Shaky relationship between McLaren and Honda under threat
McLaren F1 boss Zak Brown has admitted that McLaren is losing its patience with Honda – and he has made it clear that the relationship has reached a critical point.
The team has been left frustrated after a promised upgrade for Montreal, the first of a run of power sensitive tracks, failed to materialize. Both Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne will also face grid penalties whenever they take new engine elements over the rest of the season, having already reached the limit of four examples.
In addition Alonso’s engine failure in the closing stages at Indianapolis, when he was in with a shout of a good result, has not helped the relationship.
“Honda’s working very hard but they seem a bit lost,” Brown told Reuters. “We were only told recently that we wouldn’t have the upgrade coming, and we don’t have a definitive timeline, which is concerning because the pain is great and we can’t sit around forever.
“We were eagerly awaiting this upgrade as were our drivers and it’s a big disappointment that it’s not coming. It’s not lack of effort, but they are struggling to get it to come together.”
Brown says that the main shareholders have made it clear that things must change. The only realistic alternative would appear to be a switch back to Mercedes.
“The executive committee have now given us our marching orders," said Brown. "We’re not going to go into another year like this, in hope.
“I don’t want to get into what our options are," he added. "Our preference is to win the world championship with Honda. But at some point you need to make a decision as to whether that’s achievable. And we have serious concerns.
“Missing upgrades, and upgrades not delivering to the level we were told they were going to, you can only take that so long. And we’re near our limit. It will all come together. There’s lots of things that go into the decision and we’re entering that window now of 'which way do you go when you come to the fork in the road?'.”
