McLaren unveiled their new Formula One car on the internet on Thursday, with Honda back in the sport as engine partners amid hopes for a return to the glory of the past.

The MP4-30 for former world champions Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso was shown off in a Youtube video, showing aerodynamic changes such as a lower nose.

McLaren-Honda won four straight drivers’ titles with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost through 1988-1991 and the constructors’ list as well in those years. Honda quit F1 after the 2008 season.

McLaren’s last title was in 2008 from Lewis Hamilton and they have not won a race since November 2012, finishing a disappointing fifth in the 2014 season.

“McLaren-Honda – the name evokes stirring memories of the past; of Ayrton Senna battling Alain Prost for supremacy,” McLaren said in a statement.

“All at McLaren and Honda are working to write a fresh chapter in Formula 1, one that respectfully nods to the past, but boldly looks to the horizon.”

Alonso is back at the team, from Ferrari, after a first term 2007, and will get the first drive when pre-season testing starts on Sunday in Jerez, Spain.

Button will follow the next day.

“I am hugely motivated to make more history in this new McLaren-Honda era,” Button said, and Alonso vowed that “we are ready for the new era.”

– dpa