McLaren denies plans to build its own F1 engine
With Honda's problems looking increasingly intractable in the short term, McLaren has denied that it intends to build its own engine, as it does in other disciplines in which it is involved.
If reliability was present at the first Grand Prix of the season in Australia for the Honda hybrid unit, the McLaren team is starting to become increasingly annoyed by the uncertainties of the Japanese manufacturer, which still hasn’t managed to find the desired performance after two disastrous seasons.
Rumors had already indicated a possible replacement of the Honda power unit with a Mercedes in the cars driven by Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne. However, without truly denying the fact that the British team’s management was beginning to look elsewhere, a solution of this kind seems to have been ruled out for 2017.
But on the sidelines of the Chinese Grand Prix, which will take place next weekend in Shanghai, a new rumor suggests the possibility of McLaren building its own hybrid unit. Indeed, the team, with its McLaren Automotive branch involved in GT racing, is already building its own engine for its Touring cars.
But according to Zak Brown, the approach in Formula 1 is very different, and this solution would therefore not be feasible: « McLaren Automotive is a completely different business with certain shareholders who work closely together. Their engine is a McLaren engine, but the F1 team has a different set of economic priorities and different ways of operating. It’s not currently in the discussions. But what we could do in 10 years, who knows? »
The examples of Ferrari and Renault, who build chassis and engines, are the most convincing currently in Formula 1. But McLaren’s heritage is quite different: « We are not an engine manufacturer, we are a racing team and a car manufacturer. » concludes Brown.
