Posted on 29th January 2015
At midday today, McLaren-Honda’s hotly-anticipated MP4-30 was revealed to the world via an online launch today ahead of the new car’s first test in Jerez next week
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoOT0NiydEA&x-yt-cl=85027636&x-yt-ts=1422503916
The MP4-30 marks a new era for McLaren as it returns to Honda power and welcomes Fernando Alonso back to the team. The exclusive engine deal will see McLaren go its own way with Honda power after 20 years of working with Mercedes and carries the hopes of future championship success for both Alonso and Jenson Button.
The MP4-30 features an elegant solution to F1’s new nose regulations rather than the stubby ‘thumb’ interpretation seen on the latest Williams and Force India (see picture above). The team claims the rear of the car is more tightly packaged, especially around the gearbox, although cooling remains one of the biggest challenges for all teams under the current engine regulations.
Little is known about the new Honda power unit and it has only completed very limited mileage at a filming day and during a two-day post-season test in Abu Dhabi last year. However in an interview with the media today, McLaren team boss Ron Dennis is confident the Honda partnership will bring the team back to the front of the grid. Dennis stated the following:-
'McLaren Technology Group is driven by the relentless pursuit of technological perfection, and, perhaps more than any other element of our portfolio, Formula One, which is the remit and responsibility of McLaren Racing, and now McLaren-Honda, most famously epitomises that.
'McLaren-Honda is a partnership focused on performance, technology and innovation, and there’s no better example of that than the results achieved in our first collaboration in the 1980s and 1990s. I was Team Principal all those years ago and, while I don’t tend to like looking back to the past, our previous record of sustained success was certainly instrumental in creating the confidence to make the decision to partner with Honda again. Now, there’s real hunger to demonstrate the capabilities of the huge talent pool we share between us, and I’m totally committed to driving progress and achieving further success.
'Although our renewed alliance began again many months ago, the launch of the McLaren-Honda MP4-30 marks the start of a lengthy journey. We’ve come a long way already and, although there’s a lot of work to do before we can expect to repeat the level of success we enjoyed together 25-or-so years ago, it’s already clear that there’s enormous synergy and potential in our partnership, and I’m positive that, together, we’ll get to where we want to be: winning Grands Prix and eventually World Championships as McLaren-Honda.'
From what Dennis has stated in his interview today, it is clear that McLaren is happy to be back in partnership with Honda, especially given their past success in Formula One in the 1980's and early 1990's. McLaren's partnership with Honda reflects Dennis's company ethos for the team which is performance, perfection, technology, innovation and engineering and it is clear that both parties share this aim once again as they start their first season back into partnership again.
You can see that both Dennis and Honda have the same aims and objectives and with their past experience have the hunger to succeed once again and will be working closely with each other to ensure that is the case sooner rather than later. But Dennis and Honda are realistic that it will take them some time to get to where they want to be which is at the front of the grid, but it would seem that both parties are committed to each other for the long term to achieve the goals they crave which is winning races and world championships.
In his own interview with the media, McLaren Racing director Eric Boullier is hoping the changes the team made internally last year, including the appointment of several new engineers and the introduction of a new management structure, will start to bring results on the track. Boullier stated the following:-
'The start of the 2015 season is actually the culmination of a period of great change, and change for the better, plus a huge amount of hard work from everyone in our team. It’s almost a year since I arrived in Woking, and, together with Ron and Jonathan [Neale, Chief Operating Officer, McLaren Racing], began an extensive restructure within McLaren Racing.
'We’re now seeing the benefits of that extensive restructure, and the result is a strengthened, skilled and efficient team, characterised by undimmed commitment from everyone throughout our organisation.
'For a team with such incredible heritage as McLaren, being able to build on our past successes is hugely important to us. It’ll take time to attain the levels of success we aspire to, but you may rest assured that, in concert with Honda, we are totally focused on fulfilling the potential of our exciting new partnership.
'I firmly believe that our team is stronger than ever, and that it’s in the best possible position to push the development of the MP4-30 forward. Progress is our purpose, and we’ve seen firm evidence of that from the very beginning of our renewed relationship.
'We acknowledge that our journey will require a huge amount of hard work, dedication and application from everyone involved, in both Woking and Sakura, but we’re ready and committed to building on the foundations we’ve already established in order eventually to enjoy the results we crave.
'McLaren and Honda are completely integrated and united in our purpose, and we share a fantastic sense of optimism: that together, in time, we’ll create another legacy of success.'
It is clear for all to see that Boullier echoes Dennis' comments in his interview today. Firstly, as Boullier points out, the MP4-30 is the result of much hard work back at the factory and also at Honda's factory in Japan to produce what I feel is a beautiful looking car. Alongside this, the restructuring that McLaren underwent last season Boullier believes is starting to make the progress that they needed to and feels that the benefits are already starting to show which is great to see.
As Dennis says, Boullier believes that McLaren and Honda have the same ethos in order to succeed in Formula One and share the same motivation and desire to achieve this sooner rather than later. Boullier just like Dennis is realistic that this will take some time for them to achieve this, but are hoping to build a solid foundation and platform that both parties can improve on in order to reach their goals in the near future and build upon the success that McLaren and Honda have had in seasons past.
Overall, while most Formula One fans have been excited to see the launch of the MP4-30 today (me included) and on social media, the response to the new car has been very positive and everyone is liking the direction McLaren and Honda have taken with this year's car and that has to be a positive for McLaren and Honda.
My first thoughts on seeing the MP4-30 (see pictures included in the article) was that it is a very beautiful car, the livery is very striking and strong and shows both McLaren and Honda within it and also the car is beautiful packaged compared to last season's car. And I am very happy with the car and how it looks and it was well worth the wait to see the pictures surface online after a long wait sitting by my laptop!
But as Dennis and Boullier have stated today in their interviews both McLaren and Honda have a long season ahead of them and there will be challenges along the way, but both parties are confident in each other and their abilities to get through whatever faces them in their first season back in partnership with each other, but also committed to each other for the long term future.
Both parties have the experience and the expertise to work together to achieve what they want to achieve in the near futue while at this present time fixing and correcting any teething problems that will occur before the start of the season in Melbourne in March during the pre-season tests.
But the MP4-30 will test for the first time on Sunday, February 1 as the 2015 pre-season gets underway at Jerez. After a tricky two-day test in Abu Dhabi with Honda power at the end of last season, McLaren will be keen to get testing mileage under its belt and hopefully ironing out problems that appear as they happen.
In my opinion, McLaren and Honda have made a beautiful looking car for this season and I hope just like most McLaren fans (I am a McLaren fan incase you didn't know) that the car will be as competitive as it can be on the track; which is ultimately what matters to McLaren and Honda.
I cannot wait to see how the MP4-30 performs this season and I hope to see McLaren fighting for podium finishes or even race victories if the chance presents itself. But the future is looking bright for McLaren and Honda and I seriously hope that they #MakeHistory like they did in the 1980's and early 1990's sooner rather than later.
Sarah Jones
