Horner: F1 needs McLaren back at the front

Christian Horner believes that Formula One needs McLaren back at the sharp end after several years of disappointment for the team. The Red Bull boss explained that the sport was missing McLaren "performing at a high level", with years of embarrassment taking the place of race wins.

Speaking to Motorsport.com, Horner emphasised that a team with McLaren's pedigree simply has to be fighting with the leaders 

“McLaren is a great team,” Horner said.

“It’s got huge history – it’s, I think the second most winning team in Formula 1 – so Formula 1 needs McLaren to be performing at a high level.

“They’ve obviously got their challenges at the moment, and obviously look in a bit of turmoil, but hopefully within time they’ll manage to address that.”

McLaren is set to lose the talents of Fernando Alonso next year after the Spaniard announced he would not be continuing in Formula One past the 2018 season. His replacement is compatriot Carlos Sainz, with Stoffel Vandoorne likely to sign a new deal to partner the current Renault driver at the team.

To sort the issues the team has been suffering from, McLaren underwent a restructuring process that saw Eric Boullier sacked as racing director along with several other key senior staff. According to Zak Brown, it is a process that is still ongoing.

“We’re not done yet, both with bringing in talent, and our final structure,” Brown said.

“We have a good sense of what we’re going to do, but that’s not something that we want to make public, we just want to put our head down, and get on with the job.”