The McLaren team has been pussyfooting around the issue of Honda for some time now and continues to be very neutral, at least when it comes to on the record remarks. It is clear to most close observers that the relationship is not going to last forever: there have been too many disappointments and not enough performance. There have been rumours of McLaren cutting and running for several months but then came stories that a deal might be brokered that would allow Honda to buy some technology from Mercedes in order to get the engine programme on the right path. For a while this looked like the likely outcome because McLaren did not want to be seen to be pushing Honda out of the sport. Then came a new deal between Honda and Sauber, which kicks off next season. This means that whatever happens with McLaren, Honda will be in F1 next year. It seems, however, that the idea of getting help from a rival is not something that the people at Honda can accept. Thus, the only hope for the future is that Honda will start pulling rabbits out of hats. Unfortunately, this is not happening either, with delayed upgrades and solutions that do not work. Breaking up with Honda will be an expensive divorce (if it goes ahead) because McLaren is heavily dependent on Honda funding. However, the ability of the team to find money from elsewhere and to attract the best talent is also dependent on performance and there comes a point at which the team needs to decide whether to continue in the current state of drift, or terminate the deal, take the pain and start making plans for 2018. To try to do things before that might be desirable, but it is not likely to happen because a cobbled-together McLaren with a different engine would be unlikely to be very competitive and Mercedes (the only real choice as a replacement engine supplier) is unlikely to be willing to undertake such work at short notice.

The bottom line in all of this is that work must begin NOW on cars for 2018. It is already too late in some respects, but it is still possible. We don’t know what McLaren aerodynamicists will have in the wind tunnel at Woking, but it might be wise to have a model with a non-Honda engine.

To be fair to McLaren, if there is going to be a break-up with Honda, there is a fairly sound argument that Honda failed to deliver the goods. Look at the Constructors’ World Championship and it says all you need to know: McLaren has a big fat zero in the Constructors’ Championship… It is last.