McLaren on MP4-27's legality and Vettel being better than LH or JB?

[tranquility2k9]

I don't know if any of you saw but Autosport posted an article earlier today then had some very interesting content. There were quotes saying how their car was going to be very radical and that there would be innovation that would be obvious to see as soon as it is revealed. There was talk of others questioning its legality. This is all normal I guess.

What is strange is the end of the article where the McLaren spokesman said they had the fastest car at the end of 2011 and that Red Bull were only winning still because of Vettel. For a start, in Brazil there is no way in hell that McLaren were faster than Red Bull. At Abu Dhabi maybe, but Hamilton won there.

Anyway - Autosport removed the article after a little while, but luckily I've found a copy of it that someone took an image of:-

http://i40.tinypic.com/efl8pd.jpg

Very strange how Autosport have not even commented on it.

Edit: also found copy of article here:- http://www.racer.com/mclaren-set-for-new-car-legality-fight/article/225427/

 

[no-FIAt-please]

Why was the article removed?

 

[canis]

I think someone may have spoken out of turn and not cleared it with the pr people? In which case look for a nice exclusive in autosport provided by McLaren over the next few weeks

 

[KekeTheKing]

....the McLaren spokesman said they had the fastest car at the end of 2011.....

Dennis and Whitmarsh were telling anybody that would listen that they had the fastest 'race' car at the beginning of 2011. It was just that pesky qualifying thing.

 

[The Pits]

If anyone wants to see the article, if you are on Twitter, @f1kate had a screen grab before it was taken down.

Personally, I am not sure how motivational the comments would be to lewis and Jenson, nor how wise it is to suggest that the car will be radical, and likely to cause a stir, cos it certainly will now!!!

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

That was a pretty bizarre claim for the McLaren spokesperson to make. Can't imagine someone's too popular in Woking right now.

 

[Greenlantern101]

From that article I am expecting the Mclaren to look like a cross between an Apache helicopter gun ship and The Bat Mobile.

Only 2hours 17mins to go until we find out.

 

[racecub]

Maybe those comments were said tongue in cheek. 'It MUST be down to the driver cos our car ended up just as fast as the red bull' Read between the lines....'Our car is now faster, Vettel is no better at quali than Lewis therefore what else is at play..?'

 

[ExtremeNinja]

That's not reading between the lines. That's invention.

 

[FB]

"We're trying to figure out exactly what he's doing that's so good. How does he pull out that fast qualifying lap every time? We think it's driver skill. There's no trickery on the cars, he just gets more out of it than we do."

Reading between the lines "Our drivers are crap, we wish Vettel was driving for Mclaren"

 

[racecub]

Reading between the lines "Our drivers are crap, we wish Vettel was driving for Mclaren"

Nah!!

 

[ExtremeNinja]

That would be a more accurate deduction of reading between the lines, whether you agree with the sentiment or not. Slightly over exaggerated but in the right vein.

 

[racecub]

Well whoever it was that made those comments must either be very stupid or on RB's payroll.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Well, he didn't actually say they were crap. What he implied was that Vettel's championship had a lot owing to the man in the cockpit. You don't need wages from Red Bull to come to that conclusion. I don't think anybody would argue that either of McLaren's drivers drove a better season than Vettel. They clearly didn't. The McLaren was competitive all year. It wasn't as quick as the Red Bull, on more occasions than less, but not enough to count for the gulf between Vettel and either of his British challengers.

Vettel has become the envy of all Red Bull's competitors. This statement reflects the opinion of the general consensus. As Vettel's stock has gone up, other's has gone down. That's just the way it is.

 

[racecub]

Well, he didn't actually say they were crap. What he implied was that Vettel's championship had a lot owing to the man in the cockpit. You don't need wages from Red Bull to come to that conclusion. I don't think anybody would argue that either of McLaren's drivers drove a better season than Vettel. They clearly didn't. The McLaren was competitive all year. It wasn't as quick as the Red Bull, on more occasions than less, but not enough to count for the gulf between Vettel and either of his British challengers.

Vettel has become the envy of all Red Bull's competitors. This statement reflects the opinion of the general consensus. As Vettel's stock has gone up, other's has gone down. That's just the way it is.

You may or may not be right in your analysis of the relative merits of the brits v the red Bull boys....I wasnt arguing that point (though of course I do have my views on it ) I was saying that the spokesperson must be stupid or in the pay of Red Bull. For a McLaren spoksperson to say that, whether its right or whether its wrong, is stupid....unless Red Bull are paying him megabucks to say it, then it becomes a canny business deal.

 

[Cookinflatsix]

Reading between the lines

'we cant work out what trick the RB team pull in quali and the first lap to beat us all the time even when our car is as good as theirs all race, we aint that much worse at engineering than RB so it must therefore be Vettel making the difference'

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Spot on cookin. I think there is nothing else to take from that than your summary.

 

[Slyboogy]

Reading between the lines

'we cant work out what trick the RB team pull in quali and the first lap to beat us all the time even when our car is as good as theirs all race, we aint that much worse at engineering than RB so it must therefore be Vettel making the difference'

If that's reading between the lines, then I hardly think it would have got taken off at autosport.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

It is quite easy to challenge such an article if you are in McLaren's position if the quote is unoffiial, not from a designated media representative, there is no evidential source or manuscript from the interview. I can quite understand why McLaren would see this as a potential PR fail and they have some well paid PR bods to clean things like that up.

 

[racecub]

They need new spokespeople. I could do it!! Way better than that guy who said all the rubbish.