McLaren

October will mark 10 years since the Brazilian Grand Prix at which Fernando Alonso clinched the second of his back-to-back Formula One titles with Renault. It seems almost silly to write it, but one of the best drivers of his generation has gone a decade without a championship.

After two near-misses at Ferrari, Alonso has spent the last two years wandering in the wilderness at McLaren, another former champion struggling to regain lost glory.

"In terms of driving, how competitive I can be or my third world championship hopes, then you drive for Mercedes or McLaren-Honda," Alonso said recently, per ESPN F1's Laurence Edmondson.

That is an interesting statement considering the team finished ninth out of the 10 teams in the constructors' championship last year and sits seventh this time around, with just nine top-10 finishes in 12 races. McLaren's last podium came in the opening race of the 2014 season, and their last victory was in the final race of 2012, before Lewis Hamilton's departure for Mercedes.

So why is McLaren the right team to carry Alonso back to the pinnacle of the F1 world? And have they shown any improvements over the last year-and-a-half since switching from world-beating Mercedes engines to sputtering, underpowered Hondas that would indicate Alonso is correct?

The answer to the first question has to do with F1's engine situation. Three teams build their own power units, while McLaren are Honda's sole customer. The other seven teams buy their engines from one of the three engine builders: Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault.

In effect, those seven teams are second-class citizens. While the engine suppliers build their cars and engines in tandem and can modify their engines to suit their specific needs, the customers take what the suppliers give them.

That is the main reason McLaren left Mercedes and signed an exclusive deal with Honda—so they, too, could reap the benefits of being a works team.

"You have no chance of winning a World Championship if you are not receiving the best engines from whoever is manufacturing your engines," McLaren CEO Ron Dennis said back in 2014, per F1 journalist Adam Cooper, explaining the decision to leave Mercedes.

So the McLaren-Honda partnership is one reason for Alonso's confidence. He left Ferrari obviously believing he no longer had a chance to win there, and the other engine supplier aside from Mercedes, Renault, have struggled since the introduction of the hybrid, V6 power units in 2014.

That is why Alonso said only Mercedes or McLaren could help him win another title.

But Honda entered the sport one year after the V6 engines were introduced, and they have been playing catch-up ever since. There have been signs of improvement, but is it enough so that McLaren can challenge for the championship in the next couple years?

On the surface, the results are encouraging, if not mind-blowing. In 2015, McLaren scored just 27 points. With nine races remaining this year, they already have 42.

Alonso's average qualifying position this year is 11.55, a significant improvement from last year's 15.56, while his team-mate, Jenson Button, has improved from 16.21 to 12.5, according to statistics compiled by F1 Fanatic. And in 2015, McLaren never appeared in Q3—this season, they have already made it to the final qualifying round seven times.

In terms of lap times, let's compare the qualifying gap from the top McLaren to the pole-sitter at this point last year to see how much progress the team has made.

Here are the gaps from recent races in Hungary, Great Britain, Austria and Canada (note: Germany and Azerbaijan are omitted as they did not take place in 2015 and the gap is from McLaren's best time in the final qualifying session they participated in to the pole time, whether or not they both came in Q3):

Grand Prix	2015 Gap	2016 Gap
Canada	+1.883 seconds	+1.526 seconds
Austria	+2.281 seconds	+1.978 seconds
Great Britain	+2.711 seconds	+3.056 seconds
Hungary	+2.543 seconds	+1.246 seconds

Aside from the anomaly of the British Grand Prix, at which Alonso put in a much quicker lap in Q2, the improvement is obvious—but so is the remaining gap. Even if McLaren improved by the same amount at each of these races next year, they would still be a long way behind Mercedes and the other leaders, except in Hungary.

Racing director Eric Boullier is impressed with the team's improvement relative to last year, telling GPUpdate.net:

On Friday [at the British Grand Prix] we were comparing last year and this year, and we were something like four seconds faster, when Mercedes was 1.5 seconds faster, or 1.7 seconds. So this tells you how much we have progressed, which is massive, you know—relatively, with last year's FP1. I think everything is falling into place now. 

Of course, there is one wild card that will give McLaren an opportunity to make the quantum leap that is necessary if they hope to win a world championship anytime soon: changes to the 2017 technical regulations.

As with any big change, some teams will handle the new regulations better than others. While we won't know anything for sure until the new cars hit the track in 2017, McLaren are well-positioned with one of the largest budgets in the sport.

"I am on top of everyone to make sure they are not relaxed and they don't take too many holidays because I don't take holidays," Alonso said recently, per Sky Sports' Pete Gill.

The Spaniard is obviously motivated to chase down his third title after a decade of wrong turns and missed opportunities, but is McLaren the team to take him there? The improvements from last year are certainly promising, but they are far from a guarantee.

    

Matthew Walthert is an F1 columnist for Bleacher Report UK. He has also written for VICE, FourFourTwo and the Globe and Mail. Follow him on Twitter:

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Stoffel Vandoorne made his much-anticipated Formula One debut on Friday, during free practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix. The 24-year-old McLaren reserve is a last-minute substitute for Fernando Alonso, who was injured in a high-speed crash in Melbourne, Australia, two weeks ago and ruled out of this weekend's race by the FIA following a medical examination.

This isn't Vandoorne's first time in an F1 car; he has tested for McLaren, including at the Pirelli wet-tyre test in January. However, Friday marked his first time driving the team's 2016 challenger and his first time driving during an official grand prix weekend.

Still, expectations are high for the young Belgian. He dominated the GP2 series last year, winning the championship by 160 points, and was second to newly minted Renault man Jolyon Palmer the year before. In 2013, Vandoorne finished second behind Kevin Magnussen in Formula Renault 3.5. That's where those lofty expectations come from.

With a strong showing this weekend, Vandoorne could solidify his presumptive status as the man to fill either Jenson Button's or Alonso's seat in the near future, with both veterans the subject of persistent retirement talk.

Last October, NBC F1 reporter Will Buxton wrote on Twitter that Vandoorne is, "An incredible talent destined for great things":

https://twitter.com/thebuxtonblog/status/653119346944929792

And on Friday in Bahrain, he did not disappoint. It is dangerous to read too much into practice times, but in the second free practice session (the one with conditions most similar to the race, which takes place in the evening), Vandoorne posted the 11th-fastest lap, albeit nearly three-quarters of a second slower than Button.

That is not necessarily indicative of where he will qualify or finish in the race, but it does help demonstrate that he knows what he is doing in an F1 car. 

"He's done a really good job today and he is quick," Button said, per ESPN F1's Nate Saunders. "If he'd got his first sector together he would have been very quick—second sector was the same time as mine, third sector pretty much the same. He'll be quick. It's good for him and he's doing what the team expected from him."

Alonso was only ruled out of the race on Thursday, so Vandoorne jumped on a plane from Japan (where he is racing in the Super Formula series) to make his debut the next day in a car he had never driven and was immediately close to the pace of his world champion team-mate. Impressive stuff.

Stoffel's practising launches and stopping in the pitbox - things you don't ordinarily do in #F1 testing. #BahrainGP pic.twitter.com/5qvXZWa98k

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) April 1, 2016

Even more meaningful than lap times, though, are the number of laps Vandoorne was able to complete: 55 across both practice sessions.

According to a team press release, Vandoorne said:

The most important thing for us was to do a lot of laps; we did a lot of pit stops, practice starts, the operational stuff, really, to cover all the things I have to learn. During my trip here from Japan I had a lot of preparation work and learning to do - the engineers sent me a lot of stuff and I've been through it all - I spent my time well on the plane! There's still a lot of things we have to go through tomorrow and definitely before the race, but so far everything has been very good.

Vandoorne's familiarity with the Sakhir circuit should also serve him well this weekend. He won both feature races at the track during his two seasons of GP2, so the place obviously holds some special memories for the Belgian.

"I was on pole for the GP2 race here in 2014, but he won it easily," Palmer told the official F1 website. "He got ahead at the start and blew me away."

For now, Vandoorne knows he may have just this one opportunity to impress his McLaren bosses. (Although Alonso said in the FIA Thursday press conference that there is no guarantee he will be ready for the next race.) Doing so can only improve his chances of landing a race seat when one comes available, even though his profile on the McLaren website already concedes, "it's less a matter of 'if' he'll race in Formula 1 than 'when.'"

If he does end up racing full time for McLaren in the next year or two, he might arrive at the perfect time. Button and Alonso will have endured the lean years, and if the team's current trajectory holds, they could once again be competitive. It's kind of reminiscent of the five generally awful years Jacques Villeneuve spent at BAR, with Button arriving just as the team began fielding a competitive car.

That is getting a bit ahead of ourselves, though. Vandoorne still has his first F1 qualifying session and grand prix to get through. Strong performances on Saturday and Sunday will only build the hype, but perhaps that is inevitable—just a bit earlier than anticipated.

Two weeks ago, speaking of Vandoorne's F1 future, McLaren CEO Ron Dennis said, "His journey to Formula One has been mapped out very carefully, as is always the case with McLaren Young Driver Programme members, and we expect him to be ready in 2017," according to F1's official website (h/t Saunders).

If Vandoorne's Friday practice form holds over the weekend, those expectations will have to be advanced by a few months.

All lap and timing statistics are taken from the FIA's official data.

Follow me on Twitter for updates when I publish new articles and for other (mostly) F1-related news and banter:

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McLaren will field the most experienced driver lineup on the grid in 2016, with double world champion Fernando Alonso once again partnering 2009 champion Jenson Button.

The two veterans will roll onto the grid for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix with 537 Formula One starts, 47 wins, 147 podiums and 2,997 career points between them.

At a combined age of 70, they are by far the oldest pairing in the field—but mediocre racers do not last as long as they have. Only the Mercedes pairing of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg could claim to match the quality of the Alonso-Button partnership.

If McLaren and Honda can put together a good car, Alonso and Button are guaranteed to do great things with it.

But as this illustrious pairing prepares to once again do battle on the track in what should be one of the most interesting duels in the paddock, the future for both these giants of the sport is uncertain.

It's far from a given that we will see them together again in 2017—and even the winner of 2016's intrateam battle could be elsewhere when the cars line up at the start of next season.

Though there was always a chance 2015 would prove difficult for both drivers, it's unlikely either Alonso or Button suspected it would be quite as trying as it was.

McLaren's year got off to a bad start in pre-season testing, where they made headlines for all the wrong reasons. Their lack of running was bad enough—figures from the official F1 website reveal they managed just 1,751 kilometres across the 12 days—but they were also painfully slow.

The primary issue was their new Honda power unit, which was proving highly unreliable and seemed well down on power compared to its rivals.

But the McLaren chassis was not perfect either, and some kind of problem with the car—the nature of which was never made entirely clear—caused Alonso to crash heavily at Turn 3 of the Barcelona circuit on one of the few testing laps he managed to do.

The Spaniard sustained a concussion and was forced to miss the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. Rumours surrounding what had happened swirled, not helped by McLaren's handling of the situation. The team issued a statement blaming a gust of wind, and were forced to refute claims Alonso had lost control after suffering an electric shock.

However, Alonso himself told a different story. Speaking at the official pre-race press conference at the Malaysian Grand Prix, he blamed a problem with the car's handling and revealed changes had been made to the steering rack. He said:

Definitely we had a steering problem in the middle of turn three. It locked into the right and I approached the wall I braked in the last moment, I downshift from fifth to third, and yeah, unfortunately on the data we are still missing some parts.

Also the acquisition of date on that particular part of the car is not at the top so there are some new sensors here at this race and there are some changes we do on the steering rack and other parts and yeah that was the main thing.

Regardless of what happened, he returned and found himself driving a slow, unreliable car. Hopes that it would rapidly improve were dashed as the early races came and went, and it was soon clear there would be no significant progress until 2016 at the earliest.

As a result, the highly anticipated intrateam battle between Alonso and Button never had a chance to materialise.

They did, of course, compete with each other, but too often the power unit got in their way, ruining the chances of one or both men in either qualifying or the race.

Button took the early initiative in qualifying, beating Alonso in the first two sessions they both entered, but the Spaniard finished ahead of his team-mate first—coming home 12th to Button's 14th in China.

This sparked the start of a good Saturday run for Alonso, in which he outqualified Button six times in seven races. But the Brit was the first McLaren driver to get his name on the points table, grabbing four with an eighth-placed finish at Monaco.

Alonso scored his own first point of the season in changeable conditions at Silverstone, making the score 4-1 in Button's favour. But more telling than the points table was that, in the first eight races in which the two former world champions drove together, each had retired five times.

Furthermore, at this stage neither McLaren driver had made a single appearance in the final part of qualifying. The car simply did not have the pace to allow either man to compete for points on merit; though both Alonso and Button put in some sterling drives, their main weapon was luck.

They needed good fortune for themselves and poor fortune for the other runners—and at the 10th round of the season, the Hungarian Grand Prix, luck was very much on McLaren's side.

Qualifying was a disappointment; McLaren had expected to do well around the tight, twisty Hungaroring, but Button was knocked out in Q1 and lined up in 16th. Alonso fared little better, ending up 15th after his car broke down during Q2.

But the race was a different matter. While the rest of the field were busy crashing, breaking down or making silly mistakes, Alonso and Button kept their heads to bring their MP4-30s home in fifth and ninth, respectively.

It's P5 for Fernando & P9 for JB to bring points home from Hungary. Epic effort from the team. #BelieveInMcLarenHonda pic.twitter.com/X91VhxF2FC

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) July 26, 2015

No one was under any illusions that the result heralded the dawn of happier times, but McLaren had at last achieved a double-points finish.

Further opportunities presented themselves to both drivers in the remaining nine races as they fought out one of the closest—but most meaningless—intrateam battles on the grid.

Button grabbed ninth with a great run at the Russian Grand Prix, and he followed it up two weeks later with sixth in the dramatic United States Grand Prix.

The Austin race should have been McLaren's second double-score of the year, but Alonso's hopes were dashed, first by a collision with Felipe Massa at Turn 1, and later by the old McLaren favourite—a power-unit problem.

McLaren's season ended with a whimper, the team failing to score a single point in the final three races of the year. Given where they are in their careers, it was the worst campaign either driver had ever been forced to endure, but though their motivation suffered, their sense of humour did not.

Thanks for the support, guys. We'll be back up here one day soon. #BelieveInMcLarenHonda #BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/Izqvtf2121

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) November 14, 2015

At the end of the year, Button's four top-10 finishes left him on 16 points, but even this modest total was enough for him to come out on top in the intrateam battle. Alonso, who scored on just two occasions, only managed 11.

Some felt this was a fair reflection of the season as a whole—Keith Collantine of F1 Fanatic thought Button had been the better driver, rating the Brit one place ahead of Alonso in his end-of-year rankings.

Others held a differing view, believing Alonso had been superior. Autosport's Ben Anderson placed the Spaniard fifth in his seasonal rankings, with Button only 10th. The 10 team principals surveyed by the same publication ranked Alonso as the sixth-best driver of the year; Button didn't make their top 10.

B/R's own driver rankings, meanwhile, placed them neck-and-neck—equal eighth, with exactly the same race-average score.

Looking ahead to 2016, the McLaren driver lineup is unique in that it is the only pairing made up of two men who could both realistically choose to leave the sport of their own free will at the end of the year.

Furthermore, this is the only duel in which winning—either in terms of performance or in the points table—could be entirely irrelevant when it comes to deciding whether the two drivers will remain at the team in 2017.

Of the two, Alonso's future is the most secure; he heads into 2016 with the safety net of a solid, binding contract for 2017 in his pocket.

Per the Telegraph's Daniel Johnson, the Spaniard's deal with McLaren is worth around £25 million per year. Should he decide he wants to stay, he will—even in the unlikely event that he drives terribly in 2016, the team cannot afford to throw that much money down the drain to pay him to go away.

But there's at least a small chance that Alonso will decide for himself that he wants to leave. Toward the end of 2015, Motorsport.com's Jonathan Noble reported on speculation the Spaniard could leave F1 altogether; soon after, comments made by McLaren boss Ron Dennis to Sky Sports suggested the Spaniard could opt to take a sabbatical in 2016.

In the end, he stayed put, but what will he decide when the coming season draws to a close?

If the new MP4-31 proves competitive and the team's future looks bright, Alonso will want to be a part of it. But if the team have another year like 2015, and significant improvements look unlikely, he could call time on his 15-year F1 career.

And it's this decision, more than anything that happens on the track, that will shape McLaren's driver lineup for 2017.

Button's future in F1 has been the subject of speculation since the end of the 2014 season. Alonso was arriving and only one of the team's then-drivers—Button and young Dane Kevin Magnussen—would be kept on.

The Daily Mail's Jonathan McEvoy reported the team initially wanted to keep Magnussen to partner with the incoming Alonso.

However, McEvoy added that other factors, particularly those relating to sponsors and new engine partner Honda, swung things in the Briton's favour.

The speculation returned toward the end of 2015. Though Magnussen no longer looked to be in the picture, McLaren's other young star—newly crowned GP2 champion Stoffel Vandoorne—certainly was.

For a time, it looked like Button might take the decision out of McLaren's hands. When asked about his plans at the Singapore Grand Prix, he told Sky Sports F1:

It's a tricky one. When you ask the question it is always funny because I've been racing for so many years in F1 and you get emotional about the question because even if it is your decision or the team's decision to race in F1 next year you still get emotional because it has been your life for so long.

I always wanted to end my career on a high, but I also wanted it to be my decision when I retired. So it is a real tricky one, but at the moment this weekend I can't think about it anymore, I need to get my head down and race then I can think about it a bit more before Suzuka. Hopefully we can decide what the best thing for the future is for the team and myself.

After some thought, Button stayed—but regardless of how he and the team perform in 2016, the rumours and speculation will be in full flow once again by the time the summer comes around. Only this time, it seems more likely the decision will be made by the team.

Vandoorne is just too good a prospect to spend another year on the sidelines—holding him back until 2018 in favour of a driver coming toward the end of his career would be pure madness on the part of McLaren. There can be no doubt that the Belgian will be promoted to F1 in 2017, and if Honda haven't acquired a "B-team" by then—and it's unlikely they will have—he will be driving a McLaren.

That will almost certainly mean the end of Button's stay at the Woking-based team. Even if he wins the intrateam battle and wants to stay on, he doesn't have a secure contract for 2017; Alonso does, and it would cost McLaren too much to rip it up.

If Alonso stays and McLaren cannot place Vandoorne somewhere else, Button will go. He might opt to leave the sport altogether, or an opening could come up at another team.

But if Alonso decides to leave, or if Vandoorne can be placed somewhere else, it's likely McLaren will try to hold on to Button. He may be one of the oldest men on the grid, but he's still good enough to compete at the top level for at least a few more years—and the list of younger drivers who could come in and do a better job straight away is small.

However, whether Button will want to stick around in an uncompetitive car is another matter entirely. From what we saw of him toward the end of 2015, he probably wouldn't—and McLaren could end up losing both their star drivers.

Everyone knows how good Alonso and Button are, and neither is going to suddenly become a bad driver over the 21-race season ahead—but it's so difficult to see their partnership enduring for a third year.

If frustration doesn't break it up, Vandoorne surely will.

But whether it holds any meaning or not, this will still be one of the best fights we see all year. Both will want to do the best they can, and there'll be no holding back as they scrap to be the top dog at McLaren. 

After all, for one or both, it could be the last intrateam battle they ever have.

McLaren have released images of the MP4-31, the car Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso will be driving in the 2016 Formula One season.

The team’s official Twitter feed posted the images of the vehicle on Sunday, as well as a video outlining the key features: 

A closer look at the McLaren-Honda #MP431. Enjoy: https://t.co/dRbocPE3Xv #TheF1Effect pic.twitter.com/3zelIozpZ5

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) February 21, 2016

T-minus zero. Science and art converge. Introducing the McLaren-Honda #MP431: https://t.co/dRbocPVEP3 #TheF1Effecthttps://t.co/euv7rYCLWW

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) February 21, 2016

Button and Alonso will be hoping it’s a car that yields greater results than they had to endure in 2015, as a string of reliability issues left the pair in 16th and 17th in the Drivers' Championship respectively. As a team, only minnows Marussia finished below McLaren in one of their worst seasons in the sport.

McLaren will give the MP4-31 its first public outing in Barcelona on Monday, with testing set to begin ahead of the 2016 season.

Both Button and Alonso revealed they’re keen to get behind the wheel again having been impressed by the car for the upcoming campaign.

“I really can’t wait to take the wheel of the new MP4-31 tomorrow,” said Button, per the McLaren website. “All Formula 1 drivers need a winter break, but I’m massively excited to get started on the 2016 season now, and I have to say the brand-new McLaren-Honda MP4-31 really looks the part.”

“The aero package shows fantastic attention to detail,” added an impressed Alonso, also per the McLaren website. “The whole car is beautiful in fact—it’s particularly nicely packaged from an aerodynamic point of view as I say—and I’m 100 per cent ready for the challenge ahead.”

Alonso posted the following on his Instagram account on Sunday, suggesting he’s a big fan of the new design:

With a former world champion behind the wheel of each car, there’s undeniable potential for McLaren to achieve big things in 2016. But it’s critical this term they have a vehicle that not only competes against the top constructors on the grid but is far more reliable when it comes to actually finishing races.

It’ll make McLaren one of the most intriguing teams to watch when testing gets under way, especially as 12 months ago there were foreboding signs for Button and Alonso in Barcelona, with the latter crashing on the final day. For the sport’s sake, it’d be wonderful to see this illustrious team competing for race wins again.

In the end, it was simply just too good to be true.

The upcoming 2016 Formula One season looked set to become very interesting in late January when it was reported McLaren-Honda had made a "breakthrough" with the development of their V6 turbo power unit, which proved so troublesome throughout last year as the team finished second-bottom in the constructors' standings.

According to Spanish publication AS (h/t F1i.com's Andrew Lewin), 24-hour shifts during the winter break, including the Christmas and New Year period, had resulted in Honda not only addressing the issues with their engine, but improving it to an extent beyond the power of their wildest dreams.

Thanks for the support, guys. We'll be back up here one day soon. #BelieveInMcLarenHonda #BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/Izqvtf2121

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) November 14, 2015

The Japanese manufacturer, it was claimed, had somehow extracted an extra 223 horsepower from the engine, which in 2015 terms would have placed McLaren "within touching distance" of the dominant Mercedes team, who have won 32 of the last 38 races and the last two drivers' and constructors' titles.

Rather than fighting between themselves and the occasional Sauber for 13th place, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button could look forward to racing Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel for podiums and grand prix victories, if not world championships, and being back where they truly belong.

Or so it seemed.

@SkySportsF1 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

— Craig Scarborough (@ScarbsTech) January 25, 2016

Given that Mercedes and Ferrari only found 15-20 and 65 horsepower, respectively, over the winter of 2014-15, per BBC Sport's Andrew Benson, the prospect of Honda—still very much newcomers to the V6 technology—making such significant gains, despite having more scope for development than their rivals, was always fanciful.

And, tellingly, it took them just three days to deny the report as "unsubstantiated and merely speculative," per Sky Sports' William Esler.

Gone, it appears, are the days of McLaren and Honda making outlandish statements concerning their rate of progress and level of competitiveness only to be left embarrassed and increasingly disheartened when those targets are not met. 

Muted expectations are the order of the day in an era when the pursuit of a so-called silver bullet is secondary to gradual improvement in all areas, with the current-generation powertrains requiring excellence from the internal-combustion engine, the turbocharger, the energy-recovery systems and even the fuel tank.

Not too long ago, fuel suppliers were merely another sticker on the car—no more integral to a team's on-track performance than the flurry of corporate partners dealing in anything from wristwatches and hotels to logistics and home appliances.

Since the V6 regulations were implemented at the beginning of 2014, however—forcing cars to complete a race distance on a third less fuel than in the V8 era—the relationship between engine manufacturers and their lubricants providers is increasingly crucial.

That became abundantly clear at the end of last season when Shell, Ferrari's fuel partner, claimed it was responsible for as much as 25 per cent of the team's "power unit performance gain" in 2015, per its official website, worth 0.5 seconds per lap and 30 seconds over a grand prix.

Although the exact numbers were debatable—Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team boss, told Autosport's Ian Parkes that Shell's estimation was "probably not quite where the reality lies"—such figures have only underlined the importance of the engine-fuel dynamic.

With that in mind, it is notable that each of Honda's three rival engine manufacturers have long-standing, highly distinguishable collaborations with their fuel suppliers. 

Ferrari's links to Shell stretch back as far as 1929, per the team's official website, while Total's official website claims its "historic partnership" with Renault has lasted more than four decades. And Malaysian company Petronas will enter its seventh season as Mercedes' title sponsor in 2016.

But Honda themselves?

When the Japanese manufacturer became McLaren's engine supplier at the beginning of 2015, they were left to inherit and make do with Mobil 1—a name synonymous with the team's previous deal with Mercedes.

I'm liking @McLarenF1 's one-off livery for this weekend to celebrate 333 races and 20 years with Mobil 1. Quite cool pic.twitter.com/Bo7LRgqck8

— James Roberts (@JRobertsF1) March 13, 2014

At a time the team are losing major sponsors—Hugo Boss defected to Mercedes in 2015, while TAG Heuer has switched to Red Bull ahead of 2016—Mobil 1's continued presence is symbolically important to McLaren, who ran a one-off livery at the 2014 Australian GP in celebration of their 20-year partnership.

But despite motorsport boss Yasuhisa Arai's insistence, per F1i.com's Chris Medland, that Honda are working "very closely" and "directly" with Mobil 1, could the fuel supplier—or Honda's capability of harnessing the potential of the fuel supplier—be another obstacle in McLaren's bumpy road back to the front of the grid?

McLaren-Honda's unprecedented success in the late 1980s and early '90s, after all, was achieved with Shell, and although Ferrari would almost certainly prevent the resumption of that alliance, Honda's cars were filled with fuel provided by ENEOS, the Japanese brand, when they competed with their own team between 2006 and '08.

With Honda based in Sakura, the benefits of two Japanese companies working together to develop both the engine and the accompanying lubricants are obvious, and it would eliminate at least some of the cultural differences often blamed for McLaren's shortcomings in 2015.

Yet McLaren's reciprocated loyalty to Mobil 1 has seemingly obliged Honda—very much determined to do things their way, as Arai told Autosport's Parkes and Ben Anderson in 2015—to work alongside a particular fuel supplier.

Of course, should the team produce a reasonably competitive engine in 2016, and Honda and Mobil 1 establish a productive working relationship in their second season together, concerns about the intricacies of the power unit will fade away.

But if the powertrain again fails to live up to expectations, who knows? Might McLaren be reluctantly forced into yet another uncomfortable divorce from yet another one of their highly valued, long-serving allies for the sake of their relationship with Honda?

It is a storyline worth tracking in the opening months of the new season, but one thing is for sure: In an era of fuel warfare, when the likes of Petronas and Shell are gifting Mercedes and Ferrari heaps upon heaps of time, McLaren-Honda cannot afford to waste theirs with the wrong mixture.

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If McLaren-Honda didn't laugh, they would have cried buckets as the 2015 season came to a close.

What else, after all, could they do, having recorded just six points finishes, failed to make a single appearance in Q3 and finished second-bottom in the constructors' championship? This was not only their third winless season in succession, but their worst in 35 years, as one of the most iconic teams in the history of Formula One were brought to their knees.

How fortunate, then, that they had Jenson Button—no stranger to Honda-related disappointments—to brighten the mood.

After crossing the line to finish 12th following one of his strongest—or rather, most defiant—performances of the year at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Button knew he simply couldn't disappear for the winter without offering a message of support.

Having won the world championship in 2009, just 12 months after Honda's sudden withdrawal from F1 left his career in jeopardy, he knows more than most just how quickly things can change—and, indeed, change back again—in this business.

And as he completed his final-ever lap in the ghastly MP4-30, Button used team radio—ensuring his words were transmitted not only to the pit wall and the garage, but those at the McLaren Technology Centre and in the comfort of their own homes—to deliver an end-of-season speech, encouraging his colleagues to keep the faith.

"Well, at least that was fun! Eh? That was fun. As you can see, we have a few weaknesses we need to solve!" he chuckled, per Sky Sports' television coverage. "So, yeah, I mean we have a few weaknesses, we know exactly what to do—and we can do it, guys!

"It's going to be a long winter but a good winter."

The plan for 2016, as Button later told Autosport's Ian Parkes, is simple: McLaren want to "do a Ferrari." They want instant success. An overnight return to competitiveness.

If Ferrari, who employed three separate team principals and sacked several other high-profile members of staff during a miserable 2014 campaign, managed to win multiple races, claim countless podiums and even set a pole position the following year, why can't the might of McLaren do the same?

In Button and Fernando Alonso, the two-time world champion, they have the finest driver pairing on the current grid. In Eric Boullier and Jost Capito, a new recruit from Volkswagen's World Rally Championship-winning program, they have two of the most impressive motor-racing leaders of this decade. And in the MTC, they have the most magnificent facility to start their revival. 

And if they get the on-track matters right and the podiums begin to flow once again, surely the current off-track concerns—the lingering presence of Ron Dennis and the obvious commercial difficulties—will fade away?

Thanks for the support, guys. We'll be back up here one day soon. #BelieveInMcLarenHonda #BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/Izqvtf2121

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) November 14, 2015

Yet while a step forward must be envisaged this year, it is fanciful to think a team who scored just 27 points over the course of a full season in 2015 will suddenly be capable of extracting around 27 points from a single grand prix.

The new MP4-31, which will be launched on the eve of the first of two pre-season tests, should be the first McLaren chassis to be fully designed by Peter Prodromou, formerly the right-hand man of Adrian Newey and a marquee signing from Red Bull Racing in September 2014.

Although Prodromou arrived a little too late to have a major influence on the 2015 car, his impact—as noted by The Racer's Edge YouTube channel—was evident as the season progressed, with McLaren running with Red Bull-style front wings and aggressive rake in addition to the tightly packaged, "size-zero" rear end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttwF2dqekhY

Those innovations were largely why, per BBC Sport's Andrew Benson, the MP4-30 was regarded as "the fourth or fifth best chassis" on last year's grid and, dare we say, Prodromou should aspire to become McLaren's answer to James Allison, who despite joining Ferrari in mid-2013 was unable to unveil a car of his own making until 2015.

As reported by Motorsport.com's Jonathan Noble in December, the MP4-31 has produced "encouraging figures" in the wind tunnel, but—as McLaren discovered last season—a reasonably strong chassis is nothing without a powerful, reliable and efficient engine.

And Honda's success in resolving their problems with their RA615H power unit will again make or break McLaren's season.

Watch: Fernando Alonso goes sunbathing before taking spoof visit to the #BrazilianGP podium https://t.co/wINWeql8kw pic.twitter.com/3K299io4oi

— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) November 14, 2015

The one positive of such a disappointing, anonymous season in 2015 was that by the end, Honda knew exactly what their issues were, with motorsport chief Yasuhisa Arai telling F1i.com's Chris Medland how the Japanese manufacturer struggled with reliability and deployment.

Although McLaren's uncompromising size-zero design contributed to the team's 14 race retirements and countless other issues in test, practice and qualifying sessions, their reliability record, as we witnessed in the second half of 2015, is certain to improve as Honda's engine matures.

Their problems with deployment, however—which, according to BBC Sport's Benson, meant Alonso and Button "ran out of hybrid power" along the longest straights because their energy-recovery systems were unable to harvest enough energy—are far more serious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJqUFKaykEY

As Arai told F1i.com's Medland, Honda have "fixed" the concept and plan to increase the size of their turbocharger, and this year they will benefit from their own engine-token allocation, having been given an average of the number used by Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault in 2015.

Yet for all the improvements they could make, the simple fact is that Honda, in development terms, will forever be playing catch-up against the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari, having returned to F1 12 months after the V6 regulations were introduced.

Even if Honda, as Motorsport.com's Noble claims, make the "significant step forward in pace" they are expecting, such improvements may be barely noticeable alongside those made by their rival manufacturers.

As noted at the beginning of 2016, the extent of McLaren's struggles in recent seasons means they are arguably undeserving of a Ferrari-like leap back to the front of the grid, but the team should enjoy a more respectable season.

Regular appearances in the third segment of qualifying, consistent, minor-points finishes and a top-six finish in the constructors' standings—in touching distance of the Mercedes and Ferrari customer teams—would be a sufficient if unspectacular way for them to begin their recovery.

And, of course, to prove 2015 was just a one-off.

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The trapdoor sprung open and Martin Whitmarsh was instantly consigned to the history of McLaren, never to be seen again, and replaced by a blast from the past.

Throughout his time as team principal, there was always a sense that Whitmarsh was the David Moyes to Ron Dennis' Sir Alex Ferguson—a man of integrity who was groomed for the role over a sustained period of time but ultimately lacked the substance to truly succeed in the top job.

And after watching Whitmarsh oversee his team's first winless season in seven years in 2013, Formula One's answer to Fergie had seen more than enough, making it his responsibility to lead them back to the summit of the sport.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azjkxW2_BeQ

Previously preoccupied with McLaren's road-car business, Dennis—synonymous with the good ol' days—combined the role of chief executive officer with his existing duties as chairman and, as reported by the Guardian's Paul Weaver, delivered a simple message in a speech to his employees.

"We will win again," he declared, his words of reassurance greeted with a standing ovation.

And for a while, it worked. By simply being there, Ron made things better again.

His return to the front line coincided with an upturn in form at the beginning of 2014 as Kevin Magnussen—McLaren's latest boy wonder, who wouldn't have even raced had Dennis not prevented Whitmarsh from keeping Sergio Perez, per Sky Sports' Pete Gill—claimed the team's first podium finish since 2012.

Yet far from symbolising a resurgence, that result was a case of Dead Cat Bounce or, as ESPN's Simon Barnes calls it, "the Managerial Rebound"—a brief spike in performance following a managerial change, which fuels the belief that a team are over the worst of their problems but merely disguises deeper, far more serious issues.

Despite Magnussen's podium in Australia, McLaren were often the least convincing of the four teams using the all-conquering Mercedes V6 hybrid engine in 2014.

Indeed, only a late-season charge by Jenson Button—whom Dennis intended to replace with Fernando Alonso before losing "a power struggle" with fellow shareholder Mansour Ojjeh, per BBC Sport's Andrew Benson—allowed them to beat Force India to fifth place in the constructors' standings.

But it was McLaren's switch to Honda power for 2015—which ensured the results were no longer substantial nor consistent enough to paper over the cracks—that exposed the true flaws of Dennis and the team built in his image, as this once calming, authoritative figure became a complete and utter liability.

As noted during last season, his intimidating, overpowering presence within McLaren's garage during races must surely have a stifling effect on the team and undermine the work of Eric Boullier, who effectively replaced Whitmarsh at the beginning of 2014 but, tellingly, operates under the title of racing director.

Perhaps Dennis, after making Whitmarsh disappear following a largely unsuccessful five-year tenure, remains reluctant for the team—his team—to fall under the control of someone else, especially someone as relatively new to the company as Boullier.

Yet it seems Boullier has been obstructed from truly establishing himself at McLaren and recreating the success he achieved at Lotus, where he transformed a team battered and bruised following the "Crashgate" scandal of 2009 into race winners and championship contenders in just two years.

The kind of quick turnaround and strong, organised leadership that, you'd think, is currently required at McLaren.

Boullier's fluency in "Ronspeak"—the gibberish Dennis has spouted over the decades—only emphasises the chairman's influence over the Frenchman, and Dennis appeared to take pleasure in giving his racing director "a good kick in the arse" following the Spanish Grand Prix, per MailOnline's Jonathan McEvoy.

When he wasn't kicking Boullier's backside, Dennis was generally causing trouble elsewhere in 2015, dragging the team into a number of unnecessary PR disasters.

During pre-season, for instance, he told Sky Sports' Gill that Alonso didn't suffer concussion in his mysterious testing accident just days before the Spaniard, who spent three nights in hospital, was ruled out of the Australian GP as he continued his recovery from concussion.

Dennis bookended the season by suggesting the two-time world champion could take a sabbatical in 2016—a claim dismissed as "strange" by Alonso, per ESPN's Laurence Edmondson—and became increasingly confrontational as the year progressed.

Among the targets were Magnussen, who was released after failing to achieve the team's "very clear goals," per Sky Sports' Mike Wise, and Lewis Hamilton, who "wouldn't be allowed to" behave "the way he is" had he remained at McLaren, per MailOnline's McEvoy. That explained exactly why Hamilton, now a three-time world champion with Mercedes, decided to leave McLaren at the end of 2012.

Such comments were interpreted as the thoughts of a bitter old man who'd seen a talented driver achieve bigger and better things elsewhere.

Yet, as the bizarre, needlessly confrontational statements kept coming, it felt as though Dennis was compelled to utter something—anything—controversial every time he entered the paddock, almost to remind us that he and McLaren were still there.

No publicity, however, is occasionally better than bad publicity, and if there's one thing sponsors hate more than an uncompetitive team in this highly sophisticated sport where everyone says the right thing, it's an uncompetitive team with a human megaphone for a chairman.

After losing Hugo Boss to Mercedes, McLaren saw a number of long-term partners depart last season as TAG Heuer joined Red Bull—in an engine-branding exercise akin to its arrangement with the Porsche-powered McLarens of the 1980s—with Dennis claiming his poor relationship with the watchmaker's chief executive led directly to TAG's exit, per ESPN's Edmondson.

Chandon arrived at the end of September but seemingly to replace Johnnie Walker, per Motorsport.com's Pablo Elizalde. And even Santander, the Spanish bank with an opportunity to work alongside the greatest Spanish racing driver to have ever lived, were set to leave the team, according to the Telegraph's Daniel Johnson, before eventually agreeing a new deal.

The loss of such key logos, all of which have been plastered over McLaren's cars for the last decade or more, has only magnified the team's difficulties in finding a new title sponsor, despite Dennis' promise that a replacement for Vodafone would be announced in early 2014, per Crash.net's Chris Medland.

But then, Dennis seemed to make a lot of promises in early 2014.

McLaren, as he told his team exactly two years ago, will win again. They are too good not to. Honda, for all their troubles last season, are too good not to.

But not like this. Not when their ultimate stalwart is locked in self-destruct mode, bringing more harm than good to the very team he once led to unprecedented success.

Not until the man who has outstayed his welcome acknowledges his own shortcomings and accepts the time has come to walk away for good.

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In 2007, Lewis Hamilton exploded into Formula One with McLaren, finishing on the podium at his first nine races (at the time, tied for the third-longest podium streak in F1 history) and taking victory in just his sixth grand prix. In honour of his 31st birthday, on January 7, we are looking back at that first win, the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix.

It's hard to believe, but the 2016 season will already be Hamilton's 10th in F1 (and he has won at least one grand prix in each of his first nine). But back in 2007, he was a 22-year-old rookie battling a team-mate in Fernando Alonso who was fresh off two world championships.

In the first five races of the season, though, Hamilton proved he was not there to serve as Alonso's understudy. When they arrived in Montreal, the young Brit had finished ahead of his team-mate at two of the previous three races, and they were tied for the lead in the drivers' standings. "It was simply a matter of when that breakthrough success would materialise," Simon Arron remembered in a Motor Sport column.

At the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on that Saturday in 2007, Hamilton snagged his first pole position, and it wasn't particularly close. His Q3 time of 1:15.707 was nearly half of a second quicker than second-place man Alonso's.

If Alonso was disappointed to qualify behind his team-mate, he hid it well. Asked in the post-qualifying press conference whether he had any advice for Hamilton, starting from pole for the first time, the Spaniard responded, "No advice. Don't be too aggressive in the first corner and let me go through."

When the race began on Sunday afternoon, though, Alonso could have used some of his own advice. He attempted to pass Hamilton into the first turn and ran wide, allowing BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld to sneak through and damage his car in the process.

Although Hamilton was easily able to keep Heidfeld at bay, the race was anything but straightforward. The safety car had already been deployed once, to remove Adrian Sutil's crashed Spyker, when Heidfeld's team-mate, Robert Kubica, clipped Jarno Trulli's Toyota on the run down to the hairpin on Lap 26. Kubica's car was launched into the concrete barrier at 300 kph and rolled several times across the track.

I was sitting with a friend in the grandstand at the exit of Turn 2, at the opposite end of the circuit and, suddenly, the entire crowd was silenced. With only the replays to go by, we did not know the extent of Kubica's injuries and, as I have written before, we feared the worst.

After a further seven laps under the safety car, the race restarted and, once again, Hamilton maintained his lead. Two more safety cars in what was proving to be a bumper car-style race did nothing to hinder him. Alonso, meanwhile, with the damage to his car suffered on the first lap, was falling back through the field.

On Lap 67 of 70, in what may be the only example of a Super Aguri ever overtaking another car, Takuma Sato passed Alonso and dropped the Spaniard to seventh place, where he stayed. Hamilton finished more than four seconds ahead of Heidfeld, and Alexander Wurz scored the final podium of his career, finishing third for Williams.

"That was lots of go-karting experience there," Hamilton's father, Anthony, told Sports Illustrated's Alexander Wolff after the race, referring to the number of accidents and crashes. "You get that in karting, and you've got to keep your head straight."

As we crossed the track to get close to the podium, we were still uncertain about Kubica's condition. My most vivid memory from the post-race celebration is not anything Hamilton did on the podium, but rather a girl standing on a concrete barrier separating the pit exit from the circuit and slowly waving a Polish flag back and forth in silent tribute.

Thankfully, Kubica was not seriously injured. He missed just one race recovering from a sprained ankle and a concussion, allowing Sebastian Vettel to make his F1 debut at the U.S. Grand Prix.

In the post-race press conference, Hamilton was understandably fired up. "It has been a fantastic day," he said. "This is history. To come here, my first time in Canada…it’s really been a fantastic season already. We’ve had six podiums, and I've been ready for the win for quite some time. It was just a matter of when and where."

Alonso, meanwhile, was not nearly as good-natured as he had been on Saturday, refusing to congratulate his team-mate and saying Hamilton was "very lucky" to win the race, per ESPN F1.

Yes, the rookie had benefitted from the first safety car, having made a pit stop just before it was called, while Alonso was forced to stop while the pit lane was closed and received a 10-second stop-and-go penalty. Yet Hamilton also drove a clean race on a day when so many (including Alonso) did not, and he had already demonstrated his speed around the Montreal circuit during qualifying.

"It was a great achievement," then-McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley wrote in an email, "but perhaps also confirmed to us that we had a problem with our two drivers competing against each other, something we’d already experienced earlier that season."

Indeed, team principal Ron Dennis soon found himself defending the team from accusations that it was favouring Hamilton over Alonso. In the end, the team's refusal to prioritize one driver over another likely cost one of them the drivers' title, as Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen nipped both McLaren men by a single point after winning the final two races of the season.

Of course, Hamilton has gone on to win 43 races and three world championships, fulfilling the promise of that warm June day in Montreal—and just now, at 31, he may be reaching his peak.

Follow me on Twitter for updates when I publish new articles and for other (mostly) F1-related news and banter:

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As it is in any sport, pressure is ever-present in Formula One. Every team and driver feels it to some degree or another; the pressure to find performance, maintain it, build upon it and push on to greater things.

Ferrari are under massive pressure to make a genuine return to the front of the grid, while Red Bull feel the constant weight of expectation to produce a field-leading chassis.

Renault will want to do the best they can on their return as a constructor; Williams will be aiming to retain their position as top independent and the staff at Mercedes have the weight of the world on their shoulders as they strive to make it three doubles in a row.

The smaller teams have other pressures—mostly financial—while Haas can ill-afford to turn up unprepared and uncompetitive after so much bullish talk in 2015.

But the troubles of the rest of the grid pale to relative insignificance when compared to those faced by two of the sport's most famous names—McLaren and Honda.

McLaren had arguably the worst season of their long and proud history in 2015. For the first time since their very first season—in which founder Bruce McLaren started just four races for his own team, all the way back in 1966—they failed to achieve at least one finish of fourth place or higher.

The team's final position of ninth in the constructors' championship was their worst since 1980, and their two world champion drivers—Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button—ended up 16th and 17th in the drivers' championship.

McLarens made no appearances in Q3, suffered 11 race-ending technical failures and were lapped far more often than not. Their underpowered, unreliable Honda engine was the primary cause of their woes, but the MP4-30 chassis wasn't perfect either.

BBC Sport's Andrew Benson reports engineers in the pit lane considered it to be of similar pace to the Ferrari—behind the Mercedes, Red Bull and Toro Rosso.

Even if their Japanese partner had produced a power unit to rival Mercedes, McLaren would not have been anywhere near as quick as the two Silver Arrows.

In isolation it was a terrible season, but this was only the latest in a string of disappointing years. Since winning the 2012 season finale in Brazil, McLaren have entered 57 races and been on the podium in only one of them.

They haven't had a pole position for more than three years, and the last time a McLaren set the fastest lap was at the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix.

Their recent results look like those of a plucky, underfunded midfield outfit—not those of a wealthy team with cutting-edge facilities, brilliant staff and glittering history of success.

Failure is not a part of McLaren's DNA, and drivers do not join the team expecting to be anywhere other than at the front.

When Alonso signed for the team at the end of 2014, he cannot have been expecting a season as bad as the one he just endured. Likewise Button, a McLaren man since 2010, won't have imagined in his worst nightmares that he would ever have to drive a car like the MP4-30.

Faced with a package as bad as the McLaren-Honda, a younger driver yet to prove himself might have been able to find the motivation to perform at his absolute limit. But both Alonso and Button—proven winners and champions—have admitted they struggled in 2015.

At the beach #PlacesAlonsoWouldRatherBe #F1 #BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/w2EW3GEsD6

— McMike (@ItsMcMikeTime) November 14, 2015

Alonso revealed to BBC Sport late in the year that he was on "economy mode" and found it difficult to motivate himself, while Button came close to retiring from F1 altogether.

His demeanour at the Singapore Grand Prix was unusual, leading many—including Sky Sport's Ted Kravitz—to believe he was going to leave at the end of the year. This viewpoint was only strengthened by comments Button made after the race.

He told the assembled press, including the Guardian's Paul Weaver:

The joy of being in the car is only there if you’re fighting at the front, because you feel like you’re achieving something.

If you’re fighting near the back you’re driving an F1 car, but you can easily get joy driving something else. The joy you get is competing. It’s about fighting at the front. It’s about the possibility of standing on top of the podium. That’s the joy of F1.

Button eventually decided to stay, while Alonso elected against taking the sabbatical McLaren boss Ron Dennis had hinted at.

But if 2016 goes as badly as 2015, will either driver want to stick around?

The loss of Button would be acceptable to McLaren, given what they have in reserve—but keeping Alonso, widely regarded as one of the very best drivers on the grid, is critical to the team's short-term future.

Unless they have a substantial performance advantage, a top team needs a driver capable of pushing the car beyond its limits and fighting against the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.

If Alonso decides he's had enough of being near the back and leaves, they will not find it easy to attract a replacement. The only driver on the grid who has even started to prove he is ready to join the elite is Daniel Ricciardo, and a risky switch away from Red Bull to a struggling McLaren is unlikely to appeal to the Australian.

Nor would it be attractive to other up-and-coming talents—the likes of Valtteri Bottas, Romain Grosjean or Max Verstappen. Not that they, at this time, could be considered like-for-like swaps for Alonso.

For McLaren to retain their status as a "top team" capable of attracting the sort of drivers who can win races and titles, they have to start performing like one.

If they can't, their road back to the front will become longer and harder—and the relatively minor money troubles they are already having to deal with could become a major long-term issue.

McLaren's finances have taken a severe hit after three disappointing seasons in a row. Though they receive a bonus from the commercial rights holder due to their historic success and longevity, a significant portion of the team's income is performance-based.

Per figures published by Dieter Rencken of Autosport (figures for 2014), a third-place finish—which McLaren achieved in 2012—is worth $73 million in prize money.

Fifth—where they finished in 2013 and 2014—is worth $63 million, while the ninth place they took last season only brings in $48 million.

Working by necessity from the 2014 figures, McLaren earned $25 million less in 2015 than they did in 2012. The extra $34 million they receive as a bonus means this won't hurt them as much as it would a smaller team, but coupled with the loss of sponsorship income the picture becomes bleaker.

At the end of 2013, McLaren's title-sponsorship deal with Vodafone came to an end. This deal was, per the Financial Times (h/t James Allen), worth $75 million per year—and McLaren have been unable to attract a replacement.

Instead, they have lost backing. Hugo Boss departed at the end of 2014 and Tag Heuer switched to Red Bull at the end of the 2015 season. Chandon arrived as a sponsor in late September last year, but there was speculation, reported by Pablo Elizalde of Motorsport.com, that this could mean the end of McLaren's association with Johnnie Walker.

On the positive side, rumours that the team's deal with Santander was about to end were put to bed in December when a new agreement was announced, and Honda are contributing a significant sum to the team budget—around $60 million, according to the Telegraph's Daniel Johnson.

McLaren also have other ventures outside F1 that can be used to prop up the racing operation, so it would be an exaggeration to say they are in a major crisis. But the team's finances are still on shaky ground—further figures from Rencken suggest they spent around $30 million more than they made in 2015.

Such losses are not sustainable.

They need to attract large, wealthy sponsors to enable them to keep spending like a top team, and to do that they need to deliver on the track. No sponsor wants to be associated with failure—podiums and race wins are essential for a team demanding big money for the space on their cars.

But one thing sponsors do like to be associated with is world champions, and that's going to throw up another hurdle for the team management to deal with around the middle of 2016.

In Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren have the most exciting young talent yet to make his F1 debut. Had the 23-year-old been a part of Red Bull's successful junior programme, he would probably have made his debut at the start of 2014.

That's when he was ready.

Instead, he has just left GP2 on the back of two seasons in which he shattered almost every record in the series. On his way to scoring more points than any driver in GP2 history, Vandoorne won more races (11), took more pole positions (eight) and scored more podiums (26) than anyone before him.

He did this in just two years; those he deposed at the top of the rankings were veterans of three, four or even five seasons.

But rather than making a richly deserved step up to F1 for 2016, Vandoorne will be wasting another year of his career as a reserve driver for McLaren.

A younger man could afford this, but Vandoorne is no teenager. He will be almost 25 when the 2017 season kicks off—Vettel, Hamilton and Alonso had already won world championships by that age, while Ricciardo, Michael Schumacher and Robert Kubica were race winners with established F1 credentials.

Indeed, Vandoorne will be positively ancient by modern rookie standards. The average age of the five debutants in 2015 was 21; he's already years behind younger drivers like Max Verstappen, Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz Jr.

McLaren will not be able to hold him back again, and with no junior team in which to place him they will be back to where they were in 2014 and 2015—umming and ahing over the future of Button.

The sponsors and many fans will surely favour keeping the 2009 world champion, but McLaren must realise Vandoorne represents the future. If Button doesn't take matters into his own hands and retire, as he almost did last season, the team management will have to make a decision for him.

More pressure the higher-ups could surely do without.

McLaren are still, by some distance, the second most-successful constructor in F1 history—but in recent years, they have failed in every department.

They have failed on the track, they have failed to attract new sponsors and—if we extend the definition of "team" to include the engine supplier, which in fairness we always should—they have failed to get to grips with the new regulations.

They've also inexcusably failed at looking after the careers of talented young drivers.

In 2016 they have to reverse the trend in every part of their operation. No one expects them to suddenly start dominating, but if they wish to attract new sponsors, retain their position as an acknowledged "big team," keep Alonso interested and shed their reputation as a place young drivers go to see their careers stall, McLaren have to at the very least show strong signs of progress.

A big step from Honda, a genuinely good chassis, a new sponsor or two and the odd podium would be good places to start.

F1 gossip: McLaren reveal MP4-X concept car https://t.co/miTLZqUv5U #SkyF1 pic.twitter.com/nh7ZUolizf

— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) December 3, 2015

McLaren have given Formula One fans what could be a glimpse of the future, courtesy of the MP4-X concept car.

The breathtaking photos show a slick black design and closed cockpit, hinting at a future response to a number of recent deaths in motorsport. 

What do you think about McLaren's MP4-X concept #F1 car? Full story here: https://t.co/m09ehbCU0G pic.twitter.com/WPhXJpOdGL

— AUTOSPORT (@autosport) December 3, 2015

McLaren say (via ESPN.co.uk) the car would have a "new approach to the internal combustion engine" and "thin batteries," as well as solar panels to provide additional power.

What's more, the shape-shifting bodywork would feature digital billboards that tailor advertising depending on the audience. 

McLaren aren't the first manufacturer to design a concept car, however, as rivals Red Bull were quick to remind them:

Hey @McLarenF1, you're five years too late 😉 #X2010 pic.twitter.com/tD5VMB9NuC

— Red Bull Motorsports (@redbullmotors) December 3, 2015

The future can't come soon enough.

[h/t ESPN.co.uk]