The downward spiral into which McLaren and their new engine partners Honda have disastrously plunged looks like deepening into an embarrassing scenario for the once all-conquering team.

Their fitful, stuttering season is not yet half over and it looks an absolutely rock solid certainty that their abject situation is destined to dwell in the deeper reaches of a championship they once commanded so superbly.

And it all began with their remarriage to engine giants Honda, offering a dowry worth hundreds of millions of dollars, in an effort to overtake current runaway leaders Mercedes and fast-developing Ferrari.

Austria was last weekend watched intently, and no doubt painfully, by the outwardly implacable Takahiro Hachigo, Honda’s top boss, as another catalogue of misfortune and disaster saw both cars fall by the wayside after only eight laps of the scheduled 71.

In 16 races for drivers Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, both world champions and earning around £40m (Dh232 million) between them, the team has suffered seven retirements, a crash and two start-line setbacks.

They lie second bottom in the prestigious constructors’ championship with a meagre four points and are hopelessly adrift in the drivers’ standings as, in contrast, Mercedes twosome Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, with seven victories between them, continue their title takeover.

It would be totally understandable if Button and Alonso, the oldest pairing on the grid and so used to being winners, reflected the gloom that must surely be a shadow fallen over the workforce. But not so.

And it is a credit to them both that, up front and for public consumption at least, they are relatively upbeat and confident of improvement.

I am not so sure.

But here is what Button has to say in rallying the spirits: “We’ll get going — just you wait and see. It is times like these when you have to stay positive and keep everybody motivated.

“It has been a pretty bad time for all of us, but we won’t let it get us down.”

His admirable optimism was bolstered by Spaniard Alonso, not normally of a forgiving nature when things go wrong, who echoed with: “We just need teamwork to keep us going.

“Our expectations are higher than what we are currently achieving. But I am optimistic we can only get better.”

And team boss Eric Boullier said: “These are difficult days for all of us at McLaren-Honda, but we will not let our heads drop. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. And we are tough. Make no mistake. And we will get going. Just you wait and see.”

Honda motorsport chief Yasuhisa Arai, who has seen McLaren go into reverse since his company rejoined the British team, admitted: “We know reliability is an issue and it is our priority to improve.”

But it is action, not words, urgently needed by trouble-torn McLaren if the crisis is to be turned around.

— The writer is a freelance journalist and motorsport expert