Can McLaren channel Hill 1997 at Hungary?

McLaren boasts a proud heritage, though its decline over the past five seasons has cast them as lightweights to the current generation, yet they satisfy the criteria for achieving a belated ‘fluke’ breakthrough more synonymous with backmarkers of yesteryear.

As Formula One takes its bow ahead of the summer break, this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix represents the Woking outfit’s greatest opportunity in recent memory and the foreseeable future to jag a memorable result.

The undulating characteristics of the Budapest layout, lacking in straights and heavy on slow corners equates to one of the few performance neutral circuits on the calendar, and while Red Bull can be expected to thrive, there’s nothing to suggest McLaren can’t exploit the assets of its fundamentally sound chassis without being affected by Honda’s crippling power deficiency.

To that end, both drivers are bullish regarding their prospects, with Fernando Alonso moving to reveal that penalties incurred at Britain – bearing in mind that it was their home Grand Prix, were done so with Hungary at the forefront of consideration, such is their confidence, or perhaps desperation, that a ‘success’ is within reach.

“We made some big decisions at Silverstone in terms of taking grid penalties in preparation for this race… on paper, the Hungaroring presents one of the best opportunities for us this year”, the Spaniard remarked,

At this stage, it’s understandable that this belief, or justification, is the 36-year-old’s sole motivating factor for continuing – short of retaining his sanity, which has been increasingly questionable as his second tenure at McLaren runs its course.

Teammate, Stoffel Vandoorne, less cynical – as anybody is next to Alonso, shares his sentiment, reasoning to motorsport.com “you need a good chassis and downforce there, so hopefully we can be more competitive”, speaking to his faith in the MCL32, which displayed its hand throughout qualifying at Monaco, something the Belgian referred to Hungary as “without the walls.”

Twenty years earlier, a vanquished Damon Hill, reigning World Champion, endured a harsh reality check following his dismissal from Williams, landing in the arms of Arrows, who had been on the grid in various guises since 1978 without producing any noteworthy exploits.

The Briton didn’t even take the start at his first outing in Australia on account of a woeful Yamaha power plant – drawing parallels to Honda, and failed to trouble the scorers until his home event in July. Yet something clicked at Hungary, when Hill – who had finished no lower than second at his previous appearances, planted his lump in a dizzying third on Saturday.

Wresting the lead in the early stages and thereafter appearing untouchable, it proved too good to be true when a throttle issue slowed Hill’s charge in the closing laps, heartbreakingly overtaken by former teammate , Jacques Villeneuve, on the final tour, though limping across the line in second salvaged a bittersweet result.

Hill wouldn’t score again for the balance of the season, the outcome also representing Arrows’ final podium. While McLaren’s most recent podium came at Melbourne in 2014, they have no intention of it being their final, and they would arguably settle for their final points haul of the campaign coming on Sunday if it comprised a second place, however distant that prospect is from their present status in the modern era.

From the lofty expectations that 2017 would realise the dream, it’s a sad state of affairs to be touting McLaren’s prospects of claiming a decent haul of points on one day, yet hope is all that remains.