Listen to the new McLaren-Honda F1 car

Honda is returning to the Formula One grid to power next year's McLaren MP4-29H/1X1. For anyone who remembers McLaren's late 80s/early 90s form, this is news to get excited about.

For those that don't, a smidge of context. McLaren switched to Honda power for the 1988 Formula One season, using a 1.5-litre turbocharged V6 engine powering the cars of Messrs Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.

Were they successful, you might ask? Fuhgeddaboudit. It was almost embarrassing; McLaren won 15 of the 16 races that year, taking the constructors' and drivers' championships with it.

McLaren won both 1989 titles too, with Honda's new 3.5-litre V10. And then again in 1990. And then again in 1991. The partnership with Honda then, was bloody successful.

So, after a dismal few years, McLaren has reenlisted the help of its former Japanese partner for next year. The video above gives you a little taster of what it'll sound like, though we know from the first tests that there's still some work to be done - electrical issues blighted the first test at Abu Dhabi, and it then completed just three laps in total, following a ‘fuel/data exchange issue'. This sounds like quite a big issue.

Nevertheless, McLaren reckons the test was useful, and has all its fingers and toes crossed that come Australia next year, it'll give the Mercs a run for their money.

But with the team still undecided on its driver line-up (though Fernando Alonso is hotly tipped to make up half of it), who'd you like to see behind the wheel of the new McLaren-Honda?

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