McLaren-Honda - The return of bizarreness?

“Understand me, this is nothing against Ayrton, OK? Ayrton was very quick, and in qualifying he was much better than me – much more committed, just as I think I was when I was the younger driver in the team, against Niki (Lauda).”

“Anyway, before the 1989 season I had dinner at the golf club in Geneva with Honda’s then chairman, Mr Kawamoto and four other people. And he admitted that I was right in believing that Honda was more for Ayrton than for me.”

“He said, ‘You want to know why we push Senna so much? Well, I can’t be 100 per cent sure.’ But one thing he did let me know was that the new generation of engineers working on the engines were in favour of Ayrton, because he was more the samurai, and I was more the computer.”

“So, that was an explanation, and I was very happy afterwards, because then at least I knew very well that something was not correct. Part of my problem had been that Ayrton was so bloody quick, it wasn’t easy to know how much was that, and how much was Honda helping him. So after this dinner with Mr Kawamoto, I thought, ‘Well, at least I’m not stupid – something really was going on, and now I know the situation.” – Prost

Matin Whitmarsh – “I am delighted to announce Honda and McLaren will soon begin a new chapter of our legendary Formula One partnership. It is a partnership synonymous with success. Together, in 1988, we created the most successful Formula One car of all time which was driven to victory 15 times out of 16 (grands prix) by Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. McLaren and Honda are about to embark on a new and extremely exciting adventure together.

For everyone who works for both companies, the weight of our past achievements lies heavily on our shoulders. But like McLaren, Honda is a company with motor racing in its blood and its the mark of ambition we both share that we want to re-create past glories and take McLaren-Honda back to the top. Together we’ll form a lasting partnership to deliver success on the track, backed up by world-leading R&D (research and development) and engineering intelligence. Formula One is a hugely challenging sport and is becoming more competitive every year, but we’re both totally committed to the success of our partnership and to our ultimate goal – to win. That commitment, combined with our world-beating engineering know-how, gives us the confidence we can overcome the challenges we face. Together, Honda and McLaren have a great legacy. We formed a uniquely successful partnership that took on and beat the world.

Together, we created some of the greatest, most-iconic Formula One moments of all time, which are still being talked about today all around the world. As we look to the future, both Honda and McLaren are utterly committed to maintaining that legacy and being successful once more.”

Some mighty words from the man, who is trying to lead McLaren to the top. McLaren-Honda are two good teams who knows what they are doing, but it would be so good if they can have realistic expectations in their mind. These kind of expectations were recently shown by the Williams-Renault partnership deal, although the deal is now running out its time-frame, it was announced with much expectations. Unfortunately, the Williams-Renault saga has ended without meeting much of its expectations, largely due to the issues with Williams, who couldn’t produce a beauty like those of the early 1990s.