Hamilton plea to Mercedes

LEWIS Hamilton has called on his Mercedes team to end McLaren’s nightmare relationship with Honda by supplying engines t o t he British constructor next year.

McLaren are i n their third year of a long-term contract with Honda but are the only team without a single point to their name this season after a dreadful start to the new campaign.

To make matters worse, double world champion Fernando Alonso and his team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne are both set to serve grid penalties i n Azerbaijan following a raft of changes to their Honda engines.

Indeed it is not inconceivable that both McLaren cars will prop up the grid for Sunday’s race at a street circuit where over taking i s vir tually impossible and top speed is crucial given the main straight is the longest on the calendar at almost 1.4 miles.

McLaren publicly upped the ante on Honda at the last round in Canada after Zak Brown, the team’s executive d i r e c t o r, described the Japanese manufacturer as “lost”.

And the sense of pressure only heightened when Alonso, who was set to score his and McLaren’s first point of the campaign, retired on the penultimate lap after his Honda engine expired.

Talks between McLaren and Honda over t heir future are ongoing but it is understood the Wokingbased outfit, who have not won a race since Hamilton left the team in 2012, are keen to turn to Mercedes power next term.

“It would be great for McLaren, fantastic if it happens,” said Hamilton.

Lewis Hamilton