McLaren-Honda – the name evokes stirring memories of the past, of Ayrton Senna battling Alain Prost for supremacy, of classic red and white machines dominating for season upon season, of an iconic team writing one of the defining chapters in the motor racing history books.
Reuniting such an illustrious partnership brings with it the heavy weight of expectation, but all at McLaren and Honda are working to write a fresh chapter in Formula 1, one that respectfully nods to the past, but boldly looks to the horizon.
McLaren’s first Honda-powered car for 23 years, speaks volumes about the progressive nature of both companies. It is a thoroughly refined evolution of last year’s McLaren, it is the only chassis on the grid to be fitted with Honda’s RA615H Hybrid power unit, and it features an evolved colour scheme that firmly contextualises McLaren’s brand in the 21st century.
MP4-30 – new technical DNA in the mix
In 2015 McLaren-Honda intends to maintain the momentum it achieved during the second half of 2014, when an intensive technical development programme for the MP4-29 allowed the team to establish a solid position within the chasing pack. Relatively stable technical regulations between seasons have permitted our engineers to evolve some of the newer philosophies explored on last year’s season-ending car while also adding some exciting new technical DNA into the mix.
The MP4-30 has been developed to provide the most effective and practical base package. It is a foundation, offering up a number of new exploratory development paths for our engineers, aerodynamicists and drivers to pursue during the season, and on into next year. The car has been aerodynamically developed over the winter, and the result is a pretty, elegant design with a refined nose-box solution, slimmed rear-end packaging, particularly around the gearbox, and the incorporation of an all-new power unit under its tightly contoured bodywork.
Honda: a truly bespoke engineering solution
The partnership with Honda is particularly exciting: to achieve success within the technical regulations requires a bespoke engineering solution that can be achieved only in collaboration with a works partner. Honda will provide the know-how, the expertise and the muscle to make rapid progress and to keep pushing development, on all fronts, during the season. The partnership will be a work in progress, but it will only strengthen over time.
Achieving our ambitious targets will not happen immediately – winning in Formula 1 is a lengthy, iterative process, and one that will gather collective momentum from season to season – but, with the MP4-30 as a base, McLaren and Honda feel they are ready to make quick and efficient progress towards a successful future.
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