max_speed wrote:Of all the reports i have read so far almost everyone has written off Mclaren-Honda from start, everyone is saying (including Lauda) that they will experience difficult year from start. do they have some internal info to claim this ?? why cnt honda be strong from day one , if mercedes can do so can honda , they have all the resources. any solid reason why they gonna be inferior to mercedes or redbull.
No I think they are merely making assumptions based on what they experienced last season, plus Honda wasn't exactly brilliant the last time it was in F1 and just as they were about to have a very good car they pulled out of the sport. The crucial aspect for Honda is have they used the time wisely, made the right design choices and ensured the power unit is a good fit within the MP4-30.
Anyway it can go one of 3 ways
1. Fast and reliable and on par with Mercedes (unlikely).
2. Faster than Renault and Ferrari and not too far off Mercedes.
3. Renault like disaster.
As a McLaren Fan I'm hoping for number 2, dreaming of 1 and fearing number 3. Not long till we find out how good the MP4-30 design looks and what the Honda Power Unit is like. Lets hope the test back in Abu Dhabi has ironed out the gremlins and McLaren Honda can get some decent mileage under it's belt over the first test. I think the key thing about the test will be reliability, if you can believe Ron Dennis performance is apparently not an issue.