. I'm tired of hearing and reading about these bloody hurricanes.

Have a nice day.

 

Got my attention.

I wouldn't mind hearing about the hurricanes if the media would actually bother to report about the Caribbean where they did the most damage. But no, we are so US centric.

 

except when it comes to NAFTA!

 

Perhaps, but this current "engine" formula seems capable of bringing even the Giants of engine design to their knees.

 

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/131767/mclaren-agrees-deal-to-leave-honda-for-renault

McLaren has reached agreement with Honda to be released from their partnership and switch to Renault power from the 2018 Formula 1 season, Autosport has learned.

Honda's return to F1 with McLaren has been disastrous since it came back to the grid in 2015, with a lack of performance and constant reliability problems holding the once-successful partnership back during its second iteration.

The relationship has become so fractious during 2017 that it became clear a split was likely, with Renault emerging as McLaren's only realistic alternative.

Sources close to the deal have confirmed to Autosport that McLaren has agreed a three-year deal with Renault, taking it to the end of the current F1 engine regulations cycle at the end of 2020.

 

So, where does this leave Alonso? Wasn't a large portion of his salary paid by Honda and wasn't it with their blessing that he raced for Andretti-Honda at Indy?

I can't see Renault doing either of those things.