Precisely. Honda are not complete fools. They knew the rules of the game when they designed the PU. They went radical as a result. Renault have a weak performing unreliable engine. As per the rules, they can make reliability improvements for 'free' subject to FIA approval (obviously), but they have to spend tokens to improve performance. The net net of all this is that McLaren have a chance to improve more than Renault do - but only if they can crack the hugely complex technical challenges they face.
McLaren Honda have admitted they don't expect to be fully competitive until the end of 2016. So, Alonso will be in the weeds for two years at least... Then, in 2017, we will likely have significant revisions to the PU so Honda will have to adjust to new rules at that point. Plus, they are chasing a moving target in MB and Ferrari. My guess is Fernando will be looking to jump ship in 2017 and may not have a place to land...
F1 News - Sainz tips McLaren to come on strong Carlos Sainz says he expects McLaren could be fighting for the top positions before long, provided it can get more power from its Honda power unit. The Toro Rosso driver was speaking with regards to the increasingly tight mid-field pack and the steady emergence of the improving McLaren-Honda entry, saying he has had a chance to race against the car and study its potential. With this in mind, Sainz says the McLaren is 'clearly well-balanced', adding that he cannot catch Jenson Button or Fernando Alonso through the corners. As such, should Honda be able to extricate '80bhp' from the power unit, Sainz believes McLaren will have a front running car on its hands. “Looking at their genuine pace, they are clearly another step forward,” he said. “I think they have a great car with a lot of downforce. They just need that top speed that we also need to make the difference. I can see them fighting now for that top ten. “I followed them in testing, in Melbourne and Malaysia and in the corners I don't catch them. You can clearly see they have a well-balanced car and has a lot of potential. It wouldn't surprise me that, if they can bring 80bhp more, they can suddenly be in front of us and even at the top.” As yet, McLaren hasn't scored a point in the opening four rounds as it brings its new car up to speed, but an upgrade planned for the next race in Spain is expected to haul it further up the
Talk about faint praise on a slow news day...a rookie Toro Rosso driver says Macca have a good chassis because he cannot out corner either of the World Champions who drive their cars. And if the Honda only had 80bhp more they would be ahead of Toro Rosso and a contender. That's like tipping me to be driving for Manor next year if only I were 40 years younger and had $30mm to buy the seat.
IMO Honda should have subsidized Manor for them to run a Honda PU In order to get more feed back and mileage - just saying
Just watched Bahrain GP on catch up due to flying on the day of the race, the Honda engine sounds like a bag of spanners from the on board footage.
Don't bet anything that you'll miss. The Honda PU has more potential than any other in the field and Macca is still Macca.
And Dennis is still Dennis. Dominate? Hell, I'm sure they'll be competitive pretty soon but the worse things go, the worse his BS rhetoric gets. Even at Ferrari have learned to be cautious with declarations. Since Dennis got back they lost all sponsors, their best driver, their competitve edge and he keeps talking more and more crap. Member this? http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2014/03/ron-dennis-breaks-his-silence-we-will-win-again-soon/
Of course there's self promotion, bluster and hyperbole. Its F1. And its Dennis. They may not dominate but they'll be at the other end of the grid a lot sooner than some (would like to) think.
Ron: I´m still waiting for your sub 7 minutes Nurburgring lap time. Can´t blame him though: he had to sell those damn cars and now he has to find sponsors, he´s doing what he has to do.
Please tell me what parallel universe you are in so I can and sample this vastly improved performance? Last I saw they were 1.5 seconds off the pace of a cruising pair of Mercs in Barcelona FP2. Hardly threatening...
Button P7 and Alonso P11 after FP2. That's a huge improvement. What parallel universe are YOU in that can't see that as vastly improved performance coming from the very back of the grid 4 races ago?? +1
FP2 is not the best barometer of performance gains! Most of the teams run their power-units at reduced power to one degree or another in the interest of reliability, and they all tend to run different programmes with different fuel loads, so your unlikely to see a "like for like" comparison in FP2. Qualifying and the race itself will be the only real opportunity to gauge what gains have been made, if any, as the cars will be set up as close to identical at the same time as they ever will be over a race weekend. You do have a point though, in Bahrain, the one McLaren that managed to make the finish was only 1 lap down! 4 races ago, the one McLaren that managed to make it the finish of the race was 2 laps down, so they are getting closer! Who knows, this weekend they might have one car that actually finishes on the same lap as the leaders! (Let's not forget though that in the last race they could only get one car onto the starting grid as the other car broke down in every single session and couldn't even set a time in the qualifying session!)
FP3 done. McLaren delta now 1.9 seconds with best car now P11. Yep - not feeling any threats to my smirking days, quite the opposite in fact.
