McLaren racing director Eric Boullier says that the team is keeping its options open for when to test with a Honda power unit for the first time.
It was confirmed last year that the Japanese motoring giant would be returning to Formula 1 in 2015 as a power unit supplier for the British team after six years away.
Its return was met with widespread approval in the F1 community, given that it rekindles the famous McLaren-Honda partnership from the late 1980s and early ’90s.
Together, they won four world championships in five years, with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost’s rivalry being a hallmark of the partnership.
McLaren’s current deal with Mercedes runs out after the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi this November. However, there is a two-day F1 test being held at the circuit in the week after the race, and it was thought that McLaren could debut the Honda engine there.
Honda supremo Yasuhisa Arai was quoted as saying that this would not be possible, meaning that the team would have to wait until the first 2015 test in Jerez next February, but Boullier is keeping his options open.
“Regarding the first tests of a McLaren-Honda powered car, there is no decision yet about when and where,” the Frenchman explained to the media in Monza on Saturday.
“This is still open and it is true that there was a comment [from Arai], but we will not give a definite answer now because we do not know exactly, but it is very likely that it will be before Jerez as well.
“It is true that the safe side is that we will be in Jerez with a McLaren-Honda car, but we keep the door open so that if everything is matching our schedule we can run it earlier.”
Three riders remain locked in a tight battle with 17 points separating the leader Cooper Webb from third-place Chase Sexton and these are only a few Supercross numbers to consider entering Seattle.Chase Sexton made a statement in Detroit with his second win of 2023. – Feld Motor Sports
Webb and Tomac won the last four championships with two apiece in alternating years, but they were not one another’s primary rival for most of those seasons. On the average, however, the past four years show an incredible similarity with average points earned of 21.0 for Webb and 21.3 for Tomac. With five wins so far this season, Tomac (23 wins) leads Webb (19) in victories but Webb (43) edges Tomac (41) in podium finishes during this span.
Tomac has won two of the last three Seattle races and those two wins in this stadium are topped only by James Stewart. Fittingly, if Tomac gets a third win this week, he will tie Stewart for second on the all-time wins’ list. Tomac tied Ricky Carmichael for third with 48 wins at Oakland and took sole possession of that spot with his Daytona win.
Sexton still has a lot to say and after winning last week in Detroit, he is speaking up. The Supercross numbers are against him entering Seattle, however, because a points’ deficit this large after Round 10 has been erased only once. In 1983 David Bailey was 47 points behind Bob Hannah, and like Sexton he was also in third place. Bailey took the points’ lead with one race remaining.
The seven points Sexton was penalized last week for jumping in a red cross flag section in Detroit could prove extremely costly.
In fact, it has been a series of mistakes that has cost Sexton the most. In the last two weeks, he lost 10 points with a 10th-place finish to go with his penalty. Erase those, and all three riders hold their fate in their hands.
Plessinger’s heartbreak in Detroit is still fresh, but the upside of his run is that was his best of the season and could turn his fortunes around. Prior to that race, he led only seven laps in three mains. He was up front for 20 laps in Detroit with five of those being the fastest on the track.
Last week’s win by Hunter Lawrence tied him with his brother Jett Lawrence for 17th on the all-time wins’ list. With the focus shifting to 250 West for the next two rounds, Jett has a great opportunity to pull back ahead. The real test will be at the first East / West Showdown in East Rutherford, New Jersey on April 22.
Last Five Seattle Winners
450s 2022: Eli Tomac
2019: Marvin Musquin
2018: Eli Tomac
2017: Marvin Musquin
2014: Ryan Villopoto
