McLaren Honda

The_Abyss said:
I wasn't aware that McLaren had signed a 10 year deal with Honda, but Boullier seemed to confirm this in one of his updates earlier this week. If two parties agree then it is simple to back out of any agreement; less so if just one wants to go.
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If this carries on there's no chance Honda will continue in F1 for more than another year or two. They must be spending upwards of £100m per year to be humiliated. It's marketing suicide.
 
If McLaren and Honda did agree to part ways then who would supply McLaren with a power unit. Mercedes? Since Manor went bust they have the capacity to supply 1 more team. Renault? So far not that reliable (RB had 2 MGU-K failures yesterday). Ferrari? Seems the least likely option to me after their years of hating on one another.
 
I guess Mercedes power would be the easiest option as ridiculous as it would be. (They dumped them to win/do better with Honda as they didnt believe they could win as a customer...) The only other options would be anothe rnew engine manufacturer or someone like cosworth? But unless they do their homework before entering and have deep pockets i cant see that happening either. :( Have Nissan ever been in F1? That would be cool.
 
The Alonso interview reads like "I'm just as fast as ever and available next year".
 
Ferrari would be a very weird marriage given they are now direct rivals with their supercars.

Mercedes would see them as potential threat I think (or the potential to threaten them). How far would their long association get them, especially after cutting their contract short last time? It's possible and certainly more likely than Ferrari in theory.

Renault are quite happy to continue supplying Red Bull, who are likely to continue to beat them for the foreseeable future, so they would be my favourite if I was a betting man.
 
I can't see McLaren getting out of this easily. It's like the Red Bull/Renault fiasco a couple of years ago. I'm not sure any existing engine supplier would be happy to help, finding another supplier will also be pretty difficult.
Andi.
 
Have Audi / Porsche said a definite no for the time being - they seem to keep on umming and aaahing at board level .....

As above if this goes on for another year - I dont see any issues with both McLaren and Honda agreeing an amicable disolution of the contract - works for both parties surely?

(depending on availability of a.n.other engine of course)

I know the Japanese are very prideful - and this kind of thing will therefore be damaging - but surely the marketing damage is more important?
 
McLaren build engines for their road cars, is it not feasible for them to build their own for F1? With the P1 they have experience in relatively low capacity turbo charged engines with KERS/boost - it doesn't seem beyond reason that they could try and go solo!
Really disappointing hearing about the lack of progress from Honda...
 
Its not going to happen, Mclaren are with Honda, they have a contract for ten years and Zac has stated that today. All this speculative talk is just that and holds no weighr..
 
There is no chance of a new manufacturer entering F1 under the current rules and regs. The powers that be need to set out at least a ten year plan of were F1 is heading instead of all this knee jerk change which is usually manipulated by the front running teams boardrooms. Fair play to Alonso for venting his anger and frustration which is a clear indication that Honda misread and underestimated the challenge. What happens next? Unless there is a change to the rules regarding testing, I don't really see how Honda can make any impact.
 
Officially worse than 2015 now given that 2015 you could at least excuse tehm for it being their very first year and given where they should be now. Absolutely woeful. Alonso must be wishing he'd have found *some* way to get that Merc drive now. Even Ferrari look like they could be very very good this year, maybe even WDC worthy - imagine if Vettel won the WDC, the look on Alonso's face......
 
FrankJH said:
I know the Japanese are very prideful - and this kind of thing will therefore be damaging - but surely the marketing damage is more important?
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Marketing damage? The best selling car is a Jazz (With a terrible outdated engine funnily enough) with an average ownership age who I am pretty sure don't worry about F1 when buying cars. I can see them splitting through embarrassment rather than worrying about marketing damage. It's like BAR Honda all over again.
 
dannyjo22 said:
Marketing damage? The best selling car is a Jazz (With a terrible outdated engine funnily enough) with an average ownership age who I am pretty sure don't worry about F1 when buying cars. I can see them splitting through embarrassment rather than worrying about marketing damage. It's like BAR Honda all over again.
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BAR Honda? They became Honda and designed the best car on the grid by an absolute mile. Admittedly they made the atrocious decision of pulling out just before Brawn was born and won the title, but still.

It's poor marketing because Honda aren't just trying to appeal to old age pensioners. Nobody, not even Honda, enters F1 to just appeal to people with zimmer-frames. The NSX isn't aimed at your grandma and nor is the Type-R.

They want to cater to a younger audience, which is the whole point of the F1 project, but they've done a terrible job at it and due to the nature of their homeland psyche their reputation will suffer - it's half of the reason why they pulled out of F1 last time and why they won't conclude their 10-year contract wtih McLaren.
 
i just don't understand how honda keep messing up. they knew how hard it was before when they quit, only for Brawn to go on and win.
then they come back and under estimate again, Now the rules where massively opened up and they completely **** up again.
how are they so useless and blind.

I really thought they would learn from the past, but they haven't learnt anything at all. Its not even like they are on a shoe string.
 
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