2017 review: McLaren reaches the end of the road with Honda

McLaren
©McLaren

F1i looks back over the whole of the 2017 Formula 1 world championship season team-by-team and driver-by-driver.

McLaren

There can be few Formula 1 fans who don't look upon McLaren's current plight and shake their heads in despair. No one likes to see one of the greatest names in the history of the sport reduced to such depths.

The heart of the problem has been the team's imploding relationship with engine suppliers Honda. The Japanese manufacturer simply couldn't seem to provide McLaren with the power and reliability needed to challenge their rivals. Over the course of the year, McLaren incurred a total of 873 grid penalties from excessive power unit element changes.

However, eventually there were signs of slow and steady improvement. McLaren picked up 28 of its total of 30 championship points from Hungary onwards. But it was too little and too late: McLaren negotiated a complex deal to offload Honda onto Toro Rosso for 2018 and get a supply of Renault engines in return.

At least it was enough to restore Fernando Alonso's spirits, and he finished his year with three back-to-back top ten finishes. If these green shoots of recovery had shown up sooner, perhaps things with Honda might have gone very differently.

Read on: Fernando Alonso

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