McLaren’s Ron Dennis has set his company’s new partnership with Honda the highest of aims, not simply to win in Formula 1, but to dominate.
The outfit has been going through difficult times recently having failed to finish inside the top two in the constructors’ standings since 2011. In fact, it has finished a lowly fifth both last and this year.
However the new partnership with Honda, which will see the team powered exclusively by the Japanese manufacturer’s new hybrid-V6 engine, plus a recent restructure within the engineering department, brings hope that the team is now on the up.
Dennis is however seeking a return to McLaren-Honda’s last partnership when they won 15 of the 16 races in 1988.
“What we achieved then [in ’88], and what our rivals Mercedes achieved this year, is exactly what our objective is for the future – which is domination,” he is quoted as saying by Autosport.
“I remember at the beginning of the [2014] season I said we were here to win races,” said Dennis. “So you could argue that as we didn’t win a race and [now] we’re using words such as ‘domination’ then we’re setting ourselves up for an almighty fall.
“But domination doesn’t come in a short period of time, it takes time,” he explained.
“It is what we’re about because it is the only thing that really sets you aside from people who just win races.
“Winning races is challenging but domination is really challenging.”
