Canada reinforces McLaren’s threat to quit Honda

Robbed of a first point two laps before the end of the Canadian GP by yet another engine failure, Zak Brown says McLaren need to be “proactive” as they can’t wait on Honda.

Fernando Alonso was running in 10th place with two laps to go in Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix when his Honda engine failed.

It was the Spaniard’s second engine issue in Montreal alone.

And with McLaren threatening to quit Honda even before the Canadian Grand Prix weekend began, Brown says the time has come for the team to be “proactive” in their choices.

Asked about what discussions would be held with the team’s executive committee post-Canada, the McLaren executive director told Sky F1: “Just talking about what the different options are and the different things that we can maybe do to fix this situation.

“This just kind of reinforces that we can’t just sit around and wait for things to come good. We need to be proactive in that.”

Asked if McLaren could make an announcement as early as the next race in Azerbaijan, he said: “Probably not, we’ve got to see how we get over the next few races.”

Leaving Canada without a single point on the board, McLaren remain down in 10th place in the Constructors’ Championship as they are the only team yet to score.

Seven races into this season, this is their worst ever start to a Formula 1 season.

Brown added: “Some people said ‘points’ but that was a bit of an exaggeration. It should have been a point. [The engine] just let go without any warning.

“It feels like you can probably replay this interview at the lot of races this year.”