MOTORSPORT: McLaren-Honda cautious

McLaren-Honda has conceded it will be happy with a couple of grand prix podiums in 2015 – the first year in which it will rekindle a partnership that dominated Formula One prior to 1992 but has been absent for seven years.

This week in Tokyo, McLaren and Honda formally revived their championship-winning collaboration of the late 80s and early 90s by launching an all-new Formula One team and car at Honda's Japanese headquarters.

The presentation followed the announcement of the McLaren-Honda driver line-up last December — including Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso, who have three world championships between them – before the official team reveal two weeks ago and its first test earlier this month.

The British-Japanese team managed only 79 laps in the pre-season test as glitches cast concerns over the car’s reliability. Speaking with motoring.com.au on the condition of anonymity, a senior executive with Honda R&D said he hopes the outcome of the first test will not define the team’s performance in 2015.

“Obviously the team is confident and positive that it will do well. But we have been out of F1 for a long time and teams like Mercedes and Red Bull are strong. I think it’s safer to say that, realistically, we’d be content in our first year with a couple of podiums,” he commented.

McLaren Honda dominated F1 from 1988 to 1992, when Brazilian triple world champion Ayrton Senna and French quadruple title-getter Alain Prost won 15 of 16 the races in 1988.

Honda returned as an engine supplier in 2000, but left unsuccessful before Ross Brawn took over in 2009. That hasn't stopped McLaren group head Ron Dennis being optimistic, at least officially.

"We are ready for the challenge and we will have success, because history shows that Honda always succeeds and the Honda-McLaren partnership in the '80s is something that we intend to reproduce," he said.

Yasuhisa Arai, chief officer of Honda's motorsport division, was upbeat when he said the team should prepare to battle with Mercedes, who captured both the drivers' and constructors' titles last year.

"As long as we participate in the race, we should prepare to be competitive with the top team Mercedes," Arai said, as he showed off a mock-up of the new MP4-30 race car with Button and Alonso.

Double champion Alonso said: "This is a very challenging time for all of us, but ... we are ready for some victory hopefully soon."

It’s a big year for Honda. In addition to its F1 comeback, it will also launching its long-awaited second-generation NSX supercar.

“It would be great boost for everyone concerned if we could launch the NSX just as a McLaren-Honda snatches a podium, or even a win in the second half of the season,” said our source.