Is it Crunch time for McLaren?

McLaren's big aero claims fall flat

After repeated claims of having the most aerodynamically efficient chassis, McLaren are finally having to eat their words. After enduring a testing period of 2 years (2015-2017) during which the team claimed that the Honda engine woes were primarily to blame for their poor results, 2018 has been something of an eye-opener for fans and the team alike.

The team started the year with an ambitious target of overhauling Red Bull but since then have slowly slipped backwards. Even though the points table paints a rosy picture of McLaren being best of the rest, with the team in 4th place in the Constructors Championship with Fernando Alonso 6th in the drivers' championship, the reality is completely different.

The team have struggled to put together a competitive package together. The most aero efficient chassis last year seems to be one of the most under-performing ones this year, with McLaren's straight-line speed being one of the lowest among the teams sharing the same Renault engine.

After a lot of PR speak denying that the team was in disarray and that their performance was due to early teething troubles, their racing director Éric Boullier confirmed that the setbacks during preseason testing had affected the team's development schedule. The gravity of the situation was so serious that an internal investigation was conducted to find out the cause of the team's poor performance which led to a team shakeup with Zak Brown being named the new CEO of the company with the team parting ways with chassis chief Tim Goss.

Can McLaren afford another poor season?

The team is currently prepping a major upgrade package for the Barcelona Grand Prix with rumours of the upgrades being so extensive that it is being compared to a B spec version of their car. Should the upgrades work as expected, McLaren can finally breathe a sigh of relief after years of disappointments with Honda. But what if they don't?

Well, the consequences will be manifold starting with money. Running an F1 team is no mean feat with budgets of the teams exceeding 200 million Euros. When McLaren Honda partnership started in 2015, apart from receiving free engines from Honda, it was rumoured that Honda was additionally contributing as much as 100 million Euros to the McLaren budget.

Due to their poor results in that time period, McLaren lost some of their key sponsors. This loss was partially offset due to money Honda was contributing to McLaren. But after splitting with Honda, McLaren's team finances look sketchy especially due to the fact the team is having to pay for their engines as well. The team simply cannot afford to have further mediocre results as the financial stability of the team is at stake.

Will Fernando Alonso stay with McLaren?

F1 Grand Prix of China

There is also the case of a certain individual named Fernando Alonso. Alonso has been extremely patient with McLaren, but his patience seems to be running thin. McLaren have tried to keep him motivated by letting him race in non F1 events, but circumstances have drastically changed in the last few weeks. There were rumblings that McLaren wanted to move Lando Norris, their protege, into their team at the start of 2019.

Also, Alonso's winning start to the World Endurance Championship have made things more interesting. Alonso has made no secret of achieving the famed Triple Crown of Motorsports. His opportunity with Toyota in the WEC this year will give him a 50% chance to be one step closer to his goal seeing that the Toyota has no major opponents.

The question is will Alonso stay with McLaren in 2019 if he wins the famed Le Mans 24 hours this year and they fail to deliver? The answer is unlikely. He would either quit F1 completely or try with a new team with the driver market for 2019 being extremely wide open at this point. McLaren needs to start delivering on their promises to avoid a Williams like situation which seems to be slowly but surely developing.