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.)

 

[Senna's_right_foot]

Refreshing comments from Martin Whitmarsh regarding the Button - Perez fight, he said apart from Perez nudging Button he had no problem with them racing and he would never ask Perez not to race Button, as Button wouldn't want to be told the same if he was behind. The car still looks quite a way off the pace though, I think that the European season may be a little too soon to see any major steps forwards.

 

[KekeTheKing]

Very good sign for McLaren that Checo pushed JB.

 

[Senna's_right_foot]

No idea what this is about

 

[Porceliamone]

He can only demote himself, surely? Unless financial backers are threatening to withdraw of course...

 

[Senna's_right_foot]

I think Ron Dennis only holds a 25% share in the McLaren Group, so I suppose if the majority shareholders aren't happy they could oust him.

 

[Senna's_right_foot]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula-one/22307813

Full story now up on bbc.

Interesting:

There are also claims Dennis has tried to oust Martin Whitmarsh as principal of the F1 team and regain that position himself.

 

[Porceliamone]

From the article linked above:

"F1 insiders have said that relations between Dennis and his fellow shareholder and long-time partner Mansour Ojjeh have soured to such an extent that Ojjeh and the Bahraini government's investment arm Mumtalakat, which owns 50% of McLaren Group, are considering ousting him. "

As I mentioned in an earlier post. Speculation, of course.

 

[FB]

No one is indispensable. I read an interview with RD many years ago where he maintained any good CEO only had "10 aggressive years" and that must have been 20 years ago so Ron (by his own measure) is well past his sell by date. Another interesting thing in that article was the suggestion that Ron was going to replace Whitmarsh as the head of the F1 team. All is obviously not well at Chez McLaren.

 

[Soumya Banerjee]

Among all F1 teams,i dislike McLaren the most,hence this news is music to my ears MUAHAHAHAHAHA

 

[Quintessentially]

No surprises here, Ron probably got itchy fingers from the very first day he handed over the TP's role. Whitmarsh has been as useful as a chocolate teapot.

 

[Il_leone]

Not sure what else Ron Dennis can do

How is Ron Dennis going to oust Whitmarsh? He does not even report to him anymore

It seems like Ron Dennis is making all the chess moves and being team principal would strengthen his position

 

[downforce]

Are McLaren currently stretching the record for most consecutive point scoring finishes for any team?

 

[teabagyokel]

Have they scored in every race - if so, its the most pathetic way to maintain that record.

 

[Josh]

downforce - They are, actually. They've scored a point in every race since Bahrain 2010.

 

[Brogan]

Shame there isn't a Consecutive Points Scoring Championship then really, isn't it?

 

[no-FIAt-please]

They've been fortunate to keep that this year with some 9th and 10th place finishes. Can't say I see it being maintained all year.

 

[downforce]

Have they scored in every race - if so, its the most pathetic way to maintain that record.

eh? how else do you maintain a record for scoring points in every race?

 

[ExtremeNinja]

In style

 

[Bill Boddy]

Which of the teams prefers to get 0 points in style over 1 scrambled point? Of course, if you're talking about F1 fans...

 

[ExtremeNinja]

None. That wasn't my point. My point is it's more stylish to pick up those points without throwing a load away whilst you are at it.