Former F1 boss feels McLaren dropping Honda was the “worst decision they’ve made”

Former F1 team principal Eddie Jordan feels McLaren's decision to part with Honda in 2018 was the worst decision ever made by the team despite their rise in performance in 2023.

McLaren and Honda shared a successful history in F1 before reuniting in 2015, much to fans' delight. As successful as they had been in the past, however, their time together this time around was tough for the drivers. The car's pace was not competitive, and McLaren even saw them become the backmarkers in some races. Fernando Alonso's remarkable words "GP2 engine!" sums up their performance.

After they parted ways in 2018, Honda partnered with Red Bull Racing, and their success story is all over F1 currently. Despite this, McLaren has made a great comeback this season, becoming one of the only teams to close in on the pace of the RBRs. Despite this success, Eddie Jordan feels they should not have parted ways earlier in 2018, as he spoke on the Formula for Success podcast:

"I think whoever made a decision to leave Honda was an absolute fool’s paradise. It was the worst decision they could have made – but they’ve come back from it. So full credit."

The team has done a remarkable job developing the car enough in the second half of the season to finish with the top teams. They have scored 282 points and sit in fourth place in the championship.

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Jordan impressed with McLaren Racing CEO

Zak Brown was named McLaren Racing's CEO in 2018 and since then, the team has gone through various changes. However, their performance has been questioned.

Their victory in Monza in 2021 is so far their only major achievement in the past few seasons, but their current pace has impressed quite a few, including Jordan.

"I enjoy McLaren. I always want to see them [do well]. I was a big, big fan of theirs in the Ron Dennis era and not many people could ever hope to stand in the same shoes as Ron in terms of his winning ability and his winning record – you’ve been there, you know what the man is like."

He further added that Brown has done an amazing job with the team this season:

"So for this new group of people – and Zak is still there and doing an amazing job on the new sponsors they’ve got – well done Zak and well done well done the team for getting what they have."

Both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have performed well in recent races and the upcoming 2024 season of F1 could hold a lot more optimism for them.