[Team] McLaren - can they compete?

[Moneyseeker]

Zak Brown is a 'salesman', he made his fortune cutting sponsorship deals, he knows that he needs something to sell and that you can only trade on McLaren's heritage, past record and facilities for so long before you need the prospect of results, challenging for wins/titles to get new deals.

Of course it is an equation for McLaren - do they stick with Honda and a) hope they improve and b) continue to virtually fund the team and make up the ongoing shortfall from the loss of FOM income due to their WCC position? Or do they cut loose, get a more proven engine, hope they bolt it into a great car, manage to keep Alonso and let him do his magic and hope that translates into sufficient sponsorship to replace Honda's investment.

Worth remembering (and I am sure this in the back of ZB's mind) that allegedly the start of RD's downfall was around sponsorship, the lack of it and then his insistence that McLaren didn't need sponsorship as it could be funded by the McLaren Group - something that didn't chime with his other shareholders and ultimately started the process that saw him exit.