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Alonso gives McLaren until October to prove it can win

BARCELONA - Fernando Alonso said he has given struggling McLaren until October to persuade him they can provide a winning car next year or else he will talk to teams that can. The double Formula One world champion, preparing for his home Spanish Grand Prix, failed to start in Russia last month because of engine failure, a situation he described as "totally unacceptable". McLaren has not won a race since 2012, and has struggled for performance and reliability since entering a new partnership with Honda in 2015. Meanwhile, Alonso will be 36 in July and can sense time ebbing away. "My intention or first priority is to race next year here. And not only to race, I want to win," said the Spaniard, who is out of contract at the end of the year. "I am happy with the team, but we are not winning." "If from here to September/October we are in a position that I see clearly a possibility to win in 2018, I will be more than happy to stay with the team. "If it is not the case then I will be more than happy to talk to anyone." McLaren has yet to score a point in four races. The Spaniard is missing Formula One's showcase Monaco Grand Prix on May 28 in order to compete at the Indianapolis 500. Alonso said he would also have to consider whether "it was time to find other challenges outside Formula One", though he said he liked the 2017 specifications that gave cars a higher cornering speed. The Spaniard has spoken of his desire to become only the second driver ever to win the Triple Crown, which would mean adding victory at Indianapolis and the Le Mans 24 Hours to the F1 titles he won with Renault in 2005 and 2006. He said he still did not know what had happened in Sochi when his engine failed on the formation lap. That incident followed a no-start for Belgian teammate Stoffel Vandoorne in Bahrain. "There are some things we need to put in place, starting this weekend, for the rest of the season. Hopefully this is the starting point of a new championship for us," said Alonso. "We need to raise our game here in terms of reliability and hope to finish with both cars." Reporting by Alan BaldwinRelated Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Motorsports McLaren Racing Vehicles US

Seat officially unveils new Toledo

One week after leaked images appeared online and just a few days after its sister car, the Škoda Rapid, was revealed, the Seat Toledo has taken a bow. Expected to "write a whole new success story" for the Seat, the five-door and its "timeless personality" has a mission to be "a great car for a great price." All of which sounds like the Spanish marque really has very little to say about their new model, eh?
In contrast to the Škoda's seven powerplant options, three will be on the Seat menu at launch: two petrol-flavored offerings in the form of a 1.2-liter, 73-horsepower TSI and a 1.4-liter, 119-hp TSI, and an oil-burning 1.6-liter, 102-hp TDI. Next year, a less potent 1.6-liter, 88-hp diesel will be added to the range.
We'll have live shots of it from the Paris Auto Salon floor later this fall, after which it will appear in Spanish and Portuguese showrooms before exports expand to other parts of the world. Prices will be announced closer to launch, so scroll down for a presser with the other details on Seat's new baby.

Struggling McLaren-Honda F1 partners near 'fork in the road'

WOKING, England - McLaren's partnership with Honda has not worked so far, and the team is now approaching a "fork in the road," executive director Zak Brown said on Wednesday. Speaking to Reuters in his office at the Formula One team's headquarters, Brown (pictured above) indicated clearly that a parting of the ways was a real option under consideration by management. The American said engine upgrades promised for this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix were not ready, and the Japanese manufacturer could not say when they might be. And while McLaren still wanted to win championships with Honda, there were serious concerns as to whether that was achievable. "Honda's working very hard, but they seem a bit lost," said Brown, who replaced Ron Dennis at the helm late last year. "We were only told recently that we wouldn't have the upgrade coming (for Montreal) ... and we don't have a definitive timeline, which is concerning because the pain is great and we can't sit around forever. "We were eagerly awaiting this upgrade as were our drivers, and it's a big disappointment that it's not coming. It's not lack of effort, but they are struggling to get it to come together."FAILURE AND EMBARRASSMENT McLaren, the second oldest and most successful team in Formula One after Ferrari in terms of race wins, are the only ones yet to score a point this season. They have not won a race since 2012. The renewed partnership with Honda in 2015 was billed as a return to the glory days, when French great Alain Prost and the late Brazilian Ayrton Senna dominated the late 1980s and early 1990s. Instead it has brought failure and embarrassment to the former world champions, whose cars have failed to finish races -- and sometimes even start them -- due to engine failures. Spanish driver Fernando Alonso, a double world champion whose future is uncertain, said in March that "we have only one problem, and that is the power unit. There is no reliability and there is no power." Honda's engine troubles even plagued Alonso at the Indy 500, where a failure took him out of the race. McLaren were ninth in 2015, sixth last year and this season could become their worst ever. MARCHING ORDERS "The executive committee have now given us our marching orders," said Brown, who is also chairman of the fast-growing Motorsport Network media group. "We're not going to go into another year like this, in hope." "I don't want to get into what our options are.