MONTMELO, SPAIN - MARCH 01: Jenson Button of Great Britain and McLaren drives during day two of Formula One winter testing at the Circuit de Catalunya on March 1, 2013 in Montmelo, Spain. (Photo by Ker Robertson/Getty Images)

Honda's history in Formula 1 is long and full of ups and downs. It was the first Japanese manufacturer to win an F1 race way back in 1965 at the Mexican Grand Prix with Richie Ginther behind the wheel. In the '80s and early '90s, their engines were used by hot-shot teams like McLaren, Williams and Lotus. By the end of their participation in 1992, the company had provided power to six constructor's championships, and five driver's championships, including three for Ayrton Senna. 

The decision to supply engines to BAR in 2000 - the team started for Canadian Jacques Villeneuve - eventually led to the team's purchase, and then a decade of disappointment. In 2006, BAT became Honda Racing, which didn't improve matters. Finally, the company pulled the plug in '08, selling the team to Ross Brawn, who somehow managed to mate new Mercedes-Benz engines with the leftover chassis to finally create a winner.

Obviously, that debacle left the company with a bad taste in its mouth. So, with Formula 1 moving to small-displacement 1.6-litre turbocharged V6s from the current normally aspirated 2.4-litre V8s, Honda's hoping its expertise in both the original F1 turbo 'era' and the similar setups currently run in IndyCar, will create a winner. 

That McLaren is its first confirmed customer doesn't come as much of a surprise. Ever since McLaren split from Mercedes-Benz a few years back, you could tell the relationship was strained at best. This way, McLaren can completely break all its ties with Mercedes while trying to regain some of its '80s glory. However, since the organizational and naming changes with Honda won't take place until the 2015 season, McLaren will have one year with Mercedes' new turbo-six. Here's hoping they aren't lame ducks during the transition.

By Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos

If you've been living under a rock for the last few months, you'd be forgiven for not knowing that British race- and road-car builder McLaren is building a successor to its legendary F1 supercar. It revealed the shape and a few details about P1 at the Paris Motor Show last fall, and now is following up before Geneva to fill in plenty of the blanks.

First, the P1 uses full carbonfibre construction to keep its weight down, along with active suspension and aerodynamics introduced on the 14C supercar. It just plain looks stunning with vents, curves and LED lights everywhere... the brake lights are perhaps the coolest ever, ringing the, ahem, cooling ducts for the mid-mounted engine. Like modern Formula 1 cars, the P1 also uses a drag-reduction system (DRS) that lets the car cut through the air up to 20-ish per cent better, meaning rediculously fast acceleration.

That engine is a serious evolution of the 3.8-litre twin-turbocharged V8 found in the 14C, only here in the P1 it makes around 700 horsepower. However, the gas engine is supplemented by a powerful electric motor that's fed by a Formula 1-style kinetic-energy-recovery-system (KERS) that uses a big battery to store energy recaptured during braking. Total system power is 903 horsepower and 600-ish lb-ft of torque, and the driver can also call upon an instantaneous boost of 175 horsepower for short periods of time. As a bonus, the P1 can function as an electric car for up to about 20 km in city driving.

The transmission is a beefed-up seven-speed dual-clutch unit, while the brakes promise to deliver race-car levels of stopping force. McLaren tapped their Formula 1 team supplier Akebono to produce a system that's lighter than ever thanks to a new space-race-era ceramic compound. 

Acceleration numbers are quoted as being head-bashingly fast: 0-300 km/h takes less than 17 seconds, which McLaren says is 23 per cent faster than the McLaren F1. Zero-100 is under three seconds while 0-200 km/h a measly seven seconds... Top speed is limited to 350 km/h as the company claims it has no interest in taking on the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport for those honours. We've also heard rumours that the P1 is currently smashing track records everywhere it goes so we'll be very interested once those details get clearer.

What is perfectly clear is that McLaren is banking on exclusivity again with the P1: only 375 will be built at a cost of over $1.5 million Canadian.

By Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos

It's been a long time coming, but it appears that there will finally be a full global championship for electric-car racing starting this year. Formula E, a fully FIA sanctioned series, has slowly been making a series of important announcements about how it plans to revolutionize motorsport.

For now, Formula E will be a spec series, meaning every entrant will run the same open-wheel EF02 chassis designed and built by Spark Racing Technologies while sportscar maker and Formula 1 legend McLaren will provide the electric motor and other bits. Over 40 complete cars have been ordered so that every team that signs up gets access to four Formula E machines, meaning 10 teams competing. Eventually, the series plans to open itself up to competing designs from other manufacturers, but will certainly have to prove its viability before cash-strapped car companies invest heavily.

The plan for the initial season includes race events in 10 cities globally, and both Rio di Janeiro in Brazil and Rome have signed on already.

Earlier this week, Drayson Racing, a British-based sports car team run by Lord Paul Drayson, a former science entrepreneur and the UK Minister for Science and Innovation, announced that it was the first team to throw its hat into the Formula E ring. Drayson Racing has a strong history of 'green' racing firsts, including running bio-fuel and electric prototypes at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

"We are hugely excited about the prospect of competing in the opening season of FIA Formula E," Drayson said. "We aim to be one of the front runners from the start, leveraging the know-how we’ve built up over the past two years working on electric drivetrains and developing our 200 mph electric Le Mans prototype. We believe that FIA Formula E has very significant commercial potential, it will attract new fans and new sponsors to motorsport and is on track to become the world’s leading environmentally sustainable global sporting event.”

For now, no events have been announced in North America, but to be honest, the whole series is running seriously under the radar here. Few people connected with motorsport know of it and even fewer are paying attention. The question is whether or not that really matters in the grand scheme? Racing series have been popular before without ever setting foot on this continent. Why would Formula E be any different?

What do you think? Is electric formula car racing a great step forward? Should it be encouraged? Will it fall flat on its face because of politics and public apathy? Let us know in the comments.

By Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos

After much speculation about doing a run-out season with Ferrari or another team, seven-time Formula 1 champion Micheal Schumacher announced his (second) retirement earlier today during a press conference at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Schumacher had been in his third year back to the sport driving with Mercedes-Benz after retiring from Scuderia Ferrari back in 2008. Despite displaying flashes of his old self on occasion, Schumacher's return was marked with more disappointment than success. The final straw came when Mercedes-Benz hired Lewis Hamilton away from McLaren last week, leaving Schumacher without a seat for 2013.

"Already during the past weeks and months I was not sure if I would still have the motivation and energy which is necessary to go on; and it is not my style to do anything which I am not 100% convinced about," Schumacher said. "With today’s decision I feel released from those doubts. In the end, it is not my ambition to just drive around but to fight for victories; and the pleasure of driving is nourished by competitiveness.

"In the past six years I have learned a lot, also about me, and I am thankful for it; for example, that you can open yourself up without losing focus. That losing can be both more difficult and more instructive than winning; something I had lost out of sight sometimes in earlier years. That you have to appreciate to be able to do what you love. That you have to live your convictions. I have opened my horizon, and I am at ease with myself."

We're guessing it won't be long before Schumacher turns to sports car or touring car racing, either with Mercedes-Benz in the German DTM series (alongside his brother Ralf and a bunch of other F1 retirees) or in a Ferrari 458 Italia driving at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

No matter how you feel about his driving style, on-track demeanor or decision to return to Formula 1 in the first place, you still have to give Schumacher the utmost respect simply because his name is on so many trophies and records. On to the next challenge.

By Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos

Well, that's a bit of a shock... it appears that Formula 1 driver and ex-champion Lewis Hamilton is leaving McLaren and heading to Mercedes-Benz for 2013. Hamilton's only ever driven for McLaren during his F1 tenure, and was picked out very early in his karting career by old team boss Ron Dennis with the full expectation that he'd be the 'next big thing'. That worked out when Hamilton won his F1 driver's championship back in 2008, but McLaren haven't been able to get him higher than fourth in the years following. This season has been especially frustrating for Hamilton because there were plenty of missed opportunities during crucial pit stops and other situations that left the driver watching someone else win.

Mercedes-Benz claims an extended relationship to Hamilton as well, although that's mainly because they also provide McLaren with F1 engines. Anyway, MB's team boss Ross Brawn is a master strategist and the man behind all of Michael Schumacher's driving records and championships at Benneton and Ferrari, and must be thrilled to have Hamilton on tap for 2013.

It didn't take McLaren long to announce Hamilton's replacement either: Sergio Perez, a 22 year old from Mexico, who won his first race with the Sauber team earlier this year in only his second year in Formula 1. 

But back to Mercedes-Benz... Hamilton will be teammates with Nico Rosberg and not Michael Schumacher, who for the first time in his career is (involuntarily) without an F1 ride for next year. Perhaps that should be the biggest clue for Schumacher, the man whose legacy in F1 can never be disputed, should finally hang up his boots in open-wheel racing. I'm sure any manufacturer with a lick of sense would pick him up for a stint in sports cars or prototypes, perhaps back to Le Mans. Who knows?

Photos courtesy Vodaphone McLaren Mercedes and Mercedes-Benz

By Michael Bettencourt for MSN Autos

The droptop version of the McLaren MP4-12C had a ritzy Canadian debut this week at the Ritz Carlton hotel in downtown Toronto, courtesy of the country’s only registered McLaren dealer, McLaren Toronto.

Starting at $287,200, the mid-engine 12C Spider has a quick-folding metal hardtop, just like its main rival, the Ferrari 458 Spider. Both also share similar flying buttresses behind the two seats, although the McLaren Spider provides a better view of its V8 engine than the Ferrari, courtesy a small peekaboo glass panel behind the folding top’s well.

By Greg Kable, AutoWeek

McLaren has revealed its sleek MP4-12C Spider, the second in what the company says eventually will be a full line of high-performance road-going models to challenge longtime Formula One adversary Ferrari.

The open-top supercar gets its first public outing in September at the Paris motor show. It joins the recently upgraded MP4-12C coupe in the British carmaker's fledgling lineup. North American deliveries are planned for early 2014.

This is a clear challenge to the Ferrari 458 Spider. The MP4-12C Spider adopts a retractable hardtop that automatically folds and stows within a dedicated well above the engine underneath a tonneau cover aft of the cabin. The roof opens and closes via a switch on the center console. Fashioned from lightweight carbon fiber, the MP4-12C Spider's hard top requires 17 seconds to raise or lower. It can also be operated on the run at speeds up to 31 km/h. This was conceived to fold in as small a space as possible without compromising the supercar's aerodynamic performance.

By Mark Atkinson for MSN Autos

McLaren Mercedes-driver Lewis Hamilton became the record seventh different winner of the 2012 Formula 1 season at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal this past Sunday. Smart tire strategy and an on-form car helped put him in victory lane ahead of Romain Grosjean of Lotus-Renault and Sauber's Sergio Perez. 

The late stages of the race saw Hamilton, who was forced to pit twice for new Pirelli tires, chasing down the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso and Red Bull Racing's Sebastien Vettel, who were gambling on one-stop strategies. About 10 laps from the end, Hamilton easily passed Vettel, then quickly reeled in Alonso. The fact that Hamilton waited patiently for the safest and easiest opportunity to pass the stricken Ferrari rather than just forcing the issue shows that hopefully Hamilton is maturing into a more complete driver.

Given that Hamilton's 2011 season was one he'd rather forget, he was thrilled to take the win in Montreal; he won his first Grand Prix race there in 2007, and then again in 2010. And he's now leading the Driver's Championship by two points over Alonso.

By Greg Migliore, AutoWeek

We know the McLaren MP4-12C is fast. But how about the race-car version?

Perhaps lost amid the fanfare of the launch of the production car, McLaren has been hard at work on a competition model, the MP4-12C GT3. Testing has begun at the famous Silverstone circuit and at the MIRA proving ground in England.

The company, called McLaren GT, is conducting initial shakedowns for calibration and aerodynamic testing. Further tests will be conducted across Europe this spring.