Ignition, Honda’s new film pays homage to one of the boldest expressions of human curiosity and engineering endeavour: space flight.
With a little help from Jenson Button and some very cool modes of transport, Honda celebrate their unique engineering heritage across as many categories: cars, motorbikes, robotics, aviation and racing.
Watch the video to find out more.
Spa-Francorchamps snapshot
“After the long summer break, I can’t wait to get into the car in Spa and go racing again. Hungary was a positive race for us but we know Spa will be challenging on a number of levels, so we’ll be pushing to get the most out of the weekend.”
“I’ve really enjoyed the holidays, but I’m keen to get back in the car. Spa is an incredible circuit – every single lap feels sensational – so I’m looking forward to enjoying myself this weekend.”
Few circuits are more revered than the mighty Spa-Francorchamps. The track has been synonymous with Formula 1 for more than 60 years, and, with an average speed of 230km/h (143mph), it’s breathtakingly fast.
At more than 7km, the undulating circuit is the longest on the 2015 calendar. However, the existing layout is only half the length of the original design, which featured in the inaugural world championship of 1950. The current track – opened in 1983 – retains much of the original high-speed challenge, as well as many of the iconic corners like La Source, Eau Rouge and Blanchimont.
More than 70 per cent of the lap is spent at full throttle, which places an emphasis on the power unit and on the car’s aerodynamic efficiency. There is also the unique situation of the machinery having to cope with a 1.7g compression at the bottom of Eau Rouge, which can prove a test of reliability over the 44-lap race distance.
The weather forecast is notoriously unreliable in the Ardennes region of Belgium. Temperatures of around 20 degrees are expected, but it’s harder to predict the chance and the location of the rain. If wet weather comes it can affect only one section of the track – often several miles from the pitlane – which creates considerable strategic challenges.
In the event of dry conditions, the drivers have Pirelli’s Soft (Option) and Medium (Prime) tyres at their disposal. These are the same compounds that were used at last year’s race, when two pitstops were the norm for most cars. Should a Safety Car appear early in the race, a one-stop strategy is also possible.
McLaren has an indelible link with Spa-Francorchamps because it was here, in 1968, that the team won its first world championship grand prix. The team now has a total of 14 wins on Belgian soil, the most recent victory coming in 2012.
| Start time | 1400 (local)/1200 (GMT) |
| Race distance | 44 laps (full world championship points awarded after 75% distance/33 laps) |
| 2014 winner | Daniel Ricciardo |
| 2014 pole position | Nico Rosberg 2m05.591s 200.766km/h (wet) |
| 2014 fastest lap | Nico Rosberg 1m50.511s 228.162km/h |
| Chances of a Safety Car | High. There’s an 80 per cent chance that the Safety Car will appear in Sunday’s race – that’s largely due to accidents at Spa occurring at high-speedHigh. There’s an 80 per cent chance that the Safety Car will appear in Sunday’s race – that’s largely due to accidents at Spa occurring at high-speed |
| Don’t put the kettle on… | The start, when new FIA rules mean there will be more input from the drivers; and laps 13 and 28. Last year’s race was won with a two-stop strategy and, changeable weather aside, the same looks likely in 2015 |
| Weather forecast | Changeable. Spa-Francorchamps is located in the Ardennes Mountains, which have a notoriously fickle microclimate |
| First race | 1950 |
| Circuit length | 7.004km/4.352 miles |
| Run to Turn One | 265 metres |
| Longest straight | 2.015km, from La Source to Turn 5, Les Combes |
| Top speed | 322km/h on the approach to Turn 5 |
| DRS zones | Two – on the approach to Turn 1 and, again, on the approach to Turn 5 |
| Key corner | Turn 10, a 180-degree double-apex left-hander. The entry is fast (294km/h) and blind, and the drivers need to be totally committed in order to be fast |
| Pitlane length | 390 metres, which is quite long. The time loss isn’t that great because the cars staying on-track have to negotiate the La Source Hairpin |
| Major changes for 2015 | None |
| Fuel consumption | 3.35kg per lap, which is high |
| Full throttle | 70% |
| Brake wear | Low. There are only nine braking events around the lap |
| Gear changes | 48 per lap/2112 per race |
| Did you know? | Heavy rain prior to the start of the 1997 Belgian Grand Prix resulted in F1’s first ever Safety Car start |
“Spa-Francorchamps is one of the classic old-school circuits. It’s long; it’s undulating and it’s high-speed – all of which combines to make it one of the great challenges on the calendar. There are two high-speed sectors, in which there are long periods of full throttle, and one twistier sector. Car set-up is therefore a compromise between straight-line speed and cornering grip, and getting that balance right is a challenge.
“This is also a race at which you need to think on your feet because the weather is notoriously unpredictable. The conditions can change very quickly, which usually spices things up!”
| Wins | 14 (1968, 1974, 1982, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2010, 2012) |
| Poles | 11 (1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2008, 2012) |
| Fastest laps | 8 (1974, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1999, 2004, 2010) |
The 1968 season started well for McLaren. Denny Hulme scored the team’s first podium at the Spanish Grand Prix and everyone arrived at Spa-Francorchamps hoping to be competitive.
Adding to the feeling of optimism was Hulme’s performance in the Indianapolis 500 the preceding weekend. ‘The Bear’ finished fourth in the 500 and he arrived in Belgium feeling bullish about the team’s chances. He qualified fifth and Bruce McLaren sixth.
The race highlighted the demanding nature of the original 14km Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Brian Redman had a horrifying accident on lap seven and a spate of reliability issues shaped the remainder of the 28-lap race. Hulme enjoyed a dice for the lead with Jackie Stewart, until he was slowed by a driveshaft problem. Stewart than ran out of fuel on the penultimate lap, handing a victory to Bruce McLaren – the last of his illustrious career, but the first for his team.
“It feels great to be back. I enjoyed a relaxing break over the summer shutdown, but I also trained hard and I feel in the best shape to start the second half of the year. After Hungary, we were all really encouraged by the outcome; although we were fortunate to have had some good luck, we still battled hard and finished the race with a positive result.
“Spa will be tricky for us, due to the configuration of a track that requires power, downforce and a big chunk of the lap spent at full throttle. But, from a driver’s perspective it’s a spectacular circuit and the fans there also make it a truly special place. It’s a place at which I won when I was in Formula 3000, but never in Formula 1. I’ve enjoyed some really exciting battles there, and I’m looking forward to next weekend for some more.
“The next few races will be important for us: we need to continue our forward momentum, and, with the addition of some tweaks to the car and power unit, we will be looking for more progress and good correlation between the simulator and our on-track performance. That might not necessarily appear above the surface in either Spa or Monza, but we’ll keep pushing development forward at each race.”
| Age | 34 (July 29 1981) |
| GPs | 243 |
| Wins | 32 |
| Poles | 22 |
| Fastest Laps | 21 |
| Best result in Belgium | 2nd (2005) |
“What a place to resume the second half of the season! It’s such a great place to come to after the break – Spa is a circuit I’ve always loved right from the start of my racing career, and every lap around this incredibly special circuit is still hugely exciting and puts a massive grin on my face. It’s genuinely a circuit like no other.
“I’m really looking forward to getting back into the car and seeing where we stand among our nearest competitors. We can’t pretend that we’re expecting a huge jump forward in performance – especially at this circuit, as it doesn’t suit our car’s characteristics – but, after the break, I’m feeling refreshed, positive, and ready to continue the solid progress we’ve made so far.
“I love Spa, I won there back in 2012, and, even when I’m not battling for the lead, I really enjoy the racing there as it usually produces fantastic grands prix. It’s a privilege as a Formula 1 driver to be able to go to the circuit in the morning, get in the car, and race through some of the most legendary corners in motorsport.”
| Age | 35 (January 19 1980) |
| GPs | 275 |
| Wins | 15 |
| Poles | 8 |
| Fastest laps | 8 |
| Best result in Belgium | 1st (2012) |
“After a well-deserved summer break for the whole team, we’re all ready and raring to go at the start of the second half of the season. We had an encouraging race in Hungary leading into the summer break, and we now feel refreshed and determined to continue improving our form as the rest of the season progresses.
“We’ve persevered through some tough moments, but the positivity and steadfast commitment to McLaren-Honda’s future success are evident in every single member of this team. Our drivers, too, have been unwavering in their support and are working hard to keep pushing us forward, extracting the maximum from the package at every opportunity. We’re also incredibly grateful for the support of our partners, who are incredibly loyal, and who are united behind our development programme. In the second half of the season, our fight towards the front will continue, and we’ll work hard to build on our steady, solid progress in pursuit of performance.
“Spa is a truly spectacular circuit – arguably the best on the calendar for many – but, given the unique power and downforce package required, the track won’t play to our strengths. Therefore, of course, we must be measured in our optimism, and we will need to wait for Singapore and beyond before we can see the fruits of our labours reflected on track.”
“After a well-deserved and positive result in Hungary, the summer break was a good rest for the trackside team, while Sakura continued on with the power unit development.
“As planned, Honda has updated the combustion characteristics to further improve our power units for Spa and the second half of the season. This weekend’s free practice sessions will be important to test the pairing of the power units to the cars. The Belgian race, however, will surely be a difficult one for the team and drivers, with expected grid penalties and a long and unforgiving power circuit.
“Nevertheless, McLaren-Honda’s focus is to improve race by race. We know we can learn a lot from the circuit for immediate future, and hope that we can come out of the weekend with some positives.”
Admit it, you’ve probably never even checked the oil on your road car, right?
Even if you guiltily know that the oil might need a sneaky little check, we bet you’re still a bit reluctant to lift the bonnet, pull out that dipstick thing, wipe it clean with an old rag, re-insert it and measure your oil level.
In Formula 1, we have no such reservations – in fact, we love a bit of lube!
We’ll take more than 50 oil and lubricant samples from our Formula 1 cars during a grand prix weekend, a feat which provides us with more than 1000 points of analytical data – all because a clean, efficient and well-lubricated power unit is essential for performance.
But how do we do it?
Lifting the lid: testing and sampling our lubricants
McLaren’s Technology Partner ExxonMobil brings a mobile lab to each and every race – it’s operated by ExxonMobil Technical Advisor, Mike Frost.
Tuesday & Wednesday
Mike arrives at the racetrack on the Tuesday of race week, and spends Wednesday ensuring that all the fuel and Mobil 1 lubricant supplies have arrived – more than 2000 litres of Esso fuel are brought to each event – and that his on-site laboratory, the so-called ‘ExxonMobil Products Technology Laboratory’, is operational.
Thursday
On Thursday, the mechanics finish building up the two race cars. Ahead of Friday practice, Mike takes fuel samples from both the cars and opens the fuel drums to ensure they match the same chemical ‘fingerprint’ of the fuel that left the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking.
He also tests oil samples to ensure both the engine and gearbox are primed for efficiency and performance throughout the race weekend. Everything is calibrated for the days of actual running, when a test sample can be extracted, tested and classified within two or three minutes.
Friday
The cars run for two 90-minute practice sessions on Fridays, so Mike uses a gas chromatograph to test fuel samples before running starts to ensure the fuel is FIA compliant and uncontaminated.
All the fuels must match the ‘fingerprint’ file originally submitted to the FIA. Non-compliance can result in disqualification, and tolerances are tight: for example, something as simple as a mechanic taking the fuel pump out and washing it in an unauthorised solvent could result in a fingerprint spike that wouldn’t meet FIA tolerances.
During practice, Mike also takes oil samples after each run to accurately assess the condition of the engine. Mobil 1’s on-site laboratory can break the oil down into individual components, so the additives can be studied, but so too can the wear-metals – tiny particles of the engine (such as aluminium, iron, lead or copper) that mix with the oil during the combustion cycle.
The oil is microscopically inspected using a spectrometer, which measures down to individual parts per million. That means ExxonMobil’s engineers can pick out the 20-odd individual metals within the oil.
That data is used to accurately map the life of the engine: the engineers are looking for signs of degradation – the wear-metals showing signs of impending engine failure, or whether, for instance, a radiator blocked with debris has cooked the temperatures and caused terminal damage.
These predictive analytical tools have saved races for McLaren over the years!
Saturday
Mike runs more fuel and lubricant tests both before and during FP3, the one-hour Saturday morning practice session that allows teams to refine set-up and practice low-fuel qualifying simulation runs.
These samples are some of the most important of the weekend: the results give the team the clearest indication of the power unit’s health, and how hard the engines can be pushed during the race. They’ll also flag up any high friction or wear-points within the engine that can be addressed before Sunday.
Sunday
After the race, Mike begins work testing the various fuel and lubricant samples. After examining the fuel, Mike turns his attention to the car’s hydraulic oils, gearbox oils, and engine oils.
While he can achieve much working on-site, the oil is sent back to ExxonMobil’s headquarters in Paulsboro, New Jersey for a full analysis, with the results returned to the team a few days later.
What happens after the race?
After travelling back to the UK, Mike spends a further week liaising with Mobil 1 and Esso engineers and chemists, with Honda’s technicians, and with the mechanics and engineers at McLaren. After that, he’ll be replenishing stocks of consumables, and, if a new fuel blend is being introduced, will work with the mechanics to ensure the cars’ fuel systems are fully flushed.
After that, it’s time to board the plane and head off again.
Makes checking the oil in your own car seem a little easier now, eh?!?
The summer shutdown is upon us and now is the perfect time to refresh your McLaren wardrobe with some new items from the McLaren Store Summer Sale.
With final reductions on selected items, grab a bargain and show your support for the McLaren-Honda team during the second half of the F1 season.
The summer hasn’t left us yet, so water bottles and caps may still be a wise investment.
If you want to be ready for autumn, bag a jacket and our stylish 2015 team golf umbrella now. Final reductions currently on offer until Friday 21st August.
Show your support for Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button with items from the drivers’ collections.
Looking for something special? Browse the signature collection for more unique items.
Final reductions on selected items available until Friday 21st August. Click on the links below to browse the full range.
There is a bus from Auckland city centre that will take you out into the suburbs and stop right outside a small, out of use petrol station. The red and green shield featuring a black kiwi might catch your eye, if you were privy to what it was, but unless a special kind of McLaren fan were to seek it out, it’s unlikely that you’d ever even notice it. “They have to want to find us, they’ve got to have the passion. They come from all over the world, Argentina, Boston, Buenos Aries, and when they come they spend a good few hours.”
Officially launched in 1997, The Bruce McLaren Trust was created to be a living tribute to Bruce’s achievements in motor racing housed in his childhood home above the family’s petrol station and car garage. When I made the journey to visit the house in which Bruce grew up, I was lucky enough to meet his younger sister and co-founder of the Trust, Jan McLaren, who works endlessly to keep her brother’s memory alive. “We’ve got four or five thousand old motorsport magazines, newspaper cuttings, trophies, signed things of Bruce’s, pieces of cars and sometimes you’ll see a picture that you’ve never seen before which is nice. So it’s a constant work in progress.”
In between the garages that are still in use but no longer owned by the McLaren family, there is a small doorway that leads up a set of stairs and into an Aladdin’s Cave of McLaren and racing memorabilia.
As I stood in Bruce’s childhood bedroom I couldn’t help but feel moved by the thought that the room in which he grew up and dreamt of achieving his motor racing ambitions, is now full to the brim with evidence of his incredible success. From trophies and paintings of his CanAm days to merchandise with his face on it, not that I can imagine him being motivated by that sort of fame.
I asked Jan what items she felt were the crowning jewels of the collection: “Visitors get very excited about seeing his overalls, as well as James Hunt’s, and his personal brief case with his work books. We also have Emerson Fittipaldi’s M23 steering wheel, the blokes gasp when they see that one! But my personal favourites are some of the early trophies from ’59 and ’60 that now belong to me. As well as some of Bruce’s personal items like his gold cufflinks with the McLaren shield on one side and our Dad’s initials engraved on the other.”
As we talked about her brother it became clear that Bruce’s talent isn’t the only thing Jan is proud of. I asked her what it was like to grow up with him and she said he was every bit the adored big brother, “he would take us for rides in his Austin, going to school in that was rather trendy! As he grew up he became a perfect gentleman, I’ve never heard a cross word said about him.”
Despite the obvious sadness at Bruce leaving the family home and moving to Europe at just 19 years old, Jan speaks passionately of the enormous pride and excitement felt by the family. “When he first left he gave up university and told the family ‘just for a year, and then I’ll be back’. On his university record card it says in the notes section ‘Went motor racing’!
“I’d had motor racing in my family since the day I was born, I was young and I just thought, oh, so now it’s Bruce’s turn. He would send home tape recordings with messages and race reports, you didn’t get a lot of communication in those days but Dad would take some of those recordings down to the car clubs and everyone would sit around and listen to Bruce.
“Yes, a lot of pride and a lot of excitement.”
Not long after he left, Bruce became the youngest ever driver to win an F1 Grand Prix at 22 years and 104 days, “Being New Zealanders we took it all in our stride.” Jan joked.
As a McLaren fan and someone who is inspired by Bruce, getting to hold his old overalls is something I’ll never forget. It is when you see things like the old overalls and the 1973 steering wheel, that it becomes even more apparent just how phenomenal the change in the sport has been over the last 50 years. When compared with the MTC it’s incredible to think that the original factory had just 50 workers. And with these 50 workers Bruce was producing F1 cars, CanAm cars, Indy cars, developing Formula 5000 cars, his road car and F2 cars.
“Bruce would never ask anything of the team that he wouldn’t do himself.”
Bruce had a raw talent that was not in any way held back by the fact he didn’t have the technology that’s available today. Jan gave a brilliant example of this by telling me about how Bruce made the wire baskets on top of the metal trumpets that were featured on his and Denny’s M8A CanAm cars. “He made them using an ice cream tub, some plaster of Paris and a Winnie the Pooh ball. Well it was the perfect circumference, so he used it as mould!
“Even if you’ve got a machine that can do it all for you, you’ve still got to think and understand the basic principal of it because if you don’t understand how you can do something basically, you can’t develop it.”
“Basic thinking can still outweigh a machine. It is common engineering sense.”
The Bruce McLaren Trust doesn’t just work to preserve the memory of Bruce but also to help educate the next generation. They are involved in supporting schemes that promote driving skills and road safety in New Zealand as well as supporting the Bruce McLaren Intermediate School and other schools where possible. “Dream, believe, achieve. You can say that to anybody, in any career, of any age and they can relate to it. You’ve got to dream it and you’ve got to believe it in your dream and then you will achieve it. You’ll never achieve unless you believe in yourself to do it and you have the dream that you want to do it.”
I was keen to know what Jan considered to be Bruce’s biggest legacy, what did he leave behind that still lives on within the team today? “The dream, the passion, the drive, the attention to detail and that desire to be at the forefront of developing technology. Because they sure as hell were doing it in the 60s.”
#YouKnowYoureAnF1FanWhen you tuck in behind someone to get a tow on their slipstream.
It’s the end of part one of the 2015 F1 season and time to look back on the year so far.
From winter testing in a chilly Jerez, to the heat of the Hungaroring, follow the journey of five tests, one livery refresh and ten rounds of Grand Prix racing.
As always, the support of the McLaren-Honda fans has been unwavering at every step of the journey, and we’re looking forward to seeing you all again for part two of the 2015 F1 season.
As we enter the annual F1 summer shutdown, we take a moment to look back at the season so far. Relive the key moments of the McLaren-Honda 2015 F1 campaign in our mid-season review.
There probably wasn’t a more bitingly cold January night than that of Monday 19th, when our intrepid marketing film crew worked until 1am in temperatures of -4 degrees to pull together one of the many brand videos for the launch of the MP4-30. In a car park. In Woking. Who ever said F1 was glamorous?
It was all worth it, though, because the #MakeHistory campaign reached more than 43 million people, successfully announcing the beginning of a new era in McLaren’s history, and the rekindling of the mighty McLaren-Honda legend.
Relive the moment the wraps came off MP4-30 for the very first time:
Eric Boullier: “The day when the new car finally comes together, after months of hard work, is always exciting. It’s one of those times that brings everybody together – people find a reason to come into the racebays to catch a glimpse. I remember when the MP4-30 was finally complete, before it was loaded onto the truck for Jerez: the racebays were packed with people, and there was a real feeling of pride and satisfaction at what we’d created. Sure, it’s been a tough season for everyone at McLaren-Honda, but there’s a belief that we’ve made the correct decisions to get to where we are, and that we’re all headed in the right direction.”
The covers come off the all-new MP4-30
If the long January nights made the whole team feel positive – and the sight of the still-new MP4-30 in the racebays attracted significant attention from the team – then the test sessions in Spain were a baptism of fire. The MP4-30’s ‘size zero’ package was proving hard to make reliable, while a test shunt for Fernando Alonso would have dramatic repercussions – prompting the Spaniard to sit out the opening race of the season in Australia.
Tim Goss: “We knew that those weeks in Spain were going to be tough. We’d seen just how difficult it was during pre-season testing a year earlier, and for Honda – a brand-new manufacturer – the learning curve was even steeper than for our rivals. Testing is always tough – the days are long, the weather is cold, and you’re working constantly to solve problems and find solutions – but it felt exciting to see the roots of this new team, McLaren-Honda, take shape and form in that pit garage. I think when we got on the plane to Melbourne, we were working as a team, with a common purpose, and that felt good.”
MP4-30 hits the track for the first time
If the team arrived in Melbourne feeling unsure about either pace or reliability, at least the Australian Grand Prix demonstrated that we could get a car to the finish. Jenson came home 11th, in stark contrast to our super-sub Kevin Magnussen, who was drafted in to replace Fernando. He retired on the lap to the grid.
Fernando would only sit out one race, and showed all his old fire when he returned to the track in Malaysia, battling on the fringes of the top 10.
Kevin Magnussen: “Obviously, I wasn’t expecting to go racing in 2015, but Fernando’s testing accident suddenly changed everything for me. I didn’t have the best preparation – I’d only driven the car for 39 laps before free practice in Australia – but I knew the job, and what was required of me. The car failure on race day was bitterly disappointing, but perhaps the strangest feeling was when I arrived in Malaysia a fortnight later: Fernando was back in the car and I knew I wouldn’t be starting the race. That was the moment when it hit me that my role had changed – I wasn’t the race driver any more, I was the reserve. I’ve spent every day since then focusing on getting myself back into a race seat…”
Fernando is ruled out of the Australian GP
If Australia showed signs of reliability, and Malaysia hinted at latent pace, it was only in China that we brought them together, getting both cars to the finish line in 12th (Fernando) and 14th (Jenson).
A week later, in Bahrain, McLaren Young Driver Stoffel Vandoorne kicked off his GP2 campaign in dominant style, taking pole and victory in Saturday’s feature race, then finishing second in Sunday’s sprint. It was to be the first of four successive feature race wins for the Belgian.
Jonathan Neale: “We introduced a sizeable aero upgrade to the car in Malaysia – new floor, new front wing, a lot of detail work. We know we still have some way to go, but there’s been no let-up in determination and workflow at the factory. In fact, I’m particularly pleased with how we’ve been able to cut our time-to-market, so we can get components from the design stage to manufacturing a lot faster than ever before, and that’s had a real positive knock-on effect on track performance. We’ve got a lot of muscle in manufacturing these days.”
We remember Roland Ratzenberger
Formula 1’s return to Europe prompted a change of livery, and the new anthracite grey MP4-30 duly broke cover ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix. The Barcelona weekend also saw the successful launch of TAG Heuer’s #DontCrackUnderPressure campaign.
The accompanying video saw Fernando take to the track in Ayrton Senna’s iconic McLaren-Honda MP4/4:
TAG also celebrated its 30 years of McLaren partnership by uniting Fernando with a 3D hologram of Ayrton at a glitzy event in downtown Barcelona.
A fortnight later, Jenson earned McLaren-Honda its first world championship points for 25 years when he expertly steered his car to eighth position in the Monaco Grand Prix.
Jenson Button: “We knew that Monaco would provide us with a good opportunity to punch above our weight and score some points. But that’s easier said than done: it’s easy to make a mistake, and just a single error can wreck your race, so you have to be extremely focused if you’re to succeed around the streets of the principality. I really enjoyed the weekend – it was good to be able to fight with some of the top cars; and my race went really smoothly, I just got my head down. The points were a nice reward for a great job from the whole team.”
We lift the lid of our dynamic new livery
A huge behind-the-scenes push to devise, crash-test and manufacture our striking new aero kit ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix largely came to nought when Fernando got caught up in a massive first-lap shunt that wrote off the entire catalogue of parts.
Bruised but not broken, we picked ourselves up and built more new components, only for Jenson’s race to be stymied at Silverstone, again on the first lap.
Away from the grand prix circus, our test and development driver Oliver Turvey pushed hard to finish runner-up in LMP2 at the Le Mans 24 Hours – his second successive podium in the famous enduro.
Elsewhere, Fernando officially opened his museum and kart centre in his hometown of Oviedo, in northern Spain.
Matt Morris: “The upgrade we introduced for Austria was a big one: pretty much every wetted surface was modified, and the new nosebox had to be crash-tested to meet FIA safety requirements. Making something smaller and more aerodynamic, and still ensuring it can pass through some pretty stringent deceleration tests, is no small feat, and I have to say that our design and manufacturing departments did an incredible job to get the nosebox to pass those tests so quickly. The fact that we didn’t get to properly test and race those parts in Austria is jus a fact of life in racing. We just put our heads down and made sure we had more parts ready for the next race.”
Fernando meets Javier Hernandez
After a bereft few races, our home race at Silverstone finally brought some respite, with Fernando earning his first McLaren-Honda point by finishing 10th. Our pitcrew also achieved its fastest stop of the season so far, clocking 2.52s on Fernando’s car on lap 17 of the British Grand Prix.
SKY Sports F1 followed the team for the week before the Silverstone race, producing this brilliant film about life inside McLaren:
Meanwhile, Esso kicked off its #FuelYourSenses campaign, which culminated in this incredible VR video – watch it on a compatible browser:
Also at Silverstone, Johnnie Walker’s #JoinThePact campaign appeared on the car’s sidepods. Then, in Hungary, both drivers sported stunning golden boots to celebrate the 10th year of the partnership.
In fact, the Hungarian race was our best showing so far: Fernando was always a contender for points, and took full advantage of the chaotic closing laps to vault to fifth. Jenson, too, drove a faultless race, but was hampered by the inability to attack on ageing rubber. He came home ninth.
Finally, ever the sportsman, Jenson finished 11th in the fourth Jenson Button Trust Triathlon, held in Derby.
Fernando Alonso: “We’re still not where we want to be, but the result in Hungary shows that we’re headed in the right direction. To be able to take on and race the other cars felt great, and, while the result was largely achieved through attrition, we showed throughout that we had to pace to fight for the points. This car has been beautifully balanced all season, and was just something I could really push all the way through the race. I’m really looking forward to the second half of the season, I think we’ll see more progress.”
