CAN MCLAREN GET BACK TO THE FRONT?
Fernando Alonso will be praying that the switch to Renault power will coincide with a resurgence from the French-built engine and propel him to the front. Mind you, knowing his luck, Honda will probably produce a beast that pushes Toro Rosso forwards!
Mclaren showed on a number of occasions last year that it had a good chassis, and both drivers in the second half of 2017 were able to unlock some good speed. When you hear the stats that the team was quoting in terms of lap-time loss on the straights, it did seem slightly exaggerated when you compared it to what other squads up and down the pitlane believed from the GPS data comparisons that they all use. It’s a hard one to judge because the car also appeared to be quite draggy, which perhaps didn’t help the perception of the Honda power unit and, in some ways, I think 2017 turned into a season of political manoeuvring for the team to try to get out of the contract with Honda.
Either way, for the past three seasons Mclaren has been able to point a lot of fingers at its Japanese partner and play the blame game for the lack of performance. Yes, the Honda was the weakest engine out there, but in 2018 there will be nowhere to hide as Mclaren will have two very good references in Red Bull and the works Renault team to draw comparisons with. Never shy to ramp up the pressure, Alonso is acutely aware of this and he’s already driven the point home to everyone at Woking.
Personally, it’s been sad to see Mclaren struggling. Formula 1 needs to have the great historical teams, such as Mclaren and Williams, at the front, and I do hope Mclaren can start racking up those wins again.