Rumors became a reality on Friday at the Singapore Grand Prix, as McLaren officially confirmed their multi-season partnership with Renault. The announcement is an excitement for most of the McLaren fans, as the team ditches the horrific Honda power unit that has given the team so much grief.
After three years of constant struggles, McLaren has finally confirmed that they are parting ways with Honda at the end of the season. The deal will last through 2020. The switch was largely anticipated earlier in the week, with the rumors that Carlos Sainz was moving to Renault, causing a domino effect of changes among the teams on the grid.
Zak Brown, the new McLaren Technology Group Executive Director, had this to say about the new partnership:
“Today’s announcement gives us the stability we need to move ahead with our chassis and technical programme for 2018 without any further hesitation.
As an organisation, McLaren has always worked extremely hard to form lasting partnerships with its technical suppliers. We’re convinced that we can bring real value to Renault Sport Racing as we work alongside it to develop this current power unit into a regular race winner.”
It’s clear that making a switch to a new engine provider is the only way that McLaren even has a fighting chance of retaining Fernando Alonso for any further seasons. Although Alonso’s fate is expected to remain with McLaren-Renault, it hasn’t been confirmed and it’s unknown when it will be.
