Brown: "Renault move not a short term fix"

McLaren chief, Zak Brown, has said that the new deal for Renault to supply them with engines is not a short term fix and believes the deal will propel them back to the front of the grid. The deal between the two marques is expected to last until the introduction of the new engine formula in 2021 at the very shortest and will replace the so far disappointing Honda engines who have powered McLaren since 2015.

McLaren, who in two and a half years with Honda are yet to score a podium or make any real significant gains on the other car's engines, were said to be fed up with Honda's lack of improvement and failure to move up the grid, with Fernando Alonso especially said to have lost faith with Honda and needed a new engine to be persuaded to stay with the team, and with Mercedes and Ferrari unwilling to supply them it had to be Renault.

Brown said this when asked about the longevity of the deal: "No, this is not a short-term fix, at the end of the day, no-one knows yet what the engine rules are in 2021, so I think it's hard for anybody to look beyond 2020, because we don't know what '21 looks like.

"We think we've got a long-term partnership, the foundation for it. Renault's got a great history in the sport, won a lot of championships with Red Bull, won a lot of championships themselves, so we're very happy where we are. We think that we'll be very competitive together."

Sam Gale