McLaren Praised For Its Revival After 'The Worst Decision' To Drop Honda

Friday, 10 November 2023 at 15:00

A former F1 team owner, Eddie Jordan, recently commented on the progress of the McLaren Formula One team over the years.

McLaren F1 team used to be one of the strongest teams on the F1 grid between the years 2000 and 2011. However, the performances of McLaren cars have gone a bit downhill up until the 2023 season.

McLaren changed multiple engine suppliers throughout this period, one of them being Honda in years 2015-2017. The British team struggled during this period, achieving two ninth positions in the championship and one sixth place.

After these three years, McLaren decided to leave Honda and partner with Renault, which was a huge mistake in the eyes of former F1 team owner Eddie Jordan. He said in the Formula For Success podcast:

"I think whoever made a decision to leave Honda was an absolute fool’s paradise. It was the worst decision they could have made – but they’ve come back from it. So full credit."

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In 2023, McLaren started with the concept of the car that did not work at all as the team's drivers competed at the back of the grid. But McLaren managed to bounce back in a spectacular way.

"They’ve changed the floor and you have to give the drivers some credit for that. I think what Oscar has done in that team, he’s shown that the car must be really OK to drive, because he’s a rookie coming in."

McLaren signed a rookie driver Oscar Piastri to replace Daniel Ricciardo, which turned out to be a great brave decision. The young Australian driver shows great potential and has been called the best rookie in Formula One since Verstappen.

"You couldn’t expect him to know anything like what Lando does or vice-versa, but he’s able to drive the wheels off that car and I think that has probably upped Lando’s mojo in terms of what he now wants to do because he doesn’t want to be beaten by his young team-mate."

McLaren climbed up from the back of the grid at the beginning of 2023 to be the closest challenger to dominating Max Verstappen on Red Bull during races like Qatar, Japan, and Brazil. Jordan added:

"So there’s a lot of things going for them. A lot of people didn’t think they could ever aspire to come up and challenge the likes of Mercedes or Ferrari, but they certainly have, and the results are simply fantastic."