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.)

 

[KekeTheKing]

Good post Fender!

It's no secret that McLaren spent considerable resources getting Button up to speed with Hamilton before, during, and especially after Canada last year. So their problem was getting the best out of JB. Now they're trying to bring Perez up to Button, which will inevitably lead to some difficult results.

Also, I find Marty's comments that he expects Perez to be more firm on the circuit ridiculous.

 

[siffert_fan]

I expect McLaren to improve greatly as the season progresses, as they have the team infrastructure to facilitate it. However, and I realize that this will be received unfavourably by some, I just don't feel that they have the driving talent on board to truly mix it up with the likes of Ferrari, RB, and Lotus. JB has always been over-rated, IMHO, and getting fairly long-in-the-tooth in F1 terms to boot, and Perez remains an unknown quantity. However, I think that Merc will be sliding backward in the next few races, which will enable McLaren to move forward.

 

[racecub]

Yes to this ^ except the Merc sliding back don't want that bit to happen

 

[RickD]

Well, went along to the MTC today, what an amazing building. What we were told is that they have a whole heap of updates coming in the next two races, a lot at Bahrain and loads more for Barcelona, near enough all parts of the cars are getting upgrades, Front wing, sidepods, rear wing, floor etc and they seem pretty on top of it.

 

[Fenderman]

Bugger. I'm not sure. I've been wrestling with this all weekend hence my ruminations in threads about Perez! The McLaren looks so good sitting still but like a complete lemon in motion. Aerodynamically it looks fantastic and I'll bet the wind tunnel tests say the same. It's got arguably the best motor on the grid in terms of grunt and drive-ability but something is missing. Do the engineers know what it is? Is it mechanical grip? Is it set up?

As for the drivers, I disagree about Button being over-rated although I agree that a few folk's have over-blown his achievements. His WDC title was well earned but, as someone said elsewhere, a World champion is not always the fastest or the best. Generally speaking, it's the person who is in the right place at the right time with the right kit. Some blokes are so good that they will compensate for not having the right kit and just add that extra magic to overcome the deficiency. That's where IMHO Button has a weakness.

So with regard to my questions above, who the heck knows. Somehow I get the feeling that, three races on, the car isn't getting any better, at least not better enough. Add to that the shifting goal posts as the rest of the grid tweak here and upgrade there, it looks like they're chasing shadows. So, I live in hope that we get pleasantly surprised sometime down the road but I'm not optimistic. Having a steady no-frills driver and an inexperienced average newby isn't going to help very much so it will all be down to the car. This year's car is supposedly all new since they ditched the "old" one due to the laws of diminishing returns. The trouble is that those laws apply to their new version just as much.

Edit: RickD posted whilst I was writing this. It sure will be interesting to see how much of the new stuff works and how much difference it will make. I have to say I have become and shall remain a sceptic on this one. If it looks like a Ferrari painted chrome silver then perhaps I'll change my mind

 

[RickD]

Fenderman - They did say (which I hadn't heard before from anyone), that they had calibration issues with the wind tunnel as well, which is apparently now sorted and they sounded confident that the parts were going to work.

 

[Fenderman]

Thanks for that RickD It's always handy to get some first hand info'. Fingers crossed then.

 

[The Pits]

I have already alluded to what some of my more learned friends believe to be the issues. They have also said that they expect the car to be quick when they get things sorted, based on the performance last year, and the areas of the changes. How long this takes, anyones guess. Mine would be by the start of the European season, I would hope they will be challenging for wins.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Besides its lack of performance, is there anything innovative about this year's McLaren? Normally they come up with something a bit different, like the F-Duct or the coander exhaust, or the u-pods...

 

[pirateplunder]

I spoke to someone in the team yesterday - generally speaking he didn't sound confident (far from it in fact) and suggested that there would be nothing significant until May and even then might not provide a noticeable improvement compared to other teams but should give a better platform to work on through to Hungary which they are targeting.

 

[Senna's_right_foot]

but should give a better platform to work on through to Hungary which they are targeting.

Behind, but better by Hungary, so pretty much like every season since 2009 then. They're consistent if nothing else

 

[F1Yorkshire]

Why change from last years car though. Minimal changes in the regs so if it ain't broke why fix it?

They could then spend the last half of this season preparing a totally new car for next season with the new engine rules.

 

[Brogan]

McLaren is as McLaren does.

I gave up trying to work them out a long time ago.

 

[Jen]

F1Yorkshire I have often wondered this myself and have come to the conclusion that this is seen as the way forward by a lot of unknowing individuals.

I'm all for structured and, indeed, necessary progress, but changes that are generated by 'keeping the boys occupied' is foolhardy and. quite often, detrimental.

Best to save all that expertise for next season when innovation will be completely appropriate.

 

[Senna's_right_foot]

F1Yorkshire Apparently last year's car had reached the end of it's development life, they felt they couldn't take it any further.
or as Ron would say, "it had arrived at it's developmentability cul-de-sac"

 

[Jen]

Which is exactly why they should have left it alone!

 

[Senna's_right_foot]

Which is exactly why they should have left it alone!

The problem with that is when everyone else was developing their cars throughout this season, McLaren would have had nowhere to go. The difficulty I have with McLaren saying last year's car had reached it's peak, is that everyone elses 2013 car is an evolution of last year's car so clearly they all had scope for development with their 2012 car. I don't understand why McLaren couldn't, especially when they've fallen so far behind.

 

[RasputinLives]

Everyone except Williams of course......not really working out for them either.

It does seem a strange situation with Mclaren but lets rememer even if it was due to tactical higgldey piggledy Jenso has been mixing it on track with the podium contenders in the last two races so much so that even if he's not been a realistic threat he's worried them enough to have to factor him in strategically.

Is Jenso driving the wheels off a bad car or is it maybe not as bad as the one lap pace suggests.

 

[Brogan]

The latter.

 

[MCLS]

I agree with Brogan, this isn't a dig at Button but he's a driver who will drive the car as fast as the car can go, but not someone who can drive it past its limit like someone like Alonso or Schumacher can