Faithful to Mercedes, McLaren leaves the door open to Honda for 2015
If Martin Whitmarsh assures that Mercedes will supply its V6 turbo to McLaren in 2014, he nonetheless leaves the door open for a change of engine supplier in the coming years as rumors of a possible return of Honda to Formula 1 become persistent.
In Melbourne, McLaren will begin its nineteenth season with Mercedes as an engine partner, an association that, according to Martin Whitmarsh in the columns of *Autosport*, should indeed celebrate its twentieth anniversary in 2014: « I can say with certainty that we are with them for a while. We have a contract and have been discussing it for some time. There’s nothing to announce at the moment. I can’t elaborate further [but] we currently have a contract covering the next three seasons and we will certainly continue next year with Mercedes-Benz. We have a long and fruitful partnership with them, » explains the Woking team’s director.
Martin Whitmarsh’s statements, however, leave the door open for a change of engine supplier beyond 2014, as rumors grow more persistent around a potential return of Honda as an engine supplier with McLaren in 2015. The director of the Woking team does not rule out the possibility of a change of engine supplier in the coming years: “We have read the stories about Porsche, Hyundai, and Honda, and I think we should encourage them. The sport needs new manufacturers to invest, and if we can contribute in any way, we will, but for now, we are focused on our partnership [with Mercedes], which has proven to be a good partner. We are going to try to win championships with them in the future.”
As a reminder, in eighteen seasons of collaboration, the longest with the same engine supplier for the British team, McLaren has achieved 78 Grand Prix victories, 76 pole positions, 83 fastest laps, and 229 podiums. These are statistics that the men from Woking hope to improve even further over the next two years.
