Brown: 'We like what we're seeing from Honda'

There are undeniable signs of improvement in the McLaren-Honda camp, but crunch time is nearing regarding a decision on the future insists Zak Brown.

The McLaren executive clearly wants a winning engine for 2018, but the jury is still out as to whether its engine partner can still deliver to McLaren the level of performance it desperately needs. 

"It's still very much a work in progress," Brown told reporters in Austria.

"We need to figure out our relationship with them moving forward, soon. You start getting in to next year's car (design) in the next few months and what we have to have is a competitive engine for next year.

"They're working hard on it and doing some things that are for them to speak about to make those improvements. So we want to give them as much runway as possible to get there." 

Honda had its new 'Spec-3' engine on hand in Austria for both Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne although the Spaniard reverted on Saturday to the unit's previous spec  when a motor generator issue was detected.

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While performance is in an uptrend, points eluded the team at Spielberg with Alonso punted off at the first corner and Vandoorne, despite a solid race pace, finishing 12th.

Still, there is no lack of trying on Honda's part assures Brown. 

"As far as their enthusiasm to address the issue, that's been there from day one but it's a results-oriented business," he said. 

"We do like what we're seeing and what they are telling us about how they are going about addressing some of the issues."

The American executive wouldn't commit however to saying that Honda was out of the woods. 

"I would say our position hasn't changed on our requirement to have a competitive situation next year."

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