McLaren "impatient" in quest to be competitive again in Formula 1

Honda's desire to win in Formula 1 "sometime" can cause friction with a McLaren team that is "impatient" to return to the front, admits the squad's racing director Eric Boullier.

McLaren-Honda reunited for the 2015 F1 season, a quarter of a century after dominating grand prix racing in their first partnership.

But it took five grands prix before the reformed alliance scored a point this year, and McLaren remains only ninth in the constructors' championship despite Fernando Alonso's fifth place in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Honda started its F1 programme from the ground up and it has tried to avoid hiring experienced personnel from rival manufacturers, something Boullier concedes is a barrier to short-term success.

"Renault, Mercedes and Ferrari switched their resources to the new hybrid technology but their people working there had knowledge of current F1 technology," he told AUTOSPORT.

"Honda decided to recreate an Formula 1 programme for the long term, but starting from scratch.

"Most of the people in Sakura didn't have the experience or even the knowledge of the current F1 technology.

"There is a long process to go through - first get the knowledge, get the experience and build the organisation and the operations, because they started from literally nothing."

Boullier said that meant "discussions" between the two parties over the timescale for getting to the front.

"Sometimes we have to pressure, sometimes we have some frustration, but in the end both wanted to be together," he said.

"We are impatient and we definitely hate to be in this position today.

"But every other Formula 1 team - except Mercedes and Ferrari of course - would dream to have such a partnership when they see how committed Honda is to Formula 1.

"The only discussion point we have today is the timing.

"We want to win tomorrow, they want to win sometime."

He reiterated that too long in the midfield would have a wider commercial impact on McLaren.

"In the end, we have to respect Honda's road map," Boullier said. "But obviously Honda has to respect our needs.

"We are a Formula 1 team and our business model is based on our success.

"We need to be successful and we can't be out of success too long. Honda knows that.

"They have their own reasons and their own road map to go back to Formula 1 which we have to accept.

"The only thing we need to do is make sure the communication channels are open enough that everyone is listening to the others and can adjust a bit to help or to suit each one's strategy."

Mystified by moralisers gunning for Hamilton

Expect rivals to close gap on Mercedes when campaign resumes

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A few journalists in the British press appear to have it in for Lewis Hamilton following his race in Hungary

Racing will resume in under three weeks; in the meantime it's holiday time for the Formula One troupe. Now is a good time to take stock of the momentum that is building at this hiatus in the calendar.

Aficionados were buoyed up by Ferrari's resurgent form as they took the battle to Mercedes in Hungary. Whoever you support, the prospect of the Italian marque being right up there in the second half of the season is a tantalising one. Mercedes lost out to Ferrari in the second race of this season and again last weekend, Sebastian Vettel winning both. When the Maranello team hit the beach with their buckets and spades, building sandcastles in the sky won't seem so delirious after all.

Curiously, a few journalists in the British press appear to have it in for Lewis Hamilton following his race in Hungary, with one suggesting he was driving like someone who was "on their way back from the pub after eight pints". As I understand it, alcohol dulls the senses, whereas Hamilton was in full battle mode, trying to win vital points. Maybe an exciting race is foreign to a moralising eye.

I know who I'd rather be driven by after a visit to the local and it wouldn't be the naysayer who went on to describe Hamilton's driving as "self-destructive, a danger to others and weaving willy-nilly". Another hack questioned whether Hamilton was worthy of being called one of the greats. Let's not forget the guy is aiming to become a triple World Champion, which would put him up there with acknowledged greats like Brabham, Stewart, Lauda, Piquet and Senna.

Six drivers have stepped onto various steps on the podium this season: Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Vettel, Valtteri Bottas, Felipe Massa and Daniel Ricciardo. Three drivers have won races: Hamilton, Rosberg and Vettel, while two teams shared the spoils: Mercedes and Ferrari. King of pole positions has been Hamilton, with nine to Rosberg's one. Hamilton and Rosberg shared the glut of fastest laps, with Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen taking two apiece. There are nine races to go after the recess, with the addition of the new venue in Mexico. In 2014, Rosberg dominated the post-summer races, with a pole position ratio of six to one, but it was the title winner, Hamilton, who won the majority of the races, five to three.

Star of Hungary was Ricciardo. He or Rosberg could have won the race, save for a tangle. The 2014 Hungaroring winner also won the opening race of the second half of last season in Spa. The Aussie has been highly impressive this year and a win must surely be imminent. His team-mate, Daniil Kyat, drove a stormer to finish second, vindicating Red Bull's employment of the Russian.

McLaren celebrated a double points score in Hungary, with Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button fifth and ninth respectively. The new Honda collaboration is taking time, but there's no reason why they can't do a Mercedes and be at the front in due course. Patience is in short supply in F1, but you can be sure that Honda are working overtime to fulfil the potential they undoubtedly have. For sure, Alonso didn't envisage this struggle and he's a man without superfluous years to play with in his quest for a third world title.

In a straight exchange of Finns, Bottas will surely replace Raikkonen at Ferrari. However, Williams are asking a king's ransom for handing over their talent and Ferrari are playing hardball. But the Prancing Horse will have to stop their shenanigans if they don't want to lose him to another team, so they better get the chequebook out quick and practise writing 12 million.

Renault will decide this week whether to stay with Red Bull, buy the Lotus team or get out of F1 completely. Ironically, this comes just when they've experienced their best result with RB. I'd wager they will buy Lotus.

Jules Bianchi was buried last week. His unnecessary and tragic death nine months after his accident in the Japanese Grand Prix is a stark reminder of how dangerous the sport is. It was a decent gesture of Bernie Ecclestone to fly his family to Hungary for the Grand Prix, an event that must have filled them with the sadness of what might have been for their talented son. Condolences to his family, friends and the Manor F1 team.

Speaking of the Manor F1 team, Belfast-born Stephen Fitzpatrick helped to rescue the team at the end of 2014, when Marussia owner Andrey Cheglakov pulled the plug. When Fitzpatrick is not busy looking for backers, his day job involves being boss of Ovo Energy. The team's chairman is former Sainsbury's CEO Justin King, whose son currently races in GP2 and is reserve driver for the team.

They've done a lot better than predicted and although they still qualify at the back, their drivers Will Stevens and Robert Merhi have had fewer retirements than Raikkonen. Team chief John Booth has a wealth of experience, as well as the tenacity to drag it up the grid. They've taken on former McLaren/Mercedes Bob Bell as technical consultant. Toro Rosso's Luca Furbatto is head of design and Gianluca Pisanello is chief engineer. But all that costs money.

Like a lot teams struggling to balance the books in this ludicrously expensive sport, the real race is getting sponsors on board. Hopefully they will survive and F1 budget cuts, if they happen, will play into their future plans.

Who will be ready to spring into action at the ultimate racers' track, Spa, after the break? No longer is it exclusively the Hamilton/Rosberg show. It's taken half the season, but the interlopers are closing in. Ferrari, Red Bull, Williams will be all ready to pounce. They'll be sharpening their pencils and their swords for an assault in part two of the season. It will be no holiday for some.

Alonso: Pit-lane push underlines love for F1

Fernando Alonso insists that he is still in love with F1, despite rumours that he may be looking elsewhere for his motorsport fix. 

Despite being boosted by an unexpected fifth place in last weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix – a race that always seems to suit the Spaniard – Alonso admitted during the week that F1 was not as exciting to him as it was previously. The goal of dragging the McLaren-Honda combination back to competitiveness continues to drive him on, however, and if anyone needed any proof of his desire, Alonso says they need look no further than his attempts to return his MP4-30 to the pit-lane during qualifying. 

“I want to be out there and I want to race,” the double world champion claimed, having pushed the powerless car back to the McLaren garage, “This shows how much I love my sport. It doesn't matter if you are last, if you are 15th or if you are on pole position, you want to drive the car and you want to enjoy it out there.” 

Ultimately, Alonso's efforts proved in vain, as he was prevented from resuming his pursuit of a place in the top ten shoot-out. 

“I understood when I arrived in the garage it was not possible [to rejoin] as, by the regulations, the car needs to arrive by itself with the engine on,” he acknowledged, a little sheepishly, “I didn't know that or I would have parked the car a little bit before…” 

Despite having to come from row seven of the grid, however, Alonso was able to claim McLaren's best finish of the season, as incidents further up the order allowed him to rise to fifth at the chequered flag. 

“Some opportunities arrived in our hands, we took it and it's fantastic for the team,” he admitted, before reflecting on the fact that many of his most significant results have come in Budapest, “It was always special to me, this place. I got my first victory here and, last year, I nearly fought for the victory, arriving second. That was my last podium, so to arrive this year and be fifth is a nice memory I will have.” 

The jumbled order meant that Alonso had to overcome his likely successor as Spain's F1 favourite, passing Carlos Sainz shortly before the Toro Rosso rookie retired. 

“Every time that I'm with Carlos on the track, I'm a little bit worried because, if we touch each other, that will show very bad!” he smiled, “It was important to pass him, because we knew [Lewis] Hamilton and some other people will arrive very strong from behind us at the end of the race, so we needed every second available to maintain position.” 

Alonso eventually came home three seconds ahead of his former McLaren team-mate, who admitted to having 'a bad day at the office', and the ten points boosted both his season's tally and championship position. 

“It feels great,” Alonso admitted, “We are here to compete, to win, but we are not in that position right now. Every race is a test for us - we need to keep improving and we need to keep growing. I think we know that we are going in the right direction, but it's always better if you score points. We were a little bit lucky with some of the things that have happened but, in some of other races, we have been unlucky, so we need take every opportunity. The team works 24 hours a day in the factories and so this is a day that we need to feel proud of.”a