McLaren-Honda launch their 2016 car; the MP4-31

The McLaren-Honda has revealed the Honda-powered MP4-31 Formula 1 car it will race in the 2016 season early this morning.

The team laboured through a disastrous 2015 campaign as Honda struggled on its return to F1, finishing ninth in the constructors' championship. The team has also announced that Jenson Button will be the first to drive the new car's first laps on Monday, during the opening day of pre-season testing at Barcelona.

In a statement this morning, McLaren group CEO Ron Dennis said the following about the launch of the MP4-31 as follows:-

'As we embark on the second year of our renewed McLaren-Honda partnership, all of us remain united in our purpose. That purpose is to develop our team towards our shared ambition: to win.

'We'll make no predictions as to when those wins will come, but I can say without fear of contradiction that every member of our team has worked with truly relentless dedication over the past few months. The result is that MP4-31's developmental trajectory has been usefully steepened over the winter, and I'm consequently very proud of our team's efforts.'

McLaren describes the new chassis as 'innovative', and its fortunes will rest on Honda's off-season progress with the RA616H power unit. In his own statement to the media this morning, Honda motorsport boss Yasuhisa Arai said the following about the new car as follows:-

'Learning from last year, we've made changes to the compressor and other hardware of the power unit during the break, maturing our overall concept from last year. Our focus will be to test the car's balance with the new chassis and power unit, and specifically the ERS direction during the eight days of winter testing.

'We won't know exactly where we stand until we reach the end of the two tests, but we're looking forward to getting back on track, gathering data, and feeding back the information to our engineers so as to prepare for Melbourne and onwards.'

It would seem that McLaren have retained their 'size zero' philosophy for this season and Button and team-mate Fernando Alonso noted the detail of the package (see picture below).

Firstly, Button stated that the amount of hard work that has gone into the car has been significant and he is thankful to the team for their efforts. Button said the following:-

'The immense amount of sheer hard work that has gone into the development of the MP4-31 over the winter makes me immensely proud, and consequently I go into the new season with even more motivation and belief.

'From what I've seen so far, the aero detailing on the car looks fantastic, and I'm really looking forward to beginning the process of testing those new innovations when I get behind the wheel tomorrow.'

Meanwhile his team mate Alonso will test the car on the second and fourth days of this week's test and is happy with the car and feels it looks beautiful. Alonso stated the following:-

'The aero package shows fantastic attention to detail. The whole car is beautiful in fact – it's particularly nicely packaged from an aerodynamic point of view.'

Overall, I personally love the MP4-31 and it looks significantly better than the previous year's car. It looks more refined and polished and McLaren have done a great job with it and I really respect how much the team have taken over the course of last season and got their heads down and worked to the task at hand.

But it is clear that the MP4-31 has to perform on the track better than last year. For me, last year was a foundation year for both parties and they'll both want to forget it. But all they can do is what Arai stated in his interview today which is to see where the land lies after the second test and see if the car is the step forward that McLaren and Honda need if they want to get back to competitive ways once more.

There is no question that McLaren, Honda and its drivers want this season to be the most competitive it can be and be the start of their journey back to the top. In case you didn't know, I am a big McLaren fan and there is nothing I want more for that to happen, but you do have to be realistic here.

Personally, I would want this season to be the year that McLaren and Honda are consistent and reliable enough to get points finishes in as many races as possible and then in 2017 start to aim for consistent podium finishes and maybe possible wins if Lady Luck is on their side.

If the team managed to get themselves into that situation sooner, even better; but with the midfield and also the top four being more competitive, McLaren and Honda know that they will have to work as hard as they can and improve as much as possible to achieve that. And when they do, it'll be even more sweeter but I really hope that this is the start for them and they can get back to the days of the past once again; which is McLaren winning with Honda in Formula One.

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa