it's more likely for me to say that Alonso is my favourite driver
Thread Revival- I have to say I am very impressed with their improvements. They were keeping up with the pack at one point and I saw Button and Alonso in the points, but we don't quite know what their tire degradation rates were. I assume with the lack of power they weren't chewing up their tires too much. I definitely think they'll get some points by mid season. Especially with all the DNF's again.
I seems like they have a pretty decent chassis, once the engine (and everything around it) is reliable and able tu be used at full power i believe they will achieve decent results....but obviously they won't win anything this year.....podium if they are lucky, because Merc, ferrari and Williams will be out of theyr recah for the whole season.....next year, who knows...
Another ugly thing....at least they are consistent...theyr cars are getting uglyer and uglyer...just like Dennis
The cars will most likely not finish in the podium this year, but if they sort out their reliability problems, they will finish in the points for sure. I don't think they'll be stuck at the back of the field all season long.
Look how much they progressed in two weekends and they're still running at reduced power. 2016 is going to be interesting. Nothing would make me happier than a McLaren ferrari duel.
I can see this happening. McLaren and Honda will be working very hard to show improvement. I would be very surprised if they were not middle of grid/pack by the middle of the season. They have 2 great drivers and, probably like Ferrari have (I now think this is where Ferrari's 2015 car is better than their 2014 one), they need to smooth out the delivery of power/torque to make the cars more driveable. When you think about this and having 2 power sources, there must be some complex ***** going to make the torque linear at the wheels! Pete
Not even they know how far behind they are. 2015 is a write off. They should use 2015 as a huge testing session and prepare/hope for a better 2016. Hope they can aim for points in 2016. Anyway, the rebirth of the McLaren Honda partnership is way behind I thought it would be. Kind regards, Nuno.
I know what you mean about they are making progress, but on the other hand they progressed from an 11th place (last) to not finishing.
But with the ban on testing has it even run in a car before? Admittedly if I was Honda, I'd have stuck it in an Odyssey and driven a few laps around the block, but of course that would be nothing like an F1 car. I suggest like the 2014 Ferrari, driveability is the issue. I'm sure it makes the power but maybe in a scary bang. Pete
Mercedes worked on their unit for more than 2 years. This is complex engineering. Honda will get it sorted and Ferrari are by no means immune to such performance at all. Look at the issues Renault have and they have won races, of course that was helped by Mercedes issues. Ferrari were not even close last year.
I was one of the folks that never said 2015 would be competitive for them. McLaren Honda is huge for me in terms of nostalgia like most people, but they realistically needed testing miles and they don't have that. 2016 could be the year.
+1 I was hoping for that too. The F1 scenery has changed a lot since the last McLaren-Honda alliance dominated F1. It's a completely different ball game altogether. Now, they face a huge mountain to climb and they are not helped by the ban on resting and the engine freeze which didn't exists in the past.
Not a chance in hell that Mclaren gets a legit podium halfway this season. Or even the end. They need exceptional circumstances for this to happen, such that affected the 2005 USA GP. They need all other engines to be declared illegal/dangerous for them to stand a chance at a podium! They need the Mercs, Ferrari, Williams, Toro Rossos, Red Bulls AND Force India's to not finish to have a real chance at a podium. And then they have to fight it out with Sauber and Lotus still!
At the moment yes, but fortunes can change rapidely in F1. McLaren knows how to make good cars, and Honda is not really a back street engineering company. Next year could be very different and see McLaren among the leaders
I have no doubt they'll improve (pretty tough to go much worse than this in any case) but not as rapid as some are expecting, certainly no podiums unless exceptional circumstances. Pending how quick they can develop the engine, I think they will compete for the bottom end of the points after Monaco. Unless something drastic happens with their chassis, Monaco might be one of their worst races...
I think its very very strange that Mclaren and Red Bull are stinking up the place. Too much of a coincidence for me.
McLaren to reuse Malaysian engines at China. Nice that the engines didn't detonate. McLaren to re-use Sepang engines in China | F1 news | Motorsport.com
I'm no genius but I thought Honda would have a competitive engine right out of the box. To me it looks like most of Mac's problems revolve around the engine.
