Current McLaren

Arguably one of the big teams in Formula One but lately they don't seem to be able to get the basics right.
Some of their strategy and decisions in the last few years has left more than a few observers scratching their heads.

Just a few for starters:

• Leaving Kimi out on a badly flat-spotted tyre, resulting in it exploding on the last lap.
• Leaving Hamilton out on tyres so badly worn they were down to the canvas; Bridgestone themselves demanded that McLaren bring him in and McLaren refused, keeping him out for a few more laps. That decision arguably cost Hamilton the first rookie WDC and is one which will haunt him and McLaren for the rest of their days.
• Not sending Button and Hamilton out to get banker laps in during Q1.
• Sending Hamilton out on used tyres in Q3, with rain forecast, meaning it would be impossible to set a fast lap time on his second attempt on new tyres.

Their major updates seem to send them further down the grid, instead of challenging for pole positions and wins. As the season progresses they tend to get worse before getting better, by which time it is generally too late.

It's often said of them "write them off at your peril", but is this necessarily true?

The last time they won the WCC was in 1998 and their last WDC was 2008, before that 1999.
Their days of regularly winning championships seem to be well and truly behind them.

It's all well and good coming up with reasons why they haven't won championships.
The fact remains though, they have won just one WDC in the last 12 years.

So where to now for McLaren?

(I wrote this in rather a hurry so I will flesh it out when I have more time.)

 

[FB]

As will Honda.

 

[F1Brits_90]

Alonso, Vandoorne set to start from back of grid

off honda

 

[Il_leone]

Renault are withdrawing from Formula E and basically passing it off to their alliance partner Nissan to run it . So they are plowing their resources into F1 fully.

History says Renault tend to get things right eventually with turbos, with the normally aspirated 3.0 & 3.5 litres in the 90's and the 2.4 litres in the mid 2000's

Red Bull dismissed their contributions towards 4 world titles and I think the engine was probably at its best in 2013 if Lotus Renault were able to mount a constant challenge towards Red Bull

Driven by the need to prove a point to Red Bull no doubt Renault will want to improve at a much faster rate than Honda are doing at the moment

The thing that might work for Mclaren is Renault have finally told Red Bull to off after years of abuse so if Renault were to make big gains now Mclaren would benefit but Red Bull won't you'd think

Similarly if Honda and Toro Rosso manage to work in better harmony Red Bull will benefit but first they need to convince Honda that their approach is wrong

Renault I think are more inclined to listen to Mclaren as the gains will not only help them but team Enstone and will probably get more credibility from Mclaren as well.

I don't see Renault going any worse than they are doing for the engine and if anything an increased rate of development now since the Formula E involvement has been dropped

and finally

No letting up from McLaren-Honda in final three races together

 

[teabagyokel]

I wonder if McLaren’s drivers will look past their steering wheels tomorrow to see all the Red Bull branded cars in the engine penalty club with them.

 

[Il_leone]

Well yes but the Renault powered cars are still more competitive than the Honda powered cars as soon as the lights go green

 

[teabagyokel]

If they think they’ve found Elysium, they’re going to be disappointed next year. My suspicion is they’ll find themselves behind Red Bull, and I suspect their best case scenario is they’ll fill the gap in front of Force India.

 

[gethinceri]

Which would still be significant progress.

 

[teabagyokel]

They’re risking doing all the leg-work with Honda for Red Bull’s gain!

 

[Rutherford]

After watching the last two races, one can only wish them good luck with the Renault engines.

They'll receive a letter of appreciation from Red Bull in 2019 for all the development.

 

[RasputinLives]

I think Mclaren have under estimated Renault's desire to have their own works team at the front. With its current driver line up and extra resources I see Renault being the 4th team next year in front of Mclaren.

 

[gethinceri]

Which would still be significant progress.

 

[RasputinLives]

Yes. But not the droids they were looking for.

 

[Galahad]

A wise man once said, second is just first of the losers.

 

[FB]

 

[Road of Bones]

^ his Ronship in despair at the despoilation of yet another shipment of potted ferns (c. 2011)...

 

[Greenlantern101]

Lando Norris confirmed as test and reserve driver at Mclaren.

 

[F1Brits_90]

just rediscovered this picture from a week before we even started the season & l had optimsim about how the new 2017 honda engine was going to build upon the momentum from 2016

it gave me a laugh because in hindsight show the confidence (or how spot on) mclaren had

 

[Il_leone]

well I was going over F1 magazine a few years back how Honda and Mclaren became the dominant force in 1988 with the MP4/4 chassis and up to that point the interim car with MP4/3 chassis simply was not working according to both Senna and Prost

 

[FB]

That's because it was a Steve Nichols car. The MP4/4 had input from Gordon Murray and was significantly better. Nichols wasn't a bad designer, by any stretch of the imagination, but the input of Murray and then Neil Oatley on later cars produced significantly better machines.

 

[Kewee]

FB......the key name there is Gordon Murray, one of the true greats of the sport we all love.