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21 Sport FORMULA 1 TENNIS maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 5 APRIL 2017 McLaren rules out building own engine MCLAREN Executive Direc- tor Zak Brown has ruled out the team producing its own engine for Formula 1, amid current partner Honda's reliability and performance woes. McLaren reunited with Honda in 2015 and struggled en route to ninth in the championship standings, before making steady progress through 2016 to claim sixth place. However, for 2017, an over- hauled Honda unit involving "very high risk " led to another troubled pre-season, with mat- ters only improving slightly at the first round in Australia. McLaren reportedly contacted Mercedes over a potential sup- ply deal for 2018, while talk grew that it could build its own power unit, but Brown has now ruled out the latter. "McLaren Automotive is a dif- ferent business unit with com- mon shareholders who we work very closely with," said Brown, when asked if McLaren's road car arm could step in. "[McLaren Automotive's] en- gine is a McLaren engine, but the Formula 1 team has a differ- ent set of economics and ways to go racing, so that is not a conver- sation that we've had. "What we can do in 10 years, who knows, but that is not a con- versation [at the moment]. "We are not an engine builder, we are a racing team and a car constructor." McLaren confirmed that it was "considering options" with Honda, amid talk of a return to Mercedes power, but Brown made clear that all talks have centred on making the relation- ship work. "We are very open with Hon- da," he said, when asked about the reports. "I think they've been around the sport long enough, as have we, to not believe everything that you read. "We are working with them on what is the best way to be com- petitive as quickly as possible, and then to get back to the ulti- mate goal of winning the cham- pionship together. "All of our conversations with them have been about how we get out of the situation that we're in, so the relationship is very healthy – we've got a long-term contract." Brown also expressed his view that McLaren would not achieve its goals as a customer. "People can win races with a customer engine," he said, when pushed on the matter. "I think to ultimately be domi- nant, which is what our desire is, you probably need to be a works team, so the decision to go with Honda a few years back was ab- solutely the right decision." McLaren Racing Director Eric Boullier has said that he ex- pects this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix to further "expose the weaknesses" of the outfit's Honda-powered package. McLaren Executive Director Zak Brown Palmer says Australia 'gremlin' uncovered JOLYON Palmer says Renault has managed to uncover the "gremlin" which contributed to his tough Australian Grand Prix, a weekend he labelled "a bit of a shocker". Renault driver Palmer was re- stricted to just 10 laps on the first day of running in Mel- bourne, after a technical issue in the opening session, and a heav y crash in the second. He went on to finish last in qualif ying, his time of 1:28.244 a second adrift of nearest rival Lance Stroll, and three seconds down on new team-mate Nico Hülkenberg. Palmer's race was subsequent- ly cut short by a brake issue. "It's a clean slate approach for me as Australia was a bit of a shocker," said Palmer, who de- scribed his car as a "disaster" following the qualif ying session at Albert Park. "Fortunately, the team were able to find the particular gremlin which affected me over the weekend, so I'm heading to Shanghai as if it's my first race of the season. "Nico's shown the race poten- tial so let's get out there and make points happen." Asked what he needs to enjoy a stronger event, Palmer re- sponded: "More time in the car is all that's needed to lead to a much better weekend. It's as simple as that. "I'm looking to get more laps on the board and more progress in the race. "Obviously, there were many factors out of my hands in Aus- tralia, so the team's checked over the car very carefully to ensure we don't see a repeat of any of the same issues. "From my side, I'll be avoiding the walls very keenly too!" Missing Miami title defence was refreshing, says Djokovic SITTING out last week's Miami Open was rejuvenating for Novak Djokovic although it meant miss- ing the chance to win a record seventh title in the tournament, Serbia's world number two said on Tuesday. Djokovic missed the Masters series event with an elbow injury and, having recovered, is eager to face Spain in the Davis Cup quar- ter-finals in front of a boisterous home crowd next weekend. "Of course I wanted to be on the court and defend my title but it just didn't happen this time," Djokovic told a news conference in the Serbian capital's Alek- sandar Nikolic arena. "At the same time, it was also rather refreshing to get some rest and sit out Miami at home with my wife and son. It was qual- ity family time which I don't get enough of and it made me very happy," he said. "A hardcourt tie is not an ideal preparation for the clay court sea- son but given that I was away for a few weeks after a patchy start to the season, I need as many match- es as possible to get back into my stride irrespective of the surface." Djokovic added: "The Davis Cup is a very special event as it gen- erates the kind of home crowd atmosphere you don't see on the ATP Tour, so I am really looking forward to performing in front of our fans. I always draw very posi- tive energy from the Davis Cup as it invariably brings out the best in me." Having dominated for several years to rack up 12 grand slam tournaments after clinching his maiden French Open title last June, Djokovic then suffered a dramatic loss of form which saw him ousted as the world number one by Briton Andy Murray. With Murray also playing in fits and starts in the early stages of the season, Djokovic heaped praise on the evergreen Roger Federer after the Swiss maestro won the Miami Open following his Australian Open triumph in January. "What Federer has accom- plished this year is admirable and it shows that one can play at the top level even at his age. He's had his ups and downs in the last three or four years but came back swinging and revitalised after a six-month layoff last year," said Djokovic. He said the Miami Open final between Federer and Nadal was "as outstanding as anyone might have expected from the greatest rivalry ever". Nadal will skip Spain's clash with Serbia. Novak Djokovic