Mclaren is a joke and this is HUGELY down to Mclaren. 18 month development of an overly compact engine were conditions placed on the deal by Mclaren. Both basically guaranteed failure and continued problems as they rush to fix what would surely be a broken engine means they can't work on a 'good' engine by comparison. Mclaren are every bit as responsible for this, I would say more so as their decisions dictated the failure, but Honda could have said "hey Mclaren, either of those conditions separately would mean this won't work, together is pure madness... we're going to decline your offer for us to fund your little disaster". Honda willingly agreed to this cluster fuck, but the cluster fuck was entirely Mclaren's idea. I both can't comprehend how Mclaren thought either condition was reasonable or wouldn't end in disaster but even more so I can't understand why Honda agreed to it. From Mclaren's view point they apparently get the 15 mil of free engines, half the drivers salaries and 50-60mil in sponsorship cash that takes it up to about 100mil total income for them, that is great in terms of surviving as a team but still their conditions meant they get that value and a shit engine. Honda though, they were asked to rush a compact engine which would surely fail... then they were being asked to put 100mil direct into Mclaren, then they have to spend however much they are spending on the engine development. It's completely one sided for them and under conditions that nearly assure failure... whoever signed that deal at Honda fucked up so horrifically badly they should quite literally commit seppuku. Pretending Mclaren is blameless in all this is ridiculous. This isn't hindsight, the second they announced the deal and it was going to be a 18 month development program said this will not work. Rushing engineering of a complex ... well, anything, let alone engine in a bleeding edge motorsport is nothing less than utter stupidity.
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