5 Reasons for McLaren to Stay Positive

If it feels like we have been talking about McLaren's coming revival forever—and ever, and ever—just think about how it must feel for Ron Dennis, Jenson Button and the rest of the team.

The Woking-based outfit is in the midst of one of it worst stretches since its 1966 Formula One debut: fifth in the constructors' standings the last two years (ninth, currently) and no victories since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix.

That was back when Mercedes' defending world champion Lewis Hamilton was still driving for McLaren. Since his departure, Button has had a new team-mate each season. Sergio Perez was hired from Sauber for 2013, Kevin Magnussen took his place in 2014, and Magnussen was bumped to make way for Fernando Alonso's return this year.

The turbulent years also featured big changes at the top of the organization, with team principal Martin Whitmarsh relieved of his duties, replaced by Lotus' Eric Boullier and the second coming of Ron Dennis.

And we haven't even gotten to the switch from Mercedes to Honda engines this year—a move which at first conjured up memories of the Ayrton Senna/Alain Prost glory years. Those memories have since been shoved aside, like Kimi Raikkonen at Mirabeau, when faced with the harsh realities of six DNFs and just one points-scoring finish in seven races—not to mention the time when one of the McLaren cars failed to even start a race.

Deep breath.

OK, that all sounds pretty negative, but this is supposed to be about all the reasons McLaren should be optimistic about the future—and there are some.

From fantastic drivers to a strong management team to...hey, we can't give them all away before you start reading! Here are five reasons for McLaren to stay positive despite the disappointments of the last few years.

McLaren's two race drivers, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, have 513 grand prix starts, 47 victories and three world championships between them.

In short, there is not much that either of them has not seen during their lengthy F1 careers.

Their vast reservoir of experience and the feedback they can provide is crucial for helping Honda develop their new engine. Meanwhile, Kevin Magnussen, who raced for the team in 2014, is still on board as a test driver, providing another source of feedback (only McLaren, Williams and Ferrari have test drivers with race experience in the new hybrid V6 cars).

Earlier this month, after Button scored the team's first points of the season in Monaco, per ESPN F1's Nate Saunders, he said:

With the issues we've had in races, my issues in Bahrain and Fernando's the last two races, we all want performance but you've got to be able to get to the end of the race as well. It's a real balance and a difficult balancing act because we all want to move forward and every race we're asked questions about 'Where are you going to end up? How much quicker are you going to be?' and it's a tricky one trying to balance it all.

That maturity and long-term perspective is one of the reasons McLaren decided to retain Button's services this year.

And when the chassis and engine package finally do become competitive, there is perhaps no one more skilled than Alonso at getting the most out of it. He demonstrated that talent many times over his years at Ferrari, pushing Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, despite driving an inferior car.

For all of McLaren's issues, its driver line-up is certainly not one of them.

Honda's racing pedigree and past success were heavily trumpeted upon the Japanese company's return to F1. But past glory is not going to win races in the ultra-competitive world of grand prix racing.

But money does help teams win, and Honda (as well as McLaren) have plenty of that.

Honda is one of the largest car manufacturers in the world, with $5.6 billion in profits last year, according to Forbes. The company's F1 program, therefore, is just a tiny portion of its overall budget—but a very important part, in terms of the exposure and prestige that comes with F1 success.

McLaren's financial resources are dwarfed by Honda's, but the team does have vast (and more recent) experience in F1. 

After the Canadian Grand Prix, Boullier said, per Autosport's Ian Parkes:

In terms of timing, when you want to catch up you basically have to put more resources on the programme.

If you want to do it short-term you need to bring more experienced resources.

We have some software, IT, whatever it is, we have this experience at home, so McLaren can actually offer Honda support in this domain to help them shift resources.

As I have written before, a big budget does not guarantee success in modern F1, but it is extremely difficult to win without one. McLaren and Honda have the money to be successful—now they just have to transform that cash into on-track results.

This brings us to the people who are spending that money.

CEO Ron Dennis has been in F1 as long as McLaren—since 1966. He is as experienced and successful as anyone in the paddock, and, since his return to the racing side of McLaren's business, he has surrounded himself with other successful people.

Last year, Boullier was brought in as the de facto team principal. In his last two years at Lotus, with a much smaller budget than McLaren's, Boullier guided the team to consecutive fourth-place finishes in the World Constructors' Championship, winning two races.

On the engineering and development side, in addition to longtime McLaren men like Neil Oatley and Tim Goss, Peter Prodromou rejoined the team late last year after nine years with Red Bull as chief aerodynamicist. Working with design master Adrian Newey, he helped build the Red Bull chassis that won four straight drivers' and constructors' titles from 2010 to 2013.

Combined with a strong driver pairing, McLaren have the personnel in place to win—just maybe not this year.

It has been hidden by the Honda power unit's struggles, but McLaren have produced a beautiful, (potentially) fast, tightly packaged chassis.

"The rear bodywork of our car has been brilliantly shrink-wrapped around a fantastically advanced and incredibly compact Honda power unit," Dennis said, per the Telegraph's Daniel Johnson. "We've even invented a new phrase to describe its design philosophy—the size-zero Formula One car."

With the aerodynamic regulations staying relatively stable for 2016, McLaren will have time to further develop the chassis while Honda continue to make improvements on the engine front.

Before the first race of the season, per ESPN F1, Button said:

The basic philosophy and idea of the aerodynamics and how it works is definitely right. I haven't driven a McLaren like this before, not in the way that it works.

I'm not saying it's the quickest McLaren I have ever driven, because it's not, but in the way that it works the basic car is very good and it means we can build on it. The airflow will be very clean, so basically we can just add downforce. Beforehand [on last year's car] you would add downforce and it would really change the characteristics of the car, so it's a more consistent car in terms of balance.

Last year, McLaren had the best engine—the Mercedes PU106A Hybrid—but were held back by their chassis. This year, the situation has flipped. The results (so far, anyway) have not.

While McLaren fans are understandably impatient for results after three lean years (and going on seven without a championship), the decision to bring in Honda as an engine supplier was never intended to be a quick fix.

The company has been out of F1 since 2008, and, despite its aforementioned resources, it will take time for the Japanese giant to get back to the front of the grid.

It probably does not help that everyone involved with McLaren keeps saying their goal is to win races and championships, but what do you expect? The team has 20 combined drivers' and constructors' championships in their history—they are not settling for second (or fifth).

So while this season might look like a crushing disappointment from the outside, in terms of what could realistically be expected, it is only, well, a mild disappointment.

And the car is showing signs of improvement.

After the first day of practice at the Spanish Grand Prix, Button said, "The circuit’s probably slower because of the heat and the wind but the car feels 10 times better than it did then, so it’s good," per Sky Sports' James Galloway.

Next, the Brit finished eighth in Monaco (although neither car made it to the finish in Canada).

Asked if he was relieved to have finally scored his first points of the season, Button told the official F1 site:

No, not really! Yes, the aim of the season is to improve at every race—and we did that, which was good, but it was just another step on our agenda. Sure you have to enjoy these little moments—it’s a small stepping stone towards our final goal, which is to win races and the world championship. It was a small goal that we achieved in Monaco—one that was good for the morale of the whole team. But relief looks different.

Mired in ninth place in the constructors' standings, ahead of only Manor, they may be difficult to see, but the reasons for optimism are there. McLaren aren't back yet, but they are coming.

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