Honda only option to move forward - Dennis

McLaren team principal Ron Dennis has outlined McLaren's thinking in choosing a deal with newcomer Honda over the team's current partnership with Mercedes.

Even though Mercedes currently supplies the most powerful engine package on the grid, Dennis pointed out McLaren needed to look for other options if it wanted to move forward.

"Obviously, the Mercedes engines is currently the most competitive engine, but it's not the way for us to go forward", Ron Dennis said.

"We want the best and more competitive engine. Then, you're into defining what is the best engine, and that is defined by a various number of elements. Mercedes now controls all parameters in terms of energy harvesting, and that is something we want to control ourselves. We will have this possibility with a works engine, thanks to Honda.

"We know what their [Honda's] capability is, and if you see what the infrastructure is they are building, I'm sure they [Mercedes-Benz] are quite nervous."

"The Silverstone test was a systems check. Next week we'll run a comparison test to see which way we can develop. Forget the laptimes, they won't be relevant, but we'll be able to establish a base understanding of the mechanics, while we will also be doing some aerodynamic checks. Again, it's a proof of concept, we're not aiming outright performance."

On the driver front, Dennis emphasized the team have not firmly decided.

"To be clear, I have a heart, and I take no pleasure on stressing out a driver, certainly not our current drivers. Lots can happen this weekend at Abu Dhabi which will certainly influence our decision for next year. Essentially, we haven't decided yet, but I want to stress that this is not due to a lack of commitment or a lack of decision making."