McLaren-Honda Tag

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Fernando Alonso is not happy. After just 6 days of pre-season testing, McLaren-Honda has had more power unit failures, changes, and technical problems than any other Formula One team and he is laying the blame squarely on Honda. With echoes of his “GP2 engine” remarks, the two time champ berated Honda when he spoke to the media today. “We have only one problem: that is the power unit. There is no reliability and there is no power. I think we are 30 km/h down on every straight.Read More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Just as many began to doubt Mercedes’ pace, the silver arrows struck back with Valtteri Bottas who set a scorching 1:19.310 lap of Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The new Mercedes man only used the super soft tires to set the best time of 2017 thus far, and looked very comfortable behind the wheel of the W08 where he stayed for 70 laps today. Williams man and yesterday’s pace setter Felipe Massa kept him honest with a strong 1:19.420 for the ultra soft shod FW40. Both of their timesRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Felipe Massa and Williams surprised the field by topping the time sheets for the opening day of the second pre-season test from Barcelona today. The Brazilian veteran clocked a solid 1:19.726 in his FW40 on the super soft tires and logged a massive 168 laps around Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Daniel Ricciardo got Red Bull close to Massa’s time with a 1:19.900, but had to run the ultra soft tires in order to do so. The Aussie ran 89 laps for a solid if most unspectacular dayRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor McLaren’s miserable start to the 2017 season continued this morning in Barcelona when Honda had to change the engine in Stoffel Vandoorne’s MCL32 after an electrical issue limited the Belgian to just 34 laps in the first session of the day. The power unit change has taken the place of the afternoon session. It is the third such unscheduled change for McLaren and Honda after only five days of pre-season testing. Last week the team suffered from an oil tank failure and a valve issue whichRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The much anticipated 2017 Formula One cars finally took to the track en masse today at Circuit de Bracelona-Catalunya in Spain. Unsurprisingly Lewis Hamilton set the day’s fastest time with a solid 1:21.765 on the soft tires. Somewhat surprisingly, Sebastian Vettel nearly matched him with a 1:21.878 on the mediums! The Mercedes looks good, but Ferrari’s risky new design seems to work well. Both teams performed flawlessly and racked up the mileage. The Mercedes duo of Hamilton and newcomer Valtteri Bottas covered 152 laps for theRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor After Red Bull Racing pinched ExxonMobil from McLaren Honda in the off-season, the refreshed team from Woking has joined Renault in selecting BP and Castrol as their fuel and lubricant supplier from 2017 on. The move not only means that BP and Castrol are supplying two teams this season, but also that Red Bull and Renault will be using different fuel suppliers for the same engines. It will be fascinating to see which oil company gives their team an edge as power units will be evenRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor McLaren dropped a big hint with the teaser poster for their car unveiling this season. It’s orange and black theme is believed to indicate a return to the firm’s classic papaya orange livery, famously introduced by company founder Bruce McLaren. The iconic orange hue has often been used as a testing livery for the team, such as the case of Pedro de la Rosa’s car above. It has also been used for special edition road cars like the F1 LM that celebrated the team’s victory atRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The 2016 Formula One season will go down in history as one of the most surprising, and unique in recent years. It will be known for Nico Rosberg’s epic battle with Lewis Hamilton, for Max Verstappen’s rise at Red Bull, for the retirement of beloved veterans, and Rosberg’s willingness to walk away from the sport having won his only world title. Here are our top five moments of the year. 5. Retirement Announcements Beloved veterans Jenson Button and Felipe Massa shocked the sport by announcing theyRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Fernando Alonso has announced that he is committed to staying on at McLaren despite recent rumors linking him with the vacant seat at Mercedes. News had barely broken of Nico Rosberg’s shock retirement before the silly season went full steam ahead and rumors of Alonso jumping ship to Mercedes were rife. Despite the Spaniard’s past history of unexpected team changes, it looks like the speculation has been put to rest, at least for the time being. Speaking at the McLaren factory in Surrey he said, “IRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The previously unthinkable has come to pass, Ron Dennis has stepped down from his role as Chairman and Chief Executive at McLaren. The news comes after much speculation since the team’s troubled performance and lack of results in Formula One. Dennis had planned to buyout fellow shareholders Mansour Ojjeh, and the Bahraini Sovereign Wealth Fund in order to take full control over the company. In his attempts to do so he tried and failed at luring tech giant Apple into a potential buyout or investment dealRead More