CANRENAULTBEMCLAREN’SSAVIOUR?
Afterfinallypartingwayswithhonda,mclarenishopingforanewdawn.by Robertladbrook
It was about this time last year that the penny finally dropped. The sharp, stinging clatter it made was heard all around the Mclaren garage in Barcelona, and quickly resonated into the boardroom back in Woking too.
Reality bit fast, even if the resulting actions were rather delayed. After two difficult years with Honda, Mclaren’s patience had been stretched thin. But there was a glimmer of hope. Towards the end of 2016 something seemed to click. Honda’s engine became not so woeful, allowing the British team to regularly fight within the points.
OK, it wasn’t the all-conquering performances promised by former company head Ron Dennis upon the reunion of two of Formula 1’s biggest brands, but it was at least distinct progress.
Mclaren was finally finishing. Mclaren was finally racing.
With the FIA opening up the engine development rules ahead of 2017, Honda had a real chance to start over again. It could take what it had learned from its first two years, and make those final gains that would take it from being a few tenths off to being on equal footing with the sport’s powerhouse, Mercedes.
Honda reacted by making sweeping changes to its engine architecture. The turbo configuration was changed to sit either side of the engine – aping Mercedes’ split compressor-turbine design and abandoning the single unit mounted in the engine’s V that Honda pioneered with its ‘size zero’ concept. The combustion pressure was increased and the hybrid systems redesigned to recover, and deploy, more power. The result? A catastrophic step backwards. At Barcelona last year, Mclaren struggled to get a single clear day of running and logged the least mileage of any team as many of Honda’s original issues appeared to resurface in the new power unit.
There were issues with the design of the oil tank, engine failures and a power unit beset with often crippling levels of vibration that brought leaks, electrical troubles, imploding bearings and everything in-between.
Honda was in a mess, and by proxy, so was Mclaren.
“The trouble dawned on us in Barcelona [last year],” says Mclaren Racing head Eric Boullier. “I went to the management, showed them the data and told them that we cannot accept another year like this. We had a tough first year with Honda, we had a tough second year, and had big expectations that there would be progress good enough to get us back where we belong – but Barcelona showed that we would go backwards, and that absolutely was not an option.
“I obviously warned them [the board] about the consequences of another year with no results, where you keep everybody afloat. We have a new team, which has been reconstructed in the last three years, with very good new people – competitive people who used to win – and the danger was we’d lose them.
“The perception of the team is still very much based on the drivers, because they are the faces of the team, but for me the real danger was losing our people. That was the discussion we had to have at the very start of the season.”
Mclaren’s work to divorce Honda essentially began then, but it took until mid-season for the ink to finally be cast over the papers. After a string of missed upgrade deadlines, Mclaren and Honda agreed an amicable split, ending the partnership’s hopes of a dream return to the glory days.
“Any big decisions are always difficult to take,” says Boullier. “The concept of Mclaren winning again with Honda was a dream for everybody, yes – a beautiful story. Today we still have huge respect for Honda, and we don’t divorce in fights and screams and finger pointing. We are all professional – and in the end it was a business decision, which they understand.
“There is sadness that it didn’t work. Mclaren-honda as a brand was a good fit, but in terms of results it just didn’t work. That was it, now we have to see that we get back to competitiveness – back to the top.”
From the ashes of the Honda partnership, Boullier does believe Mclaren has made large steps forward within itself.
With the obvious power deficit, the team had to work hard to ensure its chassis performance was a good as it could be if it was to salvage any reward from the year.
The Mclarens were noted to have strong performance in that area too. Both cars were in the top 10 in Monaco qualifying, Fernando Alonso scored a season-best of sixth in Hungary, alongside points in Baku and strong pace in Singapore – all tracks that place chassis performance above power demands.
“We did achieve a lot in terms of performance with Honda, chassis performance,” adds Boullier. “We know that we are back on the podium in that area. That for me is a huge reward because we have achieved this [one of the best chassis on the grid] through tough circumstances.
“The other positive we can take is that the team is really joined now. We have been suffering so much for three years, but nobody has left. Everybody agreed that this team will be winning again. There is a huge amount of trust and confidence in what we are trying to achieve and because of that we have gone up, up, up – keeping developing the car.” So, exit Honda, enter Renault. Sceptics will see it as swapping the fourth worst engine supplier for the third, but let’s not forget Red Bull Racing showed what can be achieved with a strong chassis and French power – even if it would rather re-badge it as Swiss.
Three wins went the British team’s way this year, proving that Renault has closed up to Mercedes and Ferrari, just not quite enough to put it in championship contention. Yet.
This year will bring another raft of upgrades, and will also leave Mclaren with nowhere to hide should it not enjoy the hike in performance the world expects.
“We had a honeymoon period with Honda, and we’ve learned from that,” adds Boullier. “At the start of a