But suddenly weeks later, that lack of recapturing the original is manifested in the actual car. The only concern that day was that it wasn’t the original McLaren orange. Launch day beckoned with excitement, anticipation, and a return to orange. But in the end, McLaren will end up worse off in the final standings than last year. Alonso will drag the car kicking, screaming and spluttering to a few great results – by great I mean fifth at best, say – and Vandoorne will impress. This year, I don’t see things getting any better. Honda’s plight has only deepened over the winter, with the change in power unit layout to try and mirror Mercedes’ offering backfiring. And yet here we are, at the start of another season, and McLaren looks marooned. The team looked to run in a superb fashion. Luke Smith: The first time I went to the McLaren Technology Center, I left asking myself how the team doesn’t win every single race. MONTMELO, SPAIN – MARCH 09: A member of the McLaren team inspects the car of Stoffel Vandoorne of Belgium and McLaren Honda after it stopped on track during day three of Formula One winter testing at Circuit de Catalunya on Main Montmelo, Spain. Sixth in the constructors’ may be the best it can hope for. Right now, McLaren would happily take a repeat of last year. Trouble through pre-season testing with the Honda power unit left both Alonso and Vandoorne on the sidelines time and time again. The reality is a long way away from that. What they’ll look to accomplish in 2017: McLaren would have you think that it is aiming to fight at the front of the field and rediscover its past glories in 2017. Yep, the Dennis-ian era is well and truly over. And most obviously, the car is bright orange. The Honda power unit has changed layout (more on that later) as the Japanese manufacturer looks to make some big gains. Stoffel Vandoorne will get his big break in F1 after replacing Jenson Button, who has most likely made his final F1 start. What’s changed for 2017: As mentioned, Ron Dennis is no longer in charge, with American businessman Zak Brown instead taking the helm. 2017 marks the start of a very new era for McLaren. The internal struggles may have affected things, but they eventually came to a head with Ron Dennis departing at the end of the campaign. McLaren isn’t a team that should be consigned to P7 at best it should be fighting for world titles year after year. What went wrong in 2016: It still wasn’t where McLaren and Honda expected to be in year two. It was a year of big progress for the team. Alonso in particular squeezed all he could out of the car, putting in some mighty displays.
While Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button were unable to hassle the front-runners, both regularly appeared in the lower-reaches of the top 10. What went right in 2016: The misery of 2015 was avoided, which was a big check-mark for McLaren. So entering 2017, will be upward trend continue? Or was it the rise before a fall?Įric Boullier (racing director) MONTMELO, SPAIN – MARCH 10: Fernando Alonso of Spain driving the (14) McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team McLaren MC元2 on track during the final day of Formula One winter testing at Circuit de Catalunya on Main Montmelo, Spain. While it remains far-off where McLaren wants (and, some may say, deserves) to be, the result marked a significant step forward after a troublesome period. Following a bumpy start to life back with Honda in 2015, McLaren came on leaps and bounds through the 2016 Formula 1 season, ending the year a solid sixth in the constructors’ championship.