Dennis: McLaren paying for 2013 mistake

McLaren chairman Ron Dennis has claimed that the team’s miserable two years is because of a fatal error in 2013.

The British outfit are one of the most successful teams in history, but suffered an embarrassing campaign in 2015 with new Honda engines.

Dennis believes the decision to build a brand-new car in 2013 instead of sticking with the successful 2012 model has led to this poor period.

He said: "Sometimes your compass heading just gets completely off, and you go down the wrong aero path and you are toast.

"When you make a car and build into it a fundamental weakness, it is extremely hard to develop out of it.

"When we left what was a dominant season in 2012, we came [to Abu Dhabi] and we were by far the quickest car. There was no regulation change, so it was not the right decision to make a new car [for 2013].

"It was not the right decision not to immediately revert to that [2012] car after the first grand prix. And that was a real point at which the company made a mistake.

"We should have reverted to that car and then we should have developed that car. Then we would have not lost, instead of constantly pursuing something that, with the benefit of hindsight, was fundamentally flawed."

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