McLaren chairman Ron Dennis believes it to be a near impossibility for a customer team to win a world championship under the current engine formula.
The Briton claims the advantage gained by building your own engine, like Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull – through Renault – makes it extremely unlikely that a customer team will be able to beat them because they simply don’t have the same level of detail and information as a manufacturer team.
He made his comments whilst reflecting on McLaren’s recent relationship with Mercedes and the teams switch to Honda power next year.
“The one thing that jumps at you, if you look at all the qualifications this year, is the time difference between the Mercedes-Benz works team and other teams,” said Dennis.
“And by and large it is always in excess of one second, putting aside the pace that they can generate in a grand prix when they are on their back foot.
“My opinion, and it is an opinion held by many people within our organisation, is that you have no chance of winning the world championship if you are not receiving the best engines from whoever is manufacturing your engines.
“Effectively, if you don’t have the control of that process, meaning access to source code, then you are not going to be able to stabilise your car in the entry to corners etc., and you lose lots of lap time.
“Even though you have the same brand of engine that does not mean you have the ability to optimise the engine.”
That’s part of the reason behind McLaren’s move to Honda as they will effectively become Honda’s ‘works team’ even if the Japanese manufacturer supplies other outfits.
“You have to start by putting yourself in a position where you have the best engine available.
“We have had a great partnership with Mercedes but we intend to hit the ground running with Honda and that is the first step.”
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