The first four-day pre-season testing for the 2017 Formula 1 concluded last week and while the cars proved to be much faster than last year’s competitors, not everything went smoothly, particularly for the McLaren team.
Ever since the British outfit returned to Honda engines in 2015, its cars have been crippled with issues and despite the Japanese engine supplier claiming to have totally redesigned its engine for the 2017 season, they continued to suffer serious issues during testing.
As a matter of fact, the McLaren team used no less than five Honda engines throughout the four days of testing in Spain. As a reminder, teams can only use four engines for the entire season before starting to receive penalties.
After just one lap during the first day of testing, an oil tank problem necessitated an engine change. By the second day, the McLaren MCL32 was using its third engine but it failed after 29 laps, leading to a fourth and fifth being used for the final two days of testing.
Speaking after the test about whether Honda’s relationship with McLaren was affected by the problems to the BBC, Honda Formula 1 boss Yusuke Hasegawa said “In the tests, of course, this is a stage we need to overcome a lot of trouble. So sometimes we need to argue or we need to have constructive discussion, but I think we are doing a very good job and we have a very good relationship.”
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