Fernando Alonso future: McLaren say Honda must show 'drastic' gains

Fernando Alonso needs to see "drastic" improvements from Honda to become convinced by the company's F1's programme, McLaren chief Zak Brown has admitted.

The Woking team hope to finally resolve their 2018 engine plans in September, with a continuation of their troubled Honda partnership now a more likely outcome than appeared the case several months ago.

McLaren are desperate to tie star driver Alonso to a new contract and Brown has made clear the onus is on Honda to start giving the Spaniard reasons to stay.

"He doesn't have as much confidence in that power unit so we need to show him pretty quickly, or specifically Honda need to show him pretty quickly, that they are going to make some drastic improvements," Brown told Sky Sports F1.

"But we've spent the whole summer break working on that and hopefully we'll have some conclusion on our step forward here shortly."

Alonso has delayed making plans for 2018 until September and Brown remains confident the Spaniard will sign a new deal if McLaren can make big improvements.

"I had a good breakfast with him this morning and as long as we can get him comfortable we'll have a competitive race car next year then I would anticipate seeing Fernando in our car," added Brown.

The crucial catch is that McLaren-Honda has not come close to challenging for podiums since the famous partnership reformed in 2015.

With Mercedes and Ferrari thought to have turned down the prospect of providing engines to their former front-running Woking rivals, McLaren's only alternative to Honda is Renault.

Renault chief Cyril Abiteboul confirmed at the Belgian GP that the two parties had held talks, but then played down the prospect of a deal being agreed.

"Renault make a great engine, prior to the Mercedes dominance it was the Renault era," said Brown.

"We are friends with everyone up and down the pit lane and we're just trying to work out what our options can be and make sure this goes smoothly for everyone. It's pretty complicated as you can imagine."

'Renault can't supply McLaren in 2018'

With the former world champions a lowly ninth in the Constructors' Championship, and in danger of losing one of the sport's most revered drivers, McLaren's management have spent recent months evaluating their options while putting pressure on Honda to improve.

But Brown admits McLaren have reached the point now where firm decisions have to be taken.

"We are pretty much there or thereabouts," he added. "For pretty much everyone, this is the month when decisions are going to have to be made so that technically everyone is prepared for the 2018 season."

If you are using skysports.com you can comment below to get involved in the debate, but please adhere to our House Rules. If you wish to report any comment, simply click on the down arrow next to the offending comment and click 'Report'.