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IndyCar: McLaren’s burnt bridges with Honda proving to be a huge hurdle

By Asher Fair

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - NOVEMBER 10: Fernando Alonso of Spain driving the (14) McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team McLaren MCL32 on track during practice for the Formula One Grand Prix of Brazil at Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace on November 10, 2017 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - NOVEMBER 10: Fernando Alonso of Spain driving the (14) McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team McLaren MCL32 on track during practice for the Formula One Grand Prix of Brazil at Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace on November 10, 2017 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) /
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McLaren’s burnt bridges with Honda from their Formula 1 days together have proven to be a huge hurdle for the team as they seek a full-time future in IndyCar.

McLaren’s relationship with Honda in Formula 1 may have ended at the end of the 2017 season. But the ramifications of that relationship and how it ended haven’t ended as the team seek a future in IndyCar with a full-time entry.

I shouldn’t say how it ended. I should say how it deteriorated.

From the 2015 season through the 2017 season in Formula 1, McLaren used Honda engines in their cars, and their success was minimal.

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That led the Woking-based team and driver Fernando Alonso to effectively freely criticize the Japanese engine manufacturer, especially as these three years wound down leading up to the team’s switch to Renault engines, which they still use to this day.

During these three years, McLaren never finished higher than sixth place in the constructor standings and Alonso never finished higher than 10th in the driver standings. His highest individual race finish was fifth, which he recorded on three occasions, and he was forced to retire in 22 of his 56 starts.

As a result of how this situation was handled, Honda still want nothing to do with McLaren, not even in IndyCar, and that has been on display in more ways than one over the course of the last year alone.

When McLaren ended their 38-year hiatus from the Indianapolis 500 in 2017, they were still running Honda engines in Formula 1. They formed a partnership with the Honda-powered Andretti Autosport team for this race and fielded the #29 Honda for Alonso.

After skipping the 2018 Indy 500, they returned to the race this year, but they could not do so with Honda. They committed to Chevrolet and formed a technical alliance with Carlin, one of the slowest teams on the grid, as opposed to Andretti Autosport. Alonso, along with two of the three Carlin drivers, ultimately failed to qualify for the race.

When McLaren had their partnership with Andretti Autosport and Honda, Alonso qualified in fifth place and led 27 laps of the 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana in what was his IndyCar debut before his engine gave out on lap 180, relegating him to a 24th place finish.

But their failed Indy 500 bid in May is only one way by which their burnt bridges with Honda have shown up this season.

Andretti Autosport recently shut down all of the Alexander Rossi to Team Penske rumors by signing their superstar driver to a multi-year contract extension. In doing so, they also renewed their contract with Honda, shutting down rumors of a potential switch to Chevrolet.

These deals were not confirmed, however, before McLaren offered Andretti Autosport team owner Michael Andretti what is understood to be a “multi-million dollar offer” to partner with the team in the 2020 season to field a Chevrolet-powered car for Rossi.

Remaining loyal to Honda, Andretti did not accept this offer, even with his ties to McLaren CEO Zak Brown and even though McLaren’s offer from a financial standpoint was greater than what Rossi’s sponsors had to offer.

But that’s not all.

There are now rumors that McLaren are looking to form a partnership with Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports next season and field a two-car team, with one of those cars being for current Harding Steinbrenner Racing rookie Colton Herta.

There’s just one big problem.

Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports are a Honda-powered team, and their contract with Honda doesn’t expire until the end of the 2020 season. Even when it expires, they are expected to either have renewed that contract or to renew it at that time.

James Hinchcliffe, the team’s top driver who has become well-known for his regular appearances in Honda commercials, is also under contract through the 2020 season.

With all things considered, the possibility of such a partnership is hardly feasible, and it’s all thanks to McLaren’s three-year stint with Honda in Formula 1.

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I’m not saying that McLaren won’t be in IndyCar in a full-time capacity for the 2020 season. But given how McLaren full-time rumors have turned out over the last few seasons, I’m certainly not saying they will, either.

However, given the partnerships that they either already have tried to form or have been rumored to form (with confirmation from Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team co-owner Sam Schmidt, no less), it is clear that the bridges they burned with Honda during their three-year partnership together in Formula 1 have proven to be a massive hurdle.