IS THE MCLAREN MERCEDES REUNION EVER GONNA HAPPEN?
A WAY OUT OF THE MESS?
Back in 2013, McLaren announced that they were going to switch alliance with the Silver Arrows to Honda from the land of the rising sun. It was a sensible move at that time with the new turbo engine era looming ahead, seeing that they can’t compete for a world title while being an engine customer to Mercedes. Partnering with Honda would see them being the only outfit being supplied with engines and giving them competitive edge ahead of their competitors.
Unfortunately, the plan backfires for the Woking team with the Honda engine is completely unreliable and lacking the punch in power to race with Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault engine teams. Being a year late in development to other manufactures doesn’t help anything, as Honda being slow to react with the problems within the engine just added more fuel to the fire.
After a dismal 2015, things started to look better for both McLaren and Honda last year. With hopes of finally reaching the podium this season, Honda elected another engine redesign to improve performance. They followed closely to Mercedes' design, sounds good on paper, but well... you already know what happened next. As of right now after the race at Catalunya, McLaren is now last in the constructors with no points to their names and problems still continue to savage the team’s performance.
Scene of a McLaren Honda breaking down on TV isn't something new to Formula One nowadays
Although, it isn’t entirely Honda’s fault; McLaren has been chasing the “size zero” concept and it was one of the main factors on why McLaren decided to partner with Honda. The “size zero” concept requires the car’s bodywork to be tightly designed and therefore improves aerodynamic efficiency. However it has one major limitation, because of the tight packaging of the car. The engine has to be small which requires more air to cool it down.
McLaren still hasn’t learned from their mistake in 2003 with the MP4-18 and design the car with very slim sidepods causing the engine to overheat massively – thus resulting in a loss in performance and reliability of the engine.
McLaren is one part to blame for the occurring problems right now
The strain Anglo-Japanese relationship has been the talking point of Formula One for sometimes now and more rumors starting to appear about their failing marriage with McLaren thinking of reuniting with Mercedes for a second time. But the question is, it’s going to happen?
A SECOND STINT WITH MERCEDES
Both McLaren and Mercedes had a fruitful 20 years partnership claiming 3 Drivers’ World Championship and adding a Constructors’ title to their cabinet.
The first indication of the reunion between the two was right after the Barcelona pre-season tests with the new Honda engine continues to have problems which infuriating both Zak Brown and Eric Boullier to take drastic measures.
Although denying claims from the press about a potential switch to Mercedes and remaining committed with Honda. McLaren had enough when seeing Alonso’s MCL32 spun on Turn 3 because of an oil leak from the engine, ruining the Spaniard’s Friday morning run. Zak Brown and Toto Wolff later had a meeting right after FP1 as indicated by Auto Bild. Wolff also confirmed of the meeting which sparks a lot of talks around the paddock about the situation.
And recent news might help McLaren get the deal with Mercedes in which coincidentally involves Mercedes first Formula One partners: Sauber
Sauber might be the key to McLaren's future
As of right now you guys might have heard about the news that Honda will be supplying engines to Sauber for next season. But why it’s that important?
Mercedes currently still has one more customer engine slot which was vacated when Renault taken over Lotus at the end of 2015. Sauber was in talks with Mercedes of a potential customer deal but later backed out and take Honda instead, leaving the slot for McLaren to take.
Switching to Mercedes is a logical decision for the team, McLaren needs to improve their performance immediately and to help their desire to have a title sponsor for the first time since 2013 when Vodafone left them at the end of the season. Stuck at the back end of the field will not help them getting the sponsor. Zak Brown said during an interview that McLaren might not be able to run due to lack of funding from sponsors and possibly can run on their own until 2019.
Partnering the German marque will help restoring the team’s image as well with McLaren now becoming the laughing stock of Formula One because of their continuous miseries and blunders with the Honda partnership.
The reunion might be well in the making
They will be back as an engine customer with Mercedes but at least they will achieve something rather than nothing with Honda
GIVING HONDA A SHOT AT REDEMPTION
McLaren is at a crossroad right now, ditching Honda to joins force with Mercedes in 2019 - or staying with Honda again. Although taking advantage of the new Sauber-Honda deal might be tempting for the Woking team, it might not be all over with their relationship with Honda.
Sauber joining the fray as a Honda customer team might save the Anglo-Japanese partnership that is on the brink of collapse. Now Honda will have more input on their engines with their connections from Hinwill and Woking working together to help all parties on the problem with the engines.
McLaren and Sauber will be a essential part towards Honda's future "resurgences"
This is a good step in direction for Honda as their development is often dictated by McLaren. With this partnership with Sauber, a new horizon is open for Honda.
THE END VERDICT
The situation is boiling up pretty quickly but from my perspective, McLaren will stay with Honda. But WHY?
Well, both parties have been sticking with the project for a considerable amount of times and it is too late for McLaren to bail out now.
Although the situation might go either way and we might see McLaren's 2018 performances will impact their decision whether to part ways with Honda to come with the Silver Arrows again - or a resurgence to match with the legacy nearly 30 years ago.
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