[madhav]

McLaren should've got a B-team (Caterham with a McLaren chassis maybe) and plonked the Honda engine in that for this season. This would've given them all the testing they needed and the grid penalties would not have hurt. McLaren could've continued with Merc engine and qualified for Q3 if not race wins. That would've still given them a chance to get rid of Honda in case their engine sucked. All this is in hindsight though...

[Hatari]

Originally Posted by madhav

McLaren should've got a B-team (Caterham with a McLaren chassis maybe) and plonked the Honda engine in that for this season. This would've given them all the testing they needed and the grid penalties would not have hurt. McLaren could've continued with Merc engine and qualified for Q3 if not race wins. That would've still given them a chance to get rid of Honda in case their engine sucked. All this is in hindsight though...

Dont think it would have helped as the issue is a design flaw, and can only be changed for 2016.

[jfxavier]

Some interesting insights into McLaren Honda's problems, albeit with some technical errors.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/34208407

This year's car layout was conceived around the compact Honda engine layout before McLaren's chief engineer Peter Prodromou joined from Red Bull last autumn.
Honda is designing a larger compressor and revised turbo and MGU-H into an engine that will retain the same fundamental architecture, with the aim of keeping the package as compact as possible.
Prodromou, meanwhile, is working on eradicating the flaws in the McLaren car design, focusing on the frontal aerodynamics and creating the strong airflows around the car into the area around the rear wheels and floor that are so critical to performance - and where Red Bull have traditionally excelled.

Honda has plans to work for the remainder of this year on both the performance of the internal combustion engine and the efficiency of the hybrid system. But, because the problem is so fundamental, any improvement will be limited and it will be next year before a significant step forward can be expected.
The big question is whether Honda can redesign its engine for next season to enable a turbo-compressor-MGU-H layout of the required efficiency.
"That is the objective of the development," says Arai. "We know the compressor is the biggest issue we are trying to solve. I know how difficult it was at Silverstone, Spa and Monza and how much we need to get that working. We know looking at the data what other cars are deploying and how much. So obviously the minimum objective is there."
Sources close to McLaren have questioned Honda's sense of urgency in dealing with the problem and whether it fully grasps the size of its deficit; whether they are right to do so will only begin to become clear next season.

[madhav]

Originally Posted by Hatari

Dont think it would have helped as the issue is a design flaw, and can only be changed for 2016.

Well that's exactly what they would've found out if they used their 2015 chassis and other parts with the Honda PU on their B-team. They could've done all the trial and error and taken a hit on grid positions only to get enough information to design a better 2016 car. The kind of bad publicity the McLaren brand is getting is just downright disgusting. If they go into 2016 season with this performance, then they might as well quit the sport. The only way they are going to regain the lost respect is by winning races and being in the top 3 at least.

[jfxavier]

Originally Posted by madhav

Well that's exactly what they would've found out if they used their 2015 chassis and other parts with the Honda PU on their B-team. They could've done all the trial and error and taken a hit on grid positions only to get enough information to design a better 2016 car. The kind of bad publicity the McLaren brand is getting is just downright disgusting. If they go into 2016 season with this performance, then they might as well quit the sport. The only way they are going to regain the lost respect is by winning races and being in the top 3 at least.

Originally Posted by madhav

McLaren should've got a B-team (Caterham with a McLaren chassis maybe) and plonked the Honda engine in that for this season. This would've given them all the testing they needed and the grid penalties would not have hurt. McLaren could've continued with Merc engine and qualified for Q3 if not race wins. That would've still given them a chance to get rid of Honda in case their engine sucked. All this is in hindsight though...

Maybe there are not many people ready to take up the offer.
The word is out that Honda might be using a Superformula car to test the F1 engines on the Suzuka track, much like the rumored Ferrari and Merc. test mules.

Hopefully, they will turn up better equipped on the first test day of 2016.

Source : http://autosprint.corrieredellosport...formula/36280/

[Hatari]

Originally Posted by madhav

Well that's exactly what they would've found out if they used their 2015 chassis and other parts with the Honda PU on their B-team. They could've done all the trial and error and taken a hit on grid positions only to get enough information to design a better 2016 car. The kind of bad publicity the McLaren brand is getting is just downright disgusting. If they go into 2016 season with this performance, then they might as well quit the sport. The only way they are going to regain the lost respect is by winning races and being in the top 3 at least.

Whats apparent is that they were'nt even ready to service 1 team, 2 teams im sure would have further complicated the matter.
On the financial side, Honda have pumped in $100 million, so McLaren are in a much better position financially, now than in the past even though there is no primary team sponsor.

The McLaren brand is definitely suffering, the slide started since Lewis/Paddy left. Their only option to restore previous success of winning titles was to go for broke partnering Honda and abandon Mercedes as a supplier.

2016 is key. The size zero philosophy has failed, the engine needs to be 1 size larger to accommodate a larger compressor.

[mayankk]

Clarkson's theory of either only production or just f1 cars doing well seem to stand well here. Mclaren have been doing tremendously well with the budget supercars, and the hypercars in the recent past. Record profits in fact, better sales than Lamborghini.
This team is not Mclaren. This is a Space Jam switch with one of the filler teams.