07/06/2017
NEWS STORY
It would appear that finally, much like British PM Theresa May said at the weekend, McLaren also feels that "enough is enough".
However, unlike the British PM who will face enormous pressure to carry out her promise - assuming she is (re-)elected - McLaren's only concern is who it would get to supply its engines should it opt to part company with its Japanese partner.
Despite giving Honda more than enough chances, it would appear that the Japanese manufacturer remains all at sea. Just two weeks after the smoke and mirrors Indy 500 excursion came to nought - courtesy of a Honda engine failure - McLaren has learned that the much anticipated performance update will not be ready this weekend. Indeed, according to team boss Zak Brown, Honda is unable to say when it will be ready.
As a result, the Woking team and its drivers, Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne, face further penalties, retirements and heartache while the legendary team suffers further damage to its reputation and brand.
Speaking to Reuters however, Brown, admitting that enough is enough, reveals that top management at Woking is only ninety days from making a decision on the future of the partnership, now admitting that there is a fork in the road ahead.
"Honda’s working very hard but they seem a bit lost," he said. "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," he admits, "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."
"The executive committee have now given us our marching orders," he reveals. "We’re not going to go into another year like this, in hope."
"I don’t want to get into what our options are. 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."
Unwilling to reveal what the alternative is, though there have been claims of a return to a Mercedes supply, all Brown will say is that: "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'."
Insisting that the original deal to partner with Honda was "100 percent right", he adds: "However, so far it hasn’t worked. A year in Formula One is an eternity. Three years is a decade. And you just can’t go on forever."
"Do I think you can win with a customer engine? I think you can," he insists, and at a time former Cosworth boss Mark Gallagher is suggesting that though Honda is pouring money into McLaren's coffers, the Woking outfit would be best served by biting the bullet and relying on prize money earned with a new partner, the American admits: "When you actually look at the impact of loss of FOM money and loss of sponsorship, it starts to diminish the commercial benefits of what Honda brings to the table. And when you start to net it out, it doesn’t have quite the commercial benefit it might appear from the outside."