“We have made up two-and-a-half seconds a lap since the start of the season, but we are still two seconds behind.”
Arguably the most depressing thing about that statement from Jonathan Neale, the chief operating officer of McLaren, after the team’s disappointing performance in Canada on Sunday, was that it was pretty much spot on.
Neither Fernando Alonso nor Jenson Button finished the race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, a venue they have won at nine times, with both cars on average two seconds a lap slower than the front runners.
Only the Marussia cars, who run on a fraction of the budget of McLaren, were behind them when they hit engine-related problems.
Yet, Neale is right. Compared to how they went in Australia in March at the opening round of the season, this was a competitive outing for the British marque.
In Melbourne Button was four seconds off the pace, while Kevin Magnussen, standing in for Alonso, did not even make it to the grid.
To say the new union of McLaren and engine manufacturer Honda has not gelled is an understatement.
Honda, returning to Formula One after a seven-year hiatus, have had numerous issues with their 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 engine and it lacks considerable power compared to the Mercedes and Ferrari units, and even the underwhelming Renault.
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Alonso has kept a smile on his face despite the uncompetitive machinery at his disposal, but that facade finally snapped on Sunday. After he had fallen back through the pack after a good start, the double world champion was told by his team to save fuel.
He responded by telling them they looked like “amateurs” for the fact that, even while they were uncompetitive, they had to fuel save. This is McLaren’s worst start to a F1 season, with four points from Button in Monaco for eighth place last month all the team with 182 race wins and 12 constructors’ championships have to their name from the opening seven races.
Many of the problems are not their fault because Honda clearly underestimated the job of building these tricky modern engines, which only Mercedes have mastered.
Although McLaren would have known it would be a risk – especially after seeing how Ferrari and Renault struggled in 2014 – they are in danger of becoming an irrelevance in F1 as their decline down the grid continues.
McLaren have won only one title since 1999, Lewis Hamilton’s 2008 drivers’ championship, despite being established as one of the biggest teams in the sport.
They have not won a race since Brazil in 2012 – 45 races ago, their longest winless run for 18 years – and there is no sign of things changing.
Honda should improve but that will not be an instant magic wand, because the MP4-30 looks to be lacking mechanical grip, particularly in fast corners.
The romantic vision of McLaren and Honda teaming up was for them to recapture the glory of their 1988-1992 partnership when they won four drivers’ and constructors’ titles and claimed 44 races.
At present, finishing fifth in the team standings, as they have done in the past two seasons, would be an achievement.
Alonso is holding out hope Honda will overcome their teething problems and can be contenders in 2016.
They need to be, not just for his ambitions of a third world title, but for F1’s sake as a whole.
Mercedes-GP are dominating F1 for a second successive year and the sport needs them to have opposition to prevent even more private duels at the front between Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
McLaren, along with Ferrari, should be pushing them hard and the fact that they, and Honda, are failing to be even remotely on the pace is one of the major frustrations of the season.
Neale was right when he said McLaren need to find two more seconds of speed.
The issue is just how quickly they can find it.
gcaygill@thenational.ae
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