McLaren recovery could take a decade, Brown warns

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has warned that the team's attempt to become a force in Formula 1 again could take up to a decade to achieve. Racing director Eric Boullier resigned from his post this week as a consequence of yet another dismal season so far for the team.

After ditching Honda power units for Renault, McLaren spent much of pre-season predicting a return to the podium in races, and even challenging for victories.

However, Fernando Alonso's fifth-placed finish in the season-opener in Australia remains their best result of 2018, with a chronic lack of qualifying pace and a return of previous reliability issues biting hard.

Boullier paid with his job this week, with Gil de Ferran and Andrea Stella promoted to sporting director and performance director respectively, although brown says the impact will not be felt any time soon.

"Realistically, this is going to take some time to fix, so I think we are years away," said Brown.

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"I don't know if that's two or 10 or somewhere in between, probably more like somewhere in between, but I don't want to get into predictions.

"We have to be very realistic and honest with ourselves, with our fans, to say that this is going to be a journey, so I think everyone needs to recognise that."

The 2017 season was characterised by McLaren claiming their chassis was the best in F1, with any performance issues solely down to Honda, but Brown debunked that theory ahead of the British Grand Prix on Thursday, adding that the car has lost downforce further in 2018.

The American is not giving up on the current campaign, however, despite McLaren sliding down the constructors' standings, in sixth behind Renault and Haas ahead of the Silverstone race.

"We're in a pretty big fight for fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh – all the teams are very close there," said Brown.

"I don't want to make predictions, that has got us into trouble in the past so I don't want to repeat some of the mistakes we've made.

"What I'd like to do and what we are going to do is fight like mad to finish fourth in the championship."