Why 2015 Formula 1 Testing Will Be Most Important to McLaren
The three pre-season Formula One tests will be critically important to all the teams, but McLaren have far more to gain or lose than anyone else.
The Woking squad are taking a step into the unknown in 2015. Fernando Alonso has arrived from Ferrari and the exceptional Mercedes engine which powered the team's cars last season has gone.
In its place is a barely tested motor from new engine partner Honda.
Getting this new and, almost certainly, problematic power unit working will be the first and most important task on McLaren's agenda.
Next up will be ensuring their new star driver has a happy start to his McLaren career; that will involve ensuring the chassis itself is up to the job.
Financial and aesthetic issues will also need to be addressed.
Get the New Honda Engine Working as Quickly as They Can
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The big one.
Winter testing before the start of the 2014 season was perilously close to turning into a farce. Speaking to the Daily Mail, commercial rights chief Bernie Ecclestone went so far as to describe it as such.
Had everyone been running a Renault engine, he would have been right. The French manufacturer got it badly wrong, leaving its teams parked in the garage for most of the opening test. Mercedes and Ferrari, though better, also suffered a lot of failures and stoppages.
It wasn't that much of a big deal back then because everyone was in the same boat. All the manufacturers were trying out their complex new V6 turbo hybrid power units for the first time.
But Renault, Mercedes and Ferrari won't have that problem this year. Their teams will be able to hit the ground running after a year's experience with the new engines.
For Honda it will be different. Theirs is a new power unit and they are likely to encounter all the same problems their rivals did a year ago. The Abu Dhabi test at the end of 2014 saw the engine run in a McLaren for the first time—it managed just five laps over two days.
While the other cars are racking up the miles, the McLaren-Honda is likely to spend a lot of time parked in the garage. It's inevitable problems will be found and fixing them could take time.
McLaren will—unless Honda play a blinder—do fewer testing laps than any of their rivals. It's imperative they make the most of what running they do get if they want to be competitive right from the start.
Settle in Fernando Alonso
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McLaren welcome the man considered by many (for example by past drivers, per Motorsport Magazine) the best on the current grid, Fernando Alonso, to the team in 2015.
The details of his contract are a little bit hazy. In basic terms, it's a three-year deal, but James Allen reports the Spaniard may have exit clauses based on the performance of the car.
This will obviously be a concern to McLaren—and to make matters worse, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff recently told Gazzetta dello Sport (h/t Autosport) that Alonso was his team's first choice should Lewis Hamilton decide to leave at the end of the year.
McLaren need to get their renewed relationship with Alonso off to the best possible start. A poor test might set the two-time world champion sniffing around Mercedes before the season has even begun.
Get It Right on the Chassis Side
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McLaren had the best engine in 2014 and two more than capable drivers.
They managed just two podiums—both due to others failing—and finished the year fifth in the constructors' championship, barely holding off Force India. The gap to Mercedes, using the same engine, was 520 points.
They were also fifth in 2013, 474 points behind the champions. There's no pleasant way to paint it—the last two McLarens have been poor cars.
Getting it right in 2015 will be even more important because—unless something very surprising occurs—they no longer have the best engine.
Having Alonso in one of the cars will make a difference, but even he can't perform miracles. The chassis itself will have to pick up some of the slack if they want to compete with the likes of Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari and Williams.
If it's another poor car, McLaren could end up struggling to beat teams like Lotus and Force India. Maybe even Toro Rosso.
They need to make a flying start to the season, and a good display in testing will help them achieve that.
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Attract a Title Sponsor?
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McLaren lost Vodafone as their title sponsor at the end of 2013. Despite Ron Dennis claiming the MP4-29 would "definitely" feature a new one after the first few races of 2014, it never did. Instead, the team's other sponsors were rotated around the prominent positions.
Honda's arrival as engine partner takes some of the financial pressure off the team, but title-sponsorship on a top car like the McLaren could be worth as much as £50 million per season. That's the amount, per Reuters, the Vodafone deal added to the team coffers.
McLaren don't necessarily need the extra cash, but they wouldn't say no to it.
A good testing display could be enough to push negotiations with a potentially lucrative sponsor over the finish line.
Show off a Possible New Livery
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Reports this week in Spanish newspaper El Mundo Deportivo (h/t motorsport.com) claimed McLaren were set to switch from the silver paint scheme they have used since 1997.
White was mooted as a possible base colour as that is the traditional Honda racing colour. McLaren's own traditional colour, a beautiful and striking shade of orange, is another contender.
Testing will present a golden opportunity for the team and engine supplier to get some early exposure. A beautiful, new and different-looking car will get more lead pictures in news articles and far more retweets and shares than an ugly, same-old, same-old one.
This sort of extra visibility becomes even more important if a title sponsor is on board by then.
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