McLaren has suffered a woeful pre-season testing, with fewer laps completed than any other team and their fastest lap time was only faster than the Sauber duo and the Haas of Romain Grosjean.

Not only were they hampered by several mechanical failures, which consequently meant they walked away from testing without a run longer than 12 laps, but they struggled to set competitive lap times and for a third consecutive season, they’re heading to Melbourne three steps behind their rivals.

Frustration is really starting to boil over at McLaren, and the media and fans alike have certainly turned sour, but is McLaren’s 2017 season really doomed to misery or is there a light at the end of the tunnel?

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While it’s fair to say Honda are having their issues, can McLaren really put the full extent of their pre-season testing issues upon their Japanese partners? Eric Boullier told Spanish newspaper AS “yes, we’d be winning again,” if they had a Mercedes power unit.

However, in McLaren’s final two years of running Mercedes power, they failed to win a single race and earned just two podiums, while their suppliers stormed to the 2014 drivers’ and constructors’ championships. Improvements have to be made on McLaren’s side as well as Honda’s, McLaren has consistently suffered from poor reliability since the turn of the century, with or without Honda.

Either way, the question will be asked this season if it’s time for McLaren to sever ties with Honda and make a return to Mercedes power. But with power unit chassis integration more important than ever, could a customer team really triumph in this era of Formula 1?

Many would suggest Red Bull could succeed even with a fully fledged Renault team on the grid, but it would take a brave man to predict McLaren could overthrow Mercedes at the top of the table with the same engine. Consequently, McLaren’s best option for 2017 is to grit their teeth and make the best of a bad situation.

That’s not to say the drivers should hold their tongues, Alonso certainly didn’t in Barcelona when he claimed the new Honda power unit has “no power” and “no reliability”, but they have to try and work cooperatively work with Honda, their current setup feels very ‘us’ and ‘them’, rather than the integrated partnership that was initially envisaged.

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They’re lacking somebody who will make a real difference in both camps, an intermediary leader who will make sure both McLaren and Honda realise they have to work closer together to succeed, and passing the blame achieves little.

While McLaren lacked pace in testing, we’re yet to see where the McLaren truly lies in 2017’s pecking order, many could argue that they will have a tough job keeping off the back row in Melbourne but there is an argument to suggest they could be firmly in the midfield fight, albeit with an unreliable car.

This would be enough I believe for the McLaren-Honda partnership to continue, particularly if they could manoeuvre onto the back of the top three by the end of the season, even if they just fall short of fourth in the constructors’ championship.

One issue McLaren shouldn’t be worrying about is having drivers to deliver the goods once the car is capable. Fernando Alonso may be frustrated with the team’s issues but he’s more motivated than ever to succeed and even if he doesn’t win in 2017, it would be wrong to presume he won’t continue this venture into 2018.

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Stoffel Vandoorne becomes Alonso’s 13th team-mate in Formula 1 and will provide the Spaniard with his biggest challenge since Lewis Hamilton partnered him in 2007. During his time with Ferrari and Renault, Alonso had the benefit of having the team built around him and a car finely tuned to his driving style.

He won’t get that this year with Vandoorne, who’s been with the team since 2013 and has been waiting for his chance at the top for a number of years now. The Belgium has time on his side unlike Alonso and could provide a real headache that could even tip Alonso into retirement.

He’s lightening fast in qualifying and isn’t afraid to get his elbows out in the races. He’s going to have to be able to scrape a good result from a bad day if he wants to become the first team-mate since Lewis Hamilton to finish ahead of Alonso in the drivers’ championship.

Ultimately it’s going to be a real testing year for Alonso, with another disappointing underpowered car and a team-mate who will take every opportunity to beat him, and prove he is the man to lead McLaren Honda out of the dark and firmly back into the light.

Just how far back into the dark McLaren have gone remains unclear, but it might not be quite as bad as the headlines suggested during testing.