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OT: The struggles of McLaren-Honda

  1. Calibre11

    Calibre11 Editor of Calibre11.com Staff Member Jun 19, 2017

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  2. dsio

    dsio Ash @ ΩF Staff Member Jun 19, 2017

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    Dave, imagine the irony of after being dogged by broken Honda power units for three years, McLaren switch to Alfa Romeo in the pursuit of reliability.

    When you're saying I need to dump my Honda and get an Alfa Romeo so I can have a car I can depend on, things are dire in Japan.
     
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  3. WernerBoeinck

    WernerBoeinck Jun 19, 2017

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  4. Calibre11

    Calibre11 Editor of Calibre11.com Staff Member Jun 19, 2017

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    When you put it like that ;) Yeah, I can't see it happening, as it seems far more likely that it will be Mercedes McLaren again.

    I'm not sure who would be the right partner for an Alfa badged engine. Toro Rosso doesn't really fit the bill?
     
  5. Calibre11

    Calibre11 Editor of Calibre11.com Staff Member Jun 19, 2017

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    True



    (lets' forget that Arrows/ Footwork project :( . How could you combine Alboreto, Stefan Johansson, Alan Jenkins AND Porsche and come up with such a dog??? )
     
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  6. Hubert

    Hubert TAG Heuer Forums Moderator Staff Member Jun 26, 2017

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  7. Pitfitter446

    Pitfitter446 Jun 28, 2017

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    Does this mean a Seat badge on the McLaren next?
     
  8. Big Adam

    Big Adam Jun 28, 2017

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    It's about as competitive as an Alhambra! But at least it's now scored points! :whistling:
     
  9. Hubert

    Hubert TAG Heuer Forums Moderator Staff Member Jul 12, 2017

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  10. Calibre11

    Calibre11 Editor of Calibre11.com Staff Member Jul 12, 2017

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    The other interesting development is the strong rumour that Sauber has backed out of its Honda engine deal for next year...hard to imagine that F1 would be happy with Honda not having a team, so who knows where this will lead:
    - McLaren to keep Honda?
    - Honda to stay in F1 but sit out racing for a year (keep their McLaren deal, but allow the team to use a customer engine- maybe badge the Ferrari engine as "Mugen")
    - Another team to pick up Honda? Toro Rosso?

    I'd bet on the second one..McLaren get to keep the cash, and Honda find a way to save face and get the engine working properly.
     
  11. Hubert

    Hubert TAG Heuer Forums Moderator Staff Member Jul 12, 2017

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    Interesting choices. As we've been reading, there are lots of factors to consider.

    But given the disastrous track record for last years, if I were managing an F1 team, I'd get as far away from those Honda engines as possible. :(
     
  12. Hubert

    Hubert TAG Heuer Forums Moderator Staff Member Jul 16, 2017

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  13. Calibre11

    Calibre11 Editor of Calibre11.com Staff Member Jul 16, 2017

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    Hard to see Alonso staying if Honda stick around..but where else is he going to go?
    - Mercedes? Maybe. Be worth it, just to see Lewis explode
    - Ferrari- have said no
    - Red Bull- have two drivers under contract (although a lot of noise about Max)
    - Renault- sounds like they are about to drop Palmer for Sainz...would Alonso want to head back to Renault? Feels a year or two too early
    - Rest- no...may as well go to Indy/ they couldn't afford him

    Not a lot of choices. If I was Red Bull, I'd think about letting one of my guys go to Ferrari (given I might lose them anyway) and getting some cash from Maranello to pay for Alonso.
     
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  14. Hubert

    Hubert TAG Heuer Forums Moderator Staff Member Jul 17, 2017

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    Good theories. Alonso seems to be a lot less anxious in the last few weeks, so maybe he has already decided to stay. We'll just have to see how this unfolds.
     
  15. Calibre11

    Calibre11 Editor of Calibre11.com Staff Member Jul 17, 2017

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    Sounds like no change at Red Bull...one more door closes for Alonso

    "They are totally locked in and there is no price that would be high enough for those two [Ricciardo and Verstappen],” said Horner. “Sebastian [Vettel] probably holds the key to the driver market for the moment but in Red Bull there will be no change to our driver line-up."

    http://www.news.com.au/sport/motors...t/news-story/cdad3b73437564f9593fdfcaa30e6fd3
     
  16. WernerBoeinck

    WernerBoeinck Jul 30, 2017

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    6th place in Hungary would play for Alonso...
     
  17. Hubert

    Hubert TAG Heuer Forums Moderator Staff Member Sep 2, 2017

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  18. Hubert

    Hubert TAG Heuer Forums Moderator Staff Member Sep 9, 2017

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  19. Hubert

    Hubert TAG Heuer Forums Moderator Staff Member Sep 9, 2017

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  20. Calibre11

    Calibre11 Editor of Calibre11.com Staff Member Sep 10, 2017

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    Yes, it seems like it's all falling in to place now- Sainz to Renault, Honda to T.R and Renault to McLaren.

    You'd think that Alonso will stay...not sure there is anywhere else for him to go.

    Very smart by Red Bull- if the engine continues to be a dud, then no-one will really care that T.R is at the back of the grid, and if they do manage to get it working, then they just swap the supply over to the main team. There were reports that Honda was tipping $100m into McLaren for their F1 budget, so hope the McLaren marketing team are on their toes...