McLaren bosses had concerns the problems caused by the troubled Honda partnership would trigger some "very good people" to leave, Racing Director Eric Boullier has admitted.

The Woking-based outfit had to endure another difficult season in 2017, finishing ninth in the Constructors' Championship and only managing three more points than in the first year back with the Japanese manufacturer in 2015.

That lack of progress would prove to be the final straw for McLaren, with the two sides agreeing to split in September and the Frenchman claimed that action shouldn't have surprised Honda based on the warnings they were given

“I went to the management, showed them the data and told them that we cannot accept another year like this,” Boullier told the official Formula 1 website.

“We had a tough first year with Honda, we had a tough second year, and had expected progress good enough to get us back to where we belong – but Barcelona showed that we would go backwards and that was absolutely not an option.

“I obviously warned them about the consequences of another year of no results, where you keep everybody afloat," he added. “We have a new team, which has been reconstructed in the last three years: new people, very good new people – competitive people who used to win – and the danger was we’d lose them.

“The perception of a team is still very much based on drivers because they are the faces of the team, but for me, the real danger was losing those people. That was the discussion at the very beginning of the season.”

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A double podium at the first race of the V6 hybrid era in 2014 remains the only top-three finish for any of McLaren's drivers since Jenson Button claimed their last F1 win in Brazil five years ago.

But expectations now are very high that, that will change when they start using Renault engines from next season, with Boullier already suggesting the hard work has been done in producing a car that can challenge for victories.

“When you look at what we have achieved in terms of car performance – chassis performance – we know that we are back on the podium, at the top,” he claimed. “That for me is a huge reward – that we have achieved this in difficult circumstances. The other positive I take from the past three years is that the team is really joined now.

“We have been suffering so much for three years but at the same time, nobody has left the team. Everybody agreed that this team will be winning again. There is a huge trust and confidence in what we are trying to achieve and because of that we have gone up, up, up, keeping developing this car.”

Lewis Hamilton is hoping his former team McLaren and Fernando Alonso can join the battle with Mercedes Ferrari and Red Bull at the front of the grid in 2018.

The British team is expected to make a significant jump forward next season after ending their troubled partnership with Honda after three seasons, switching to the same Renault engines used by Red Bull.

Whether a change in supplier alone will make the difference we'll have to wait until Australia to find out, but for the world champion, he admits a soft spot still remains for McLaren, the team which helped develop his racing career and would welcome a renewed fight with his first F1 teammate.

“I had a great battle with Fernando towards the end of the season in Mexico," Hamilton recalled, with the pair duelling out in the closing laps. "I would love to have more battles with him on a much more level playground, as I think they've had such a difficult time.

"Being that I grew up with McLaren from 13 [years old], I go through qualifying and I always look to see where Fernando is and I always look to see where they are, watching their progress. There's just a natural place in my heart for them because I achieved a huge amount with them.

"I really hope that next year is a successful year for them and I really hope that we are battling with them as McLaren deserves to be at the front. I hope that with this new power unit they're there with us and you have another incredible world champion up there with us fighting for the championship."

McLaren has previously claimed their chassis is at a similar level to that of Red Bull having looked at tracking data and, with a more competitive engine in the back, Executive Director Zak Brown does think battling for podiums at least is a realistic prospect. 

"That's certainly our goal, we're very confident in the Renault engine," he said. "They've got a great history in the sport and won half the championships in the last 10-15 years and, of course, it's a complete package: the drivers, the team, the chassis, the power unit and we're up for it, we're excited, we're well prepared.

"We think we have the tools that we need so podiums are what we are going to be going for, whether that's the third, second or first step – hopefully, it's a combination of all the above."

Toro Rosso Technical Director James Key has revealed he has had to re-design the internal layout of the 2018 car in order to fit the Honda engine for next season.

The Briton is known for designing very strong cars aerodynamically, with the Italian team shining in Monaco this year and Carlos Sainz finishing fourth in the wet in Singapore, but there was controversy with former supplier Renault in Brazil, who suggested the packaging of the STR12 was to blame for the number of reliability problems they had.

Now with a new power unit to install into his next creation, Key praised the effort of Honda, who had to work to a 'size zero' philosophy at McLaren, but admitted it is a challenge to accommodate it.

"They are completely different," he told Autosport comparing it with Renault. "It's a very nicely packaged engine, but the whole power unit is a different architecture. It doesn't drop into the same space. There's quite a bit of car layout work that has to be done to adapt to it."

He would confirm, however, that task has not impacted the external design of the 2018 Toro Rosso.

"We try and stick to a rule that, if a car has already been in a development process for a while, not to upset any major items such as aero surfaces and that sort of thing, so we're not starting from scratch in too many areas," Key said.

"We've adapted the car under the skin as best we can and that's led to quite a different approach to the chassis design, to the way the gearbox works and so on. We've carried over the concepts and developed them further from this year's car."

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Expanding further on the changes to the transmission, he added: "Its layout and its size is different for this engine, compared to what we have this year. I think the concept is the same, but the architecture is different.

"Some internals will carry over, some will be changed, some will be bespoke to the STR box. Otherwise, it will be pretty close to what we've been running."

The internals of the gearbox is the only area where the team get help from their big brother Red Bull through the Technology arm of their Milton Keynes operation. Though known as the junior of Dietrich Mateschitz's two teams, Key actually expressed disappointment at the lack of independent recognition Toro Rosso gets.

"There's a lot more going on at STR than people think," he said. "People don't know STR, it's really frustrating.

"Although it makes a lot of sense to join together [with Red Bull] where you can, we've got our own aero department in Bicester, with our own wind tunnel, and that's entirely independent because it has to be legally.

"The entire design of the car is done in Faenza - the only bit of the car that comes from RBT is the gearbox internals which are jointly designed because there are often things that we specifically need."

Daniil Kvyat "deserves" a place on the Formula 1 grid but too many incidents cost him his chance with Toro Rosso, according to Team Principal Franz Tost.

The young Russian would compete in his final race for the junior Red Bull team at the United States Grand Prix, actually finishing 10th in Austin to score a point but it wouldn't be enough to keep his seat after initially being replaced by Pierre Gasly after the Singapore round.

It would mark the end of a difficult two years which saw Kvyat first demoted back to Toro Rosso early in 2016 but now considering options away from F1, Tost believes time away from the grid could help the two-time podium sitter.

“I am still convinced that Daniil has a very high natural speed. He was sometimes even faster than Daniel Riccardo,” he said. “But somehow last year and this year he couldn’t show the potential that is within him. He was involved in many incidents, but in his defence, I also have to say that he had many reliability issues and that didn’t help build up confidence.

“Being the victim of too many incidents killed the performance he would have been able to show. Maybe a short break  to get organized again, and probably we will see Daniil back at his usual performance level with another team.”

While Tost still believes Kvyat has the potential, at just 23, the Austrian believes he needs to calm down his driving if he is to have any chance of fulfilling it.

“The first corner was his weak point. He wanted too much in the first hundred metres – success by any means,” the Toro Rosso chief explained. “That puts you under pressure – unnecessary pressure – and that never works.

Nevertheless, he added: “I hope for him that he gets another chance, as I think he deserves to be in F1.”

Red Bull Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey believes Formula 1 could have come up with a better answer to cockpit safety than the "clumsy" Halo device which will be introduced in 2018.

The well-respected designer was one of the key minds behind the Milton Keynes outfit's own concept of the Aeroscreen, which they unveiled in Sochi in 2016 but ultimately didn't fair as well as the Halo in FIA testing.

And offering his view on the controversial subject, admitted he did agree with the push towards greater safety based on his own experiences during his time in F1 but had reservations on the chosen path taken.

"I have to admit I do have mixed feelings on the Halo," Newey told Sky Sports. "On the one hand, I do feel that anything you can do to make a car safer is a good thing.

"When somebody gets' really seriously injured or dies that it is horrific. I attended Justin Wilson's funeral three years ago, and to see the grief on the family's faces was terrible so if it helps to make the car safer, that has to be applauded.

"The engineer in me says that it just seems to be such a clumsy and ugly solution, it just feels as if we ought to be able to do something better than that."

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All but one of the 10 F1 teams voted against including Halo in the regulations for next season at a Strategy Group meeting in July but, pointing to past agreements and likely legal ramifications, the governing body went against the majority to force it through on safety grounds.

The FIA has also insisted research will continue into other ideas, including the Shield which Sebastian Vettel used at Silverstone, and Newey believes that should be the case highlighting a key factor that needs taking into consideration.

"I think there needs to be more research," he added. "Probably a canopy would be visually more attractive, but then it's closed-cockpit racing.

"What is important is whatever F1 does has to be affordable for the lower formulae, because the bottom line is why should a Formula Ford driver's life be valued less than an F1 drivers' life?

"We have to find a solution that can be carried across, but there's no escaping it's ugly. The aesthetic artist in me finds that offensive."

Formula 2 champion Charles Leclerc has revealed the "amazing feeling" he had when it was confirmed he would be driving in Formula 1 as part of the new partnership between Alfa Romeo and Sauber in 2018.

As the star member of the Ferrari young driver Academy, the Monegasque was first in line to earn a seat at what the Italian team hope will become a de facto junior team in the future thanks to the engine and title sponsorship deal.

One of the first things Leclerc had to decide after he was announced was which number he will race with during his upcoming career in F1 but admitted he had to settle for a third choice when making his decision.

"It’s quite simple, to be honest, I wanted number 7 first, but Kimi [Raikkonen] had it, then I chose 10, but Pierre [Gasly] came to F1 and chose number 10, so then I chose number 16," the 20-year-old explained.

"It’s just my date of birth and I could not find anything better and 1 + 6 = 7, which is my favourite number."

Leclerc was unveiled alongside Marcus Ericsson for 2018 at the launch of the new Alfa Romeo partnership in Milan, but he recalled the moment he first knew of his opportunity with Sauber a few days prior.

"It was the last day of the test in Abu Dhabi. [Team Principal] Fred [Vasseur] called me and told me I would be the race driver for Alfa Romeo Sauber for 2018," he said.

"As for any driver signing their first contract, it felt absolutely amazing. You feel like you have achieved something you always wanted. I always wanted to be an F1 driver since I started karting really.

"But being in F1 does not mean you are going to stay for long," he added. "So I need to work already to make the best season possible next year and hopefully have a successful career in F1.
"It will need a lot of work from my side."

Romain Grosjean believes Haas' avoidance of a second season slump in 2017 proves their model is "working pretty well", however, would highlight a key weakness to be addressed going forward.

The American outfit would only repeat the eighth place in the Constructors' Championship they achieved in their first season in 2016 but, thanks to the arrival of Kevin Magnussen, would score more points despite a much tightly fought midfield battle.

Haas was also more consistent across the 20 races and that pleased the Frenchman, despite being known for his complaints over the radio, particularly after being involved in a battle with the likes of Renault and Toro Rosso.

"I think it's a good year, it's only our second season in F1 and there's been a big change of regulation," Grosjean claimed. "It's always the toughest one, the second one, so I think we've done very well, going into the last race potentially capable of finishing sixth in the championship.

"When you know three teams are untouchable it's pretty good, that's super positive. There's a lot of work we need to do in the future, a lot of areas we can improve, but I think the model is working pretty well.

"Of course, it's always going to be harder to get up to the next speed, but that's clearly the target for the future."

Work continues to bring the standard of the Haas operation up to that of most other F1 teams, although Haas has recently confirmed a halt in their expansion plans as they keep an eye on the changes Liberty Media look to introduce for 2021, and for Grosjean that is what currently holds the team back the most.

"I think development. We've seen two years in a row where the trend is to go a bit down in the year," he said identifying the main weakness. "We started twice with a very good platform and we've been struggling.

"[With the] tyres… [we are] still not up there with tyre usage and understanding, so they're the two main areas. Behind the scenes there a few things we can co-ordinate better between the factories.

"[There's Ferrari] in Maranello, the one in Dallara, the one in England and getting things to run smoother and more efficient [will help]."

As for teammate Magnussen, he heaped praise on the atmosphere created within Haas after settling in during his first year with the team.

"I feel very at home, very happy," Magnussen commented. "It's nice to be in a team that's very simple. Everyone here is here to go racing. There's no bulls**t or any commercial stuff. It's very uncommercial, a real race team. It's kind of going racing in Formula One with an F3 team. It's very straightforward.

"We don't have to deal with people you don't want to deal with. There's no one here that I don't really enjoy working with. You don't have to do stuff that doesn't have anything to do with racing, it's all racing and none of the other stuff."

Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has admitted the team isn't prepared to "wait forever" for Daniel Ricciardo to decide his Formula 1 future after 2018.

The Australian is out of contract with the Anglo-Austrian team at the end of next season and it is well-documented that the five-time Grand Prix winner is taking his time to consider alternatives before putting pen to paper.

Though Horner has always made it clear Ricciardo is the preferred choice to partner Max Verstappen until 2020, with the likes of Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz potentially waiting for the opportunity he has made it clear the 28-year-old doesn't hold all the cards. 

"I think Daniel knows what our strengths are and hopefully we’ll be in a reasonable position," he said speaking to Racer. "I think he’s at a stage in his career where he’s wanting to evaluate all of his options, which you can understand.

"The problem is we won’t wait around forever and we’ve got some very good options available to us, but our priority is to try and ensure we find a solution with Daniel."

The most likely seats away from Red Bull are at Mercedes and Ferrari, where the two Finn's Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen are also on one-year deals, and though the Milton Keynes outfit made strong progress this season Horner concedes ensuring the team has a championship-contending package is crucial to retaining Ricciardo. 

"I get the impression he’ll want to see relative engine performances next year," the Briton said. "He’s had four years of frustration on that side of things, so I can understand him wanting to see how things are panning out."

FIA President Jean Todt believes the four manufacturers currently competing in Formula 1 must be respected in the talks over changes to the engines for 2021 which it is hoped will attract new suppliers to the sport.

Three of the four manufacturers issued strong concerns about the proposals put forward back in October by F1 bosses and the FIA with Ferrari and Mercedes both threatening to leave if they did not agree with the direction taken.

Managing Director of Motorsport Ross Brawn has stood by the need for simpler, cheaper and noisier engines which are already attracting interest from the likes of Porsche, Aston Martin, Cosworth and more but Todt stressed the need to support those already present.

"What I feel would be unfair would be to undervalue the existing engine suppliers involved and listen to those who may think they will come," he said. "For me, it is important in light of the existing situation to see what will be the best evolution of the engine for the future, but by respecting the investments of those who have made the investments so far."

Indeed, the Frenchman, who was a staunch backer of the move to hybrid engines in 2014, would agree that there are problems with the current power units which need addressing but made it clear any changes should be done in line with the direction currently being taken.

"Clearly if you ask me what I feel about the engine - it has been one interesting exercise," he said. "I think it is too complicated, too expensive but it is probably a very good first step to go to the next generation of engine, which will be one evolution from what we have now.

"I am against starting on a completely new development of engine but I think we should take what we have understood with this engine and allow the actual manufacturers who have been investing heavily to be able to enjoy what they have been investing for the next generation of engine, and also encourage newcomers to come."

The Grand Prix Drivers Association (GPDA) has vowed to ensure the integrity of Formula 1 as a sport rather than a show in the face of change under new owners Liberty Media.

2018 will mark the first time that all 20 drivers on the grid will be part of what is known as the driver's union which is headed up by former Benetton driver and McLaren tester Alex Wurz as Chairman with the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Romain Grosjean acting as Directors.

Issuing the warning to CEO Chase Carey and other F1 bosses, Wurz hailed the importance of being able to speak for each driver on the grid ahead of what he believes will be tough times politically in the sport.

"The GPDA now has 100 percent membership for the first time in recent memory and maybe history," the Austrian began in a statement. "So it was a very good year.

F1 is entering a period of evolution, change and perhaps even a degree of turmoil. All the drivers recognise that they must be united and represented, in order to face that challenge and prevent any politics or fights for power from ultimately compromising on-track performance.

"The drivers believe unity is fundamental to the sport's success."

The GPDA has been more willing to speak out against what it sees as the problems in F1 today, with the Association backing the decision by the FIA to introduce the controversial Halo on safety grounds despite known split opinions among the drivers.

Now, with arguments already brewing over future engine rules and a fight over changes to the financial structure for teams likely as the future of F1 post-2020 is shaped, Wurz insists the drivers will only have one focus.

"The GPDA demands only that the sport remains the centre of attention and we want to hold everyone in the decision-making process accountable for their actions and decisions," he said.

"All adjustments to the sport should only be done and conducted in the best interest of the sport and not of any one individual and this is what unites the drivers, this sheer will to keep F1 as the pinnacle of motor racing.

"We consider F1 as sport, not show. A driver rightly so calls himself a sportsman and not showman because it's still about the most natural human aspiration - to go faster, higher, quicker.

"Great sport is what we love to see if great sport is embedded in a suitably created show and race experience that would indeed be good."

Wurz was then clear when he set out what it is the GPDA want to see F1 become, he also welcomed the approach by Managing Director of Motorsport Ross Brawn which is more in line with their vision.

"If the sport sucks, everything around the sport itself is only expensive, inauthentic and semi-irrelevant. We need on track competition but not artificially created," he claimed, referring to gimmicks like DRS.

"We can't be naive about the situation which F1 is in, with its complicated governing rules and agreements between various key stakeholders. Business decisions and political power fights have damaged the sport enough at vulnerable times over the last decade.

"But the GPDA has repeatedly said that the on-track action needs to be better, more closely fought and authentic. As such, we are glad that Liberty and their technical research team follow the GPDA's suggestion from more than a year ago, where we wished for a less sensitive airflow concept of aerodynamic-related rules in order to be able to race closer."