Can McLaren ditch Honda?

Should, and can, McLaren drop Honda ASAP?
Jan Sergeant, via Twitter

Jan, in every contract I have ever seen there is a 'get out of jail' clause. I am pretty sure the McLaren-Honda contract is no different.

With the current regulations defining things like the engine dimensions and crank height, it's a little easier to change engine manufacturer than it used to be - and it's not like it is changing a V8 for a V12. That said, with all the extra cooling systems required for the current engine, it's still a daunting task and not a decision I would like to be forced into mid-season.

Also, there are quite a few questions that need to be answered before 'going nuclear'.

1) What's the alternative? Over the past few years McLaren hasn't made as many friends in the pitlane as it probably should have. A few of the current engine manufacturers are probably having a little giggle at McLaren's problematic relationship with Honda.

2) Does McLaren believe in what it says that the Honda relationship is for the long-term and that short-term results are not the driving factor?

3) How much does Honda bring to the table?

4) How much will it cost to get out of the current contract?

5) If another engine was available, how much would it cost?

It's a complex process. McLaren would lose the equivalent of a free engine, plus whatever Honda is contributing commercially as well. Then it would have to pay a one-off fee for the contract buyout, and it would need to agree and fund a new contract with another engine manufacturer.

So it would be out of pocket initially, worse off financially for each season thereafter - and still needing to find a way to pay for its new engine deal. All from a car that isn't exactly covered in sponsor decals. And it would lose its works team status.

Ron Dennis, in his retirement, is probably laughing his head off.

Will the cars accelerate quicker off the line this year?
@F1IMO, via Twitter

The rear tyre width increase is around 25%, creating a larger contact patch. So yes, 0-100mph times should tumble, making the starts a bit more of an adventure.

The clutch engagement regulations have also been revised for 2017, making the driver as opposed to the engineer more responsible for the actual starts.

This, combined with the extra acceleration, should lead to a few interesting starts. Get it wrong and you will lose a lot of places.

What do you think of Ferrari's pace after the second test? Raikkonen set the best lap of testing, so is it in the hunt or is Mercedes holding back?
James Allen, via Twitter

The Ferrari looks good on any tyre, and with what we would assume were differing fuel loads. So unless they were able to manage to do a race-distance simulation without any fuel in the car, I think they are in with a shot at a few victories this year.

Will that end up with a title? It's a long, hard season and Mercedes will not take getting beaten lying down, and don't count Red Bull out of the equation just yet.

A team's development rate and direction will be what keeps them at the front. With the regulation changes for this year, everyone will be finding performance steps at every race, so if you can't keep that up it will be very easy to be left behind.

Do you think Raikkonen is good enough to win if the Ferrari is competitive enough?
Luke Mitchell, via email

Luke, of course he's good enough, he is a world champion and he has 20 race wins under his belt. He didn't do all that without talent.

If the car has a strong front end and good traction then it will suit his driving style and he can go on and use his talent. If not, he doesn't have the tools in his toolbox that some other drivers have to adjust his driving style.

What I have seen of the Ferrari suggests it has what Raikkonen needs.

When I initially saw Vettel in the car on day one of testing I was impressed, but I decided I'd wait until I saw Raikkonen. When on day two he just got in and wrung its neck, I was ultra-impressed. He had confidence in what he had under him.

If, as we all hope, Ferrari can take it to Mercedes, then the competition between him and Vettel could get a bit spicy. Raikkonen doesn't take any prisoners and Vettel appears to need that number-one status to make him thrive - watch this space.

Teams will probably start talking about waiting until Spain to judge them now. But how easy is it really to turn things around after the start of the season - if you're in the midfield now, is it really possible to get into winning contention with upgrades?
David Bates, via email

David, it is possible but very difficult. For 1998 at Jordan we built a bit of a dog of a car. Coincidently we had a Mugen-Honda engine, which replaced our Peugeot engine from '97.

It was down on power by around 60bhp but for a long time they wouldn't accept it - as far as they were concerned, what we had was the best in the pitlane (have you heard this before somewhere?)

Finally after the San Marino GP in April I went - for the fourth time that year - to their headquarters in Japan. After a bit of desk-bashing they produced a dyno report sheet, which only had percentages on it. I converted the numbers to bhp and sat back, and the first words were, 'We have a problem'.

From that day of acceptance they worked tirelessly, and by the British GP at Silverstone they had found half that deficit.

Meanwhile in the background we were working on the chassis. It had more downforce, was more efficient, lighter and stiffer, all the things that you try to achieve with a new car - but the drivers, Ralf Schumacher and Damon Hill, hated it.

Life was a bit complicated with these two because Ralf was at the start of his career and Damon was in the twilight. Ralf would wring the car's neck and could get a reasonable lap time out of it, while Damon wanted to use his talent and let the car bring him the lap time, but basically the car wasn't aerodynamically consistent.

We discovered something in how the steering lock affected the aerodynamics, which was something that at that time we didn't research. We came up with a fix to stabilise the centre of pressure with varying steering lock, and by Silverstone, combined with Honda's improved engine package, we went from being a midfield (at best) team to a frontrunning team, and even won at Spa.

The short answer is yes, it can be turned around. It was never easy, and it's probably even more difficult now. The big teams have got very strong and have the backing to achieve success.

If you were at Sauber and the car really is as slow as you think, what areas would you focus on R&D to reverse their fortunes?
Juan Gonzalez, via Twitter

Juan, my priority for 2017 would be bulletproof reliability. The only way Sauber is going to score any points right now is by being there at each and every chequered flag and just hope that others suffer.

If it can identify clearly where it is lacking in performance and is confident in its replacement parts bridging that gap, then it should go ahead and manufacture and fit them. The car is lacking grip in general, it's not just a balance thing, so it will take major changes to improve. Otherwise, don't throw good money away.

With only 10 teams in the championship, Sauber is going to have a reasonable payday at the end of the season by just finishing 10th, so can afford to put its efforts into 2018 very early.

I know this sounds like it is throwing a year away, but sometimes that is necessary, and it would allow it to regroup and get back to the Sauber we know can be competitive.

We've not seen much of the new cars on TV, so what do you think of the whole spectacle of them? Is it going to be as exciting as expected? The cars are faster, so that should make a big difference...
Dan Smith, via email

Dan, the speed of the cars on new tyres is impressive but to see that and take it in you need to be standing by the safety fence on the side of the track.

I'm afraid I don't believe you will see it on TV very easily, and when the cars are on new tyres they are normally running alone to allow them to get a clear lap, so there is no impression of speed relative to another car.

I don't see why this batch of regulation changes will have done anything for the spectacle or the viewer.

We can only hope that Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull reach the same level of competition. If another couple of teams join them then we would really have a battle at the front.

But I'm afraid from what I've seen that the main battle is going to be in the midfield. In itself that's good, but for the TV director it's a difficult thing to give coverage to.

The cars have more downforce and bigger tyres so braking distances will be reduced, cornering speeds will be increased, so it will be just as difficult - if not more difficult - to follow or overtake each other.

Formula 1 has made these changes to satisfy itself. The changes have done nothing for the viewer and spectator. Let's hope new owner Liberty recognises the success of F1 is down to people like you turning on the TV.

Martin Brundle's final year in F1 was with Jordan in 1996. How did you get on and how do you evaluate the year?
Ruraidh Conlon O'Reilly, via email

As you say, it was Martin's last year in F1 and to this day he still thinks he should be there. As I've always said, I enjoy working with young, hungry drivers who want to give it their all and in reality don't know anything else.

Martin, with his experience, was always comparing our car to a Benetton or a McLaren and trying to make it into something that it wasn't. The car was far from being our best example of an F1 car, but it was what it was.

Rubens Barrichello was his team-mate and (as I said above with Ralf Schumacher and Damon Hill in '98) Rubens would always wring its neck and get some sort of performance out of it. He even qualified second in Brazil, and you can't do that if the product hasn't got a reasonable base to work with.

As far as the team's upper management was concerned, having experienced drivers like Martin or Damon was always going to be the winning ticket. In reality they were heading towards their pension day, and we didn't need to be their retirement home.

The future was with young, hungry drivers who would make mistakes but at at least when they did they were giving it their all.

Jordan thrived on bring new drivers into motorsport. Now Red Bull has taken that mantle - without Dietrich Mateschitz's organisation we wouldn't have drivers like Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, Daniil Kvyat, Carlos Sainz or even that guy Max Verstappen, who so many people knew was far too young for F1.

Really, thank you Red Bull...