McLaren-Honda debate and more on this week's F1 Report with Ted Kravitz, Marc Priestley & host Natalie Pinkham
Monday 26 June 2017 13:02, UK
McLaren and Honda appear to be heading for a split just three years after renewing a partnership which once ruled F1.
But is a return to Mercedes power for 2018 McLaren's only realistic alternative option?
On this week's F1 Report, Sky F1's Ted Kravitz and Marc Priestley discuss McLaren's possible non-Honda choices.
"There is lots of discussion about Mercedes, a Ferrari-badged Alfa Romeo, Renault..." said Priestley, a former McLaren mechanic.
"Where do they go? For me, it's Mercedes because that's the instant move up the grid. It's a known point: you hand over the cash and you'll get extra performance."
While a deal to run Mercedes customer engines for the first time since 2014 is perhaps the most straightforward solution for McLaren, one report this week floated the possibility of a previously unthinkable tie-up with Ferrari in a branding deal which could allow the Alfa Romeo name return to F1 for the first time since the mid-1980s.
Long-time Ferrari customers Sauber had been linked with such a deal themselves before deciding to switch to Honda for 2018.
"Sergio Marchionne, the Ferrari president, has been trying to get Alfa Romeo into Formula 1 for ages," explained Kravitz.
"He wants to be paid for it, which has always been a bit of a stumbling block because he goes to a team and they say 'we'll run it for you but you need to pay us some money' and he says 'no, you need to pay me for it!'
"But McLaren would pay him for the engines. McLaren and Ferrari can do some things in supercars as well."
However, in addition to potential conflicts of interest in their respective road car projects, Kravitz added: "The problem is that there has never been a time when a customer Ferrari has actually beaten the works team as far as I can remember. Whereas you do get customer Mercedes teams winning races."
And Priestley, who worked for McLaren between 2000 and 2009, admits it is hard to imagine the long-time arch rivals working together even after wholesale changes of personnel.
"Can you ever see McLaren running a Ferrari engine, even if you call it an Alfa Romeo?" he asked.
"The history that goes between those two teams, there has been bad blood and I've been witness to that.
"But I suppose Ron Dennis has gone and that may mean some of these relationships which have been bad in the past may have been smoothed."
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