MEDLAND: McLaren crashes into reality

"Testing has obviously been massively disappointing and I have a feeling we will walk away from Australia pretty disappointed, but we're ready for that. So that's a big bummer, but short of that everything has been perfect."

This is not what Zak Brown signed up for.

Brown was a wanted man at the end of 2016. Leaving the company he had founded – Just Marketing International (JMI) – his F1 links saw him with two big job offers on the table. The choice was a pretty clear one: Help shape the future of the sport as a whole by working for new owners Liberty Media, or attempt to turn around the fortunes of one of the most successful teams in F1's history.

Opting for the latter, Brown made securing a title sponsor for 2018 one of his priorities when he arrived at McLaren. The American had worked with the team in his previous role at JMI and felt he knew the challenge of what lay ahead. But he was as surprised as anyone when pre-season testing showed up an uncompetitive and unreliable power unit from Honda.

Sitting down with RACER at the McLaren Technology Center in Woking, Brown was open and honest about the predicament the team finds itself in as he searches for positives on the eve of the new season.

"We were very careful not to set any expectations other than we were going to improve, which clearly sitting here today looks like we're going backwards," Brown said. "So I think we were very careful to not say we were going to win races and championships. The car is really good, all the data, what the team has done, the development plans, what the drivers say... So kind of the elements that McLaren Racing are responsible for delivering, while I'm sure not perfect, it's definitely a podium-challenging chassis. So that's great.

"We knew, as [Honda F1 boss, Yusuke] Hasegawa-san said, they had taken some risk with the engine so with risk comes risk! Clearly the power unit is not ready to produce the kilowatts and the reliability that we need to be competitive. So now we're working with them through how do we resolve that issue? But being something that takes time to develop there's no overnight fix, so I think we're in store for some difficult races the first half of the season, and if we don't get on top of it then for more than half the season because these things take a while.

"Car launch was great, I think we created great buzz. I think it was the most anticipated car launch. I think the car looks great. It's subjective, I would say, but more people like it than not. You look at all the different cars and you get different views, but with the name change I think there's a new excitement and wind behind us. Formula 1 has got some tailwinds instead of headwinds now with the new ownership. I think with McLaren we were doing all the right things and are doing the right things; we'll power through this. We can't keep our head down and hope the problem goes away, we've got to solve it, but that's what the guys and girls do here."

The problem Brown faces is a clear feeling of deja vu. While he describes McLaren as a place where "the world champion nature of the team drips off the walls," the team was in a similar situation with Honda in 2015, and the progress shown last year has been quickly forgotten by the recent woes.

McLaren itself has undergone a period of significant change – one Brown says the team was ready for – with Ron Dennis, Jost Capito and Ekrem Sami all departing over the winter. There is a clear revision of the brand image that is most obvious with the new orange livery, but sitting in the MTC there is a culture that will take much longer to change.

Hardly any sound echoes from the building on the final Friday evening before the team heads to Melbourne. Chatter between employees is littler more than a whisper, spirits are low as expectations have had to be reset, and another year toiling toward the back of the grid awaits. What had been a difficult start to life at McLaren-Honda has become an ongoing struggle, and Brown admits the pain extends beyond the on-track results.

"I think we have fewer brands on the racecar than we've ever had and that can't be a coincidence," he acknowledged. "In 2015 we had – at least in modern day – our worst year in the history of McLaren, and even though we improved to sixth last year that's nothing to be proud about here at McLaren. So if you look at the curve of sponsorship drop and the curve of our competitiveness drop, the two go hand-in-hand.

"So, yeah, it hurts. We're working on a title partner for 2018. Right now we're not in a great position to go out and do a great pitch, so we need to get much more competitive and give ourselves a chance of getting a proper title deal. So in summary: Yes, this hurts us."

The longer the difficulties continue, the more it becomes a question of if rather than when McLaren will return to winning ways, especially in its current form. With no time frame for when any turnaround will take place, Brown admits the uncertainty over the team's future competitiveness hampers his ability to bring in a title sponsor over the next 12 months.

"We're a massive organization, so I don't think anyone's worrying about our staying power, but people want to buy into McLaren because we're winners and we need to show that's the direction we're headed. Coming from ninth to sixth was at least a journey forward, and so what we did set expectation-wise is that we'd go better this year, which could be fifth, fourth, third, second or first.

"I don't think one, two or three was on the cards but fifth or fourth was forward progress, but certainly it looks like we're going to be disadvantaged at the start of the year so unless we make a big turnaround certainly sitting here today it looks like finishing sixth in the championship is going to be difficult, and that's not good."

Short-term progress will start to counteract that uncertainty, and at least it will be easier for McLaren to move forward from its starting position this year, with the team expecting to be uncompetitive at the opening race.

"I don't know how many races we've got there but I would be pleasantly surprised if we made it out of Q1 in Melbourne," Brown admitted.

"Getting out of Q1 [would be a good result], and seeing the checkered flag. We've got speed and reliability issues so we want to see more speed and we want to see more reliability. So certainly seeing the finish of the race, given that we were only able to put together a dozen laps at any one time, would be great progress. So that would be very encouraging to see that we get our cars to the end of the weekend."

Brown has raced extensively himself, and often repeats the term "racing's in my blood" throughout the interview. It is one of the things that made him a huge McLaren supporter even before he took his latest job, and you can sense he is torn between the fan who wants to believe in a quick recovery and the pragmatic businessman who knows the writing is already on the wall for 2017.

"I want the fans to know that we are reacting. However, it's a big challenge and it's going to look like it's moving slowly. Our coolness – not as in hip but our head down and not-too-emotional approach shouldn't be mistaken for how hard everyone is working in here. So I think you may not see lots of progress the first few races because they're back-to-back, they're flyaway, we can't work miracles.

"We've been dealt not a great hand and we're all over it but it's going to take a little bit of time. So I think I would ask the McLaren fans to recognize that there's a lot of people in here working very hard and feel the same pain they do and appreciate their support and need their support. But it's not going to be a quick fix so I'm also not going to sit here and say 'stay tuned for China, we're going to be back where we want to be.

"It's going to be a very difficult season for us, I don't know exactly how long that will go but the whole season is going to be a challenge."

But the 45-year-old retains his optimism when looking beyond the current campaign. 2017 was only ever designed to be a stepping-stone on the path back to winning ways, and the Californian believes McLaren has the ability to compensate for the most recent setback in its quest for another world championship.

"We are not necessarily delayed because we didn't think we were going to win it this year. If everything goes as planned and we get back on course I think we need to be winning races next year. It would have to be a big turnaround obviously, but the dedication is there, the resources are there, the desire is there... So I think it would be too early to say my view on what we're going to accomplish in 2018 is going to change."

And while McLaren works with Honda – as well as potentially other power unit manufacturers – to seek a resolution to its current situation, Brown draws inspiration from the team's past to identify an approach to take throughout the coming season.

"I don't think anyone here wants to quit. We've got to continue to develop the car, it's new regulations so there's a lot of learning to do about the car. These engines go through 2020 so there's kind of nothing to stop doing and focus on 2018 because we need this year to understand what we need for 2018.

"We're fighting like we're fighting for a world championship, that's what's great about these people here."