Zak Brown: Ron Dennis would also have abandoned Honda

If Zak Brown replaced Ron Dennis at the head of McLaren, the executive director of the British team seems convinced that his predecessor would have acted in the same way by prematurely ending the contract between Woking and Honda. The English structure preferred the Power Units of Renault for 2018 following the lack of reliability and performance of Japanese engines.

“I think he would have done it too, said Zak Brown on Sky Sports. He was still there when we were discussing it and I think Ron has and always will have McLaren in his heart because he is Mr. McLaren. It devours him as much as us not to see us winning races. »

However, McLaren will have waited until the second part of the season to confirm the end of the partnership with Honda. The Japanese engine manufacturer will remain present in F1 thanks to Toro Rosso.

“We knew we were in trouble during testing in Barcelona and we worked very hard for six months trying to find solutions that would give us confidence heading into 2018, Zak Brown said. After testing different things, we felt we wouldn't succeed. Three years is a long time in F1 and we needed to change direction in order to put our team back at the front. »

McLaren will continue next year with Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne after taking ninth place in the Constructors' Championship, falling 17 points behind Haas F1 Team.