2016 McLaren F1 Team - Honda

[McL-H]

It's a shame that McLaren's longest F1 partner now leaves them. ExxonMobile has been with them for 21 years.. it shows a huge lack of faith, them switching to Red Bull. Loyal partners like HB and Exxon are leaving the sinking ship and McLaren still hasn't found a title sponsor to replace Vodafone, which left them years ago.

When one sponsor after another show they lost faith, I start losing faith too. I've been hoping for four years and it has lead to nothing. McLaren-Honda will be --- again next year, and their sponsors know it.

Not to mention that fuel plays a huge role in current F1. All the gains Esso has made will be useless, now that BP will start from scratch again

[1158]

All the gains made this year on the fuel might be useless anyway. If the 2017 Honda PU is a big change it likely won't matter who was supplying the fuel. I'd argue this is the perfect time to switch fuels/lubricants IF it was going to happen at some point anyway. Not to mention BP/Castrol and Honda have some history together.

Maybe I'm wrong but I doubt this switch developed overnight. BP could already be supplying Honda with fuel/lubricants for the 2017 PU.

[Thunder]

If this is true now is the best Time for a switch. Honda will change the whole Combustion Process for next Year anyways and now is the Time the 2017 PU is on the Dyno and being developed. And as said in the Honda Engine Thread, there could even have been some IP transfer. We will see.

[mclaren111]

Castrol are very active in Motorsport:

CASTROL AND AUDI SPORT – WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP
Castrol and Audi World Endurance Champions
Castrol & Audi have been partners in endurance racing since 2011.
For many years, the Audi Sport team has dominated the world-famous Le Mans 24 Hours - the gruelling endurance race, where cars compete day and night, in all weathers.
With top speeds of 220mph on the mile-long straights, and average speeds of 150mph - Le Mans is the ultimate test of engine and lubricant working as one and demonstrates the phenomenal endurance power of Castrol EDGE.

CASTROL AND HONDA – WORLD TOURING CARS
Castrol and Honda Drivers
Castrol and Honda have a long and proud history of motorsport success making them the perfect partners in the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC).
"We are delighted to have Castrol as our team’s title sponsor," said team principal Alessandro Mariani. "Like Honda, Castrol has a long and proud history in the world of motorsport and their enthusiasm and passion for racing matches our own".

To mention but a few !!


This might be a very good move !!!!

[Thunder]

And Castrol is partnered with Honda for longer than McLaren is with Exxon. So it should be fine.

Edit: Joe Saward reports it also
https://joesaward.wordpress.com/2016/10 ... en-and-bp/

[mclaren111]

New Livery:




Something along these lines ???

[bauc]

2017 will be very interesting year for Mclaren Honda for sure. From Engine & Chassis performance to new livery (possibly?)

Do you guys think Honda pushed for Castrol to be involved since they go way back? As I do not believe Mclaren would have ended their relationship with Mobil 1 after 21 years just out of the blue.

[Thunder]

Well it's possible Honda was working with Castrol for quite some Time on the F1 Lubricants in secret and they are just convinced they are better than the Mobil1 Counterparts, but i wouldn't say that is enough to convince McLaren to end a long standing Partnership.

My Gut feeling is that RB just won the "bidding war" over Exxon and Honda was pleased to make the BP/Castol Connection.

[sosic2121]

Mexico doesn't have a super long straight, it has a nice flat out section, but the majority of the track is low and medium speed corners, with a fair bit of braking, the mid speed corners aren't long and sweeping, but rather quick changes of direction.

Mexico has 3 8th gear straights. first one is very long (355kmh).

[godlameroso]

It's no longer than Canada's straight before the wall of champions. The big difference is how little air resistance there is since Mexico City is quite high up above sea level. So even with DRS closed the cars still hit +320kph, same is true in Brazil.

[diffuser]

Mexico's corners will suit McLaren enough to balance out the straights.

interesting according to jenson button , mclaren suffer a lot in mid corner speed , maybe you know better than him. no wonder mclaren bringing so many alterations every gp to get their balance right. show how much they need to improve for next season. i hope they do improve.

Jenson Said that long corners are problematic when explaining that McLaren would have fewer problems with Austin that they did with Suzuka. That was said before practice and they went on to struggle.

That being said, "the Mexican" looks like a lot of slow speed chicanes with a couple of straights.

Sector 2 will be the most challenging from a Chassis point.

From 2015 (Best Sectors)
S1 ROSBERG 27.40
S2 ROSBERG 31.208
S3 HAMILTON 20.797

http://www.fia.com/events/fia-formula-o ... rmation-17
http://www.fia.com/events/fia-formula-o ... rmation-16

[godlameroso]

New Livery:

http://s7.postimg.org/5k6e06fsb/image.jpg


Something along these lines ???

Castrol edge has black bottles, and gold bottles for their extended performance oil. The conventional bottles are white, while the gtx high mileage and magnatec bottles are green. I'm pretty sure they'll be sponsoring Castrol Edge, so I don't think they're going to make a big livery change seeing as their main product has a black bottle.

I use Castrol in all my Hondas, so to me this makes sense.

[proteus]

It's a shame that McLaren's longest F1 partner now leaves them. ExxonMobile has been with them for 21 years.. it shows a huge lack of faith, them switching to Red Bull. Loyal partners like HB and Exxon are leaving the sinking ship and McLaren still hasn't found a title sponsor to replace Vodafone, which left them years ago.

When one sponsor after another show they lost faith, I start losing faith too. I've been hoping for four years and it has lead to nothing. McLaren-Honda will be --- again next year, and their sponsors know it.

Not to mention that fuel plays a huge role in current F1. All the gains Esso has made will be useless, now that BP will start from scratch again

Im kind of not understanding u at all. Why would Mclaren need a title sponsor? They have Honda, which means free engines and salaries for both drivers, plus cash on the hand. Boss left Mclaren, they have Michael Kors now, Exxon is going away, they are getting Castrol in, TAG Heuer left, they got Richard Mille. Johnny pulled out, Chandon came in, they got CNN and NTT comunications deals, Segafredo is staying, they got Sensodyne and NRF got branded on the car. They also branded Innovation is GREAT on the cars for which i think wasnt free. So i dont see where they have a problem with sponsors. If u are "losing youre faith", then u are not a true Mclaren fan at all. I never lost faith and i never will. Season 04 was extremely painfull in a time when testing was unlimited and yet they bounced back stronger next year. Honda project was a project from scratch with limited testing and development time, maybe even a bit rushed too much but the progress was massive from last season and a similar step can be expected in next year. They wont be fighting for championship or maybe even not for victories, but they will be probably able to get podiums.

[fellowhoodlums]

Independent team remember, not works car like Ferrari/Mercedes/Renault. You need big bucks backer as well as your sponsor.

RedBull we all know about and McLaren has it's supercars and technologies. It's Williams that's damn impressive in comparison to these big spenders.

[Sayeman]

Honda PU performing well, only .188 down on 1st sector