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.)

 

[Viscount]

Looking at the pictures on the German site Senna's_right_foot posted, if McLaren run the higher nose in Barcelona and continue with it afterwards, I do wonder why the higher front end wasn't tested before the start of the season when almost every other team came to the conclusion that the stepped nose was better. But I suppose since they won the first race and have been strong in qualifying everywhere so far it seemed the right direction at first having the aesthetically pleasing front end. Though now they may eventually end up going with a proper stepped nose like everyone else by the end of the season.

 

[Senna's_right_foot]

Viscount, I think McLaren's reasoning behind the lower nose was simply that they already had a good few year's experience with it, having run quite a low nose since the regs changes in '09 and perhaps even before. Maybe having been caught out so badly in '09 they decided to stick with what they knew?As you say, it certainly seemed to have paid dividends at the beginning of the season, although the testing of this higher nose doesn't necessarily mean it'll be used, just that they have a perfect opportunity to see if it will give them an advantage over the current set-up as they have no need to chase major upgrades like Ferrari, for example.

 

[Viscount]

It's just that as they kept it hidden for most of testing and waited until near the end to try it which makes me think that it might be the direction they're going in for the future. Also, I remember Gary Anderson on the BBC at the McLaren launch saying something about how McLaren's lower nose means less air flow under the car compared to the stepped nose which limits the possible development of the barge boards and front splitter. Anyway, I'll wait and see what they bring to Catalunya.

 

[Senna's_right_foot]

As long as they don't go too stepped with the nose and ruin by far the best looking car on the grid. The above pic looks ok though, compared to the other hideous looking things on the grid.

 

[FB]

Ha - Looking at the picture on the right I thought the Pitot tube in the middle of the nose was holding the mirror up and we were going back to the days of Eifelland!

http://www.f1rejects.com/teams/eifelland/profile.html

 

[Fenderman]

Yikes!! FB. That was hideous

 

[KekeTheKing]

Bit strange that McLaren will be adopting the High-Nose now. Turvey must have really like it.

 

[sportsman]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/99456 Team principal Martin Whitmarsh says McLaren is likely to switch to the new high nose design it trialled on the final afternoon of in-season testing at Mugello.
The new nose is far higher at the front than the original design, and features significantly longer pillars - effectively bringing it far closer to the stepped designs used by the rest of the field.
While McLaren only trialled the high nose in the final hours at Mugello, Whitmarsh said during a Vodafone phone-in on Wednesday that the team would run the design again in Barcelona, and that it was reasonable to expect it to remain on the car for the race.
"There's a reasonable chance we will see it on Sunday, which will be the first time our drivers experience it," Whitmarsh said.
"We got a lot of feedback from Mugello, so we have the data to set it up and can find the performance on track."

 

[Senna's_right_foot]

KekeTheKing , yes i'd thought that. I had wondered whether McLaren had planned to demo the higher nose purely in order to run a comparison with the current set-up or if they plan to introduce it on a premanent basis. Surely the fact that it's there tells us that McLaren 'Mission Control' data says it must have something to offer? I watched the Top Gear Senna tribute piece again a few nights ago, and David Coulthard remarked how Senna got injured on the first day of testing and Coulthard had to take over. He turned up and saw Senna was there and assumed he was fit, but in fact Senna just wanted to be there to listen to Coulthard's feedback and talk with him about what the car was doing and how changes affected the car. My point is, surely both regular race drivers should have been there to give opinions, if not to drive then at least be there for the day the nose was tested to discuss with the test drivers? Perhaps McLaren think sponsor obligations are more important?

 

[Senna's_right_foot]

sportsman "There's a reasonable chance we will see it on Sunday, which will be the first time our drivers experience it," Whitmarsh said.
"We got a lot of feedback from Mugello, so we have the data to set it up

And therein lies the problem. The guys actually racing the thing had a free day to 'experience it', yet McLaren chose not to use it
And it's all very well having the data but it's been proven in the past, and not just at McLaren, that what 'data' says doesn't necessarily equate to how something performs on the track. I wonder what the race drivers said about not being there? It'd be good to know but I doubt we'll ever find out.

 

[sportsman]

I found that statement odd to say the least.Why Sunday.If they are going to use it in the race surely Button and Hamilton will use it in FP.

 

[The Pits]

I think the Sunday comment was in answer to a direct question about whether the upgrades would be used in the race, from the f1 website. Also, the fact that the package has been run on track, with sensors etc, not just inthe wind tunnel or simulator should mean they have correlated data, irrespective of who was driving. Set up work being track specific may be an issue, but I am sure that this can be narrowed down through simulator work.

 

[Fenderman]

Beware Autosport dodgy editing of quotes. It wouldn't be the first time they've mixed sentences up. This line hints that the nose will be on the car from the outset of the weekend:

"... and that it was reasonable to expect it to remain on the car for the race."

 

[no-FIAt-please]

It's not just McLaren's nose that is changing, Whitmarsh said that there will also be changes to McLaren's pit stop procedures.

 

[FB]

Well Jenson tried to use the Red Bull pit last year, maybe this is the plan for both of their drivers this time out.

 

[Lewywo4]

.
My point is, surely both regular race drivers should have been there to give opinions, if not to drive then at least be there for the day the nose was tested to discuss with the test drivers?

ABSOLUTELY......It's mind boggling and infuriating, to think that Mclaren didn't have Lewis and Jenson attend the recent test session at Mugello, especially if they knew that there was a chance that consideration would be given to the use of a higher nose!

 

[FB]

One has to assume they have translated all the data into something that can be used in the simulator and both drivers are trying it out in there, having done their PR duties.

 

[Brogan]

Martin Whitmarsh has confirmed that personnel changes have been made in key areas of the pit-team ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix.

Errors during the stops, particularly with the left-rear have cost McLaren points this season, as they aim to end Red Bull's dominance.

http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/news/12433/7744063/

 

[The Pits]

can i just ask, do people feel that mclaren were disadvantaged by not having the race drivers at the tyre tests in Abu Dhabi at the end of 2010?

i seem to recall conversations very similar to the current topic at the time, however, i do not personally feel like the team lost out through this. in 2011 they were far closer to Red Bull than Ferrari were to them, and i do not think the difference was down to tyres.

so, would it be safe to assume a similar dynamic is at play here too?


i mean, the prooof will be if they lose significant ground to the competition, not whether we feel it was a bad idea or not.

 

[Galahad]

In Alice in Wonderland, the Queen of Hearts insists that it must be "sentence first, verdict afterwards" - deciding on the punishment before guilt has even been established.

This business with the McLaren testing goes a step further even than that, as not only are McLaren already judged guilty, but we don't even know whether they committed a crime or not yet! If they finish 1-2 in Catalunya, hopefully all this can be put to bed.

Then again, probably not.