NO HIDING PLACE FOR McLAREN AND ALONSO

IT’S a time of reckoning for McLaren as the new Formula One season starts in Melbourne this weekend. The team which has won 12 drivers’ and eight constructors’ titles are without a race win since 2012, and finished last season ninth in the table. McLaren ascribed much of their pain to a dismal three-year partnership with Honda, whom they have now dumped in favour of Renault. But testing was still not positive. A wheelnut failure, battery problems, a loose exhaust and overheating bodywork confined them to the lowest number of laps driven by any team, 599 in eight days. ‘All the issues have since been addressed back at the factory,’ said racing director Eric Boullier, with a defiant positivity that belies the fact that his job could be on the line. Zak Brown, the executive director, and Jonathan Neale, chief operating officer, would also face tough questions from McLaren’s owners, the Bahrain royal family and French-Arab businessman Mansour Ojjeh, if they continue to struggle. A well-placed McLaren observer told Sportsmail that failure would result in one of the three being axed. Certainly, one black mark against Brown is his failure to bring in a title sponsor, having originally said that would be the yardstick by which he should be judged. ‘This is a big year,’ he said. ‘We think we’ve got great drivers, a great team, a great engine. But the nice thing about Formula One is that people get to see how we’re doing live on television. There’s no hiding. ‘This team has won lots of world championships so we’re up for it. A disappointment would be not being further up the grid. We expect to be fighting for

podiums.’ Their potential for success hinges on double world champion Fernando Alonso’s continued participation. Forget what his contract might say, he could walk out any time. McLaren even feared he might leave them last season when the Honda problems were at their worst. Now, said Boullier during testing, Alonso (left) is happier: ‘He is a different Fernando this year. He spends a lot of time here even when he’s not driving. He supports what we are doing.’