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.)

 

[Fenderman]

I guess I should address McLaren's approach to this weekend in a more serious vein and explain what annoys me - their capitulation or what they seem to be doing this weekend.

I can fully understand their writing off this season in terms of car development for this year's car and would think that they actually did that a few races ago. That to me is perfectly acceptable and wise. However, when Button says they are going to try something radical to see if they can learn something for the 2014 car, it suggests to me that their focus is not on doing their best for this race weekend.

As everyone knows motorsport is dangerous and that racing is a serious business. It's bad enough that two of three teams were brought into F1 to pack the grid without giving them sufficient allowances or financial rewards to enable them to properly compete. Caterham and Marussia have done a great job to survive but their role has been to provide mobile chicanes which they have been equally very good at. But the prospect of a once great team reduced to "trying something radical" for next year, trundling round with their focus on a different game is to me rather worrying. McLaren are famous for making strategic errors even when they have all the cards stacked in their favour and their focus on the event in hand. What I do not want to see is them faffing about like rookies when everyone else is trying to do their best for and in this event.

Lapses of concentration and focus are dangerous to those that have them and to those around them. We have four race weekends to go including this one and so McLaren need to optimise what they have got for these events so that the drivers can concentrate on each one as it comes and put in the best drives they can. If they aren't willing to do that it says a lot about why they were no fucking good this season and why they will be equally crap in 2014. I just hope that their lack of focus doesn't mess up qualifying and the race for the chaps who are taking the rest of the season seriously. I also hope that the drivers keep their attention on the event in had and don't wind up causing mayhem - or worse - in the heat of the action.

 

[The Pits]

Fenderman I think it is a big jump from "trying something radical" to an assumption that they will have no focus on the race, and will be "trundling round" and being a general danger. It is possible to take a risk on set up, see what it does, as they have little to realistically fight for this season. I recall many teams doing similar across several seasons, especially towards the sharp end if they are not involved in any significant battles.

Many teams have already switched efforts to next year, so would a lack of development cause them to have"Lapses of concentration and focus"?

I expect the team and the drivers to be fully focussed, as ever, notwithstanding McLarens propensity for a good lash up, which seems to stand more when they are in contention than when they are not.

Edit: 0.652 off the pace in P1.

 

[Road of Bones]

I was about to make a similar point The Pits - doesn't seem to have hurt that much, does it? Closer than they've been for the majority of the season, at least (caveat - it's only FP1...)

 

[Fenderman]

Considering the vitriol one of their ex-drivers used to get for supposedly losing focus due to off track distractions I would suggest that my expectations are quite mild. It's one thing for the chaps and chapesses back at the factory to be concentrating their efforts on next season, but quite another to be doing that at a current event.

If as we are told, F1 is the height of mental and physical challenge in motorsport, then we should expect the combatants to be at the height of commitment and concentration at each and every event. If they are not then as far as I'm concerned I am being sold a cheap cut for the price of prime.

 

[The Pits]

As I have said, I cannot see how it is different to what many teams have done over the years. Akin to a football team trying a new formation or player when they are not in any danger, nor contention. They will still be putting 100% into the best result possible, and may even perform better without the weight of expectation.

A new front wing, or a higher rake angle can surely not be compared to splitting up with a girlfriend? I would add that I was NOT one of those espousing "Vitriol" on an ex driver.

 

[RasputinLives]

Espousing? Vitriol? Big words for a Friday.

I don't see any harm in testing bits for next year when they have no titles to win. Isn't that focusing on issues just a bit further forward.

If they were pootling around with high vis paint on and Jenson hanging his heas out the cockpit taking pictures of the wing through the high corners I might agree with you Fenders but looks to me like they are going to race with a 2014 style set up and see what its like over a race distance.

 

[Fenderman]

We shall see. If it were any other team I would perhaps share your confidence, chaps. But this is the team that I reckon threw away the opportunity to win at least two WDC's and possibly the WCC's that went with them because they couldn't even do the job when their car was good.

Ignoring my accusations regarding the l"ack of concentration crap" it's the lack of commitment to this event and the three to follow that actually annoys me. It's crapola. The tail end Charlies are fighting their guts out to finish tenth in the championship because if they don't won't get a share from the F1 kitty. Meanwhile, well financed under-performing big team can use four race weekends for practise and take home a nice wedge at the end of the season.

I followed the exploits of McLaren for decades but this season they have plummeted to depths I never thought possible. Had they not had more dough and resources than Williams they would have been worse than them, oh wait ... I'd better check the tables before I say any more ...

 

[Road of Bones]

I don't get the "lack of commitment to this event and the three to follow" Fenderman - why not try something to improve their prospects before next season? If anything, I think trying something radical during what amounts to these 4 dead rubbers suggests more commitment than you're allowing them credit for showing.

And, to be honest, with so little information about exactly just how "radical" they're trying to be, it could all just be based around a bit of a soundbite comment from a tape-recorder thrust under JB's nose in a media scrum, frankly.

The reason McLaren are better-financed than the tail-end Charlies is because they have performed better in the past - granted though, this season has been distinctly disenchanting (and a contributory reason for my current disillusionment with F1 as a whole, if I'm completely honest).

 

[RasputinLives]

Mclaren we far worse in 94 and 95 than they were this year.

 

[Incubus]

Don't know about that RasputinLives , they were still the fourth fastest team behind Williams, Benetton nd Ferrari.

 

[The Artist.....]

Incubus
I know what you mean, but there is the perception that they are closer to the front this year than they were in '94/'95 (I suspect this has a lot more to do with a general closing up of the field though) - in '94/95, I seem to remember McLaren being between 1.5 and 2 seconds off the ultimate pace. This year, they're more like 1 second off the pace...

 

[Incubus]

Well of course it's all relative to the era we refer to.
At the height of the turbo era you could be 2 seconds off the pace in quali and still be considered as one of the favourites to win the race!

 

[Fenderman]

Indeed Road of Bones . It's nothing new for an off-hand comment to spawn weeks of speculation. I'm just speculating on the ramifications of adopting a "testing" attitude to "racing" circumstances - albeit in an unusually (for me) vociferous tone. I'm just totally gutted about their pitiful performance this season and the catalogue of missed opportunities and unforced errors in preceding seasons. Macca managed to make Button and Lewis Hamilton look like "also-ran's". A truly remarkable achievement considering the abilities of the two champ's. This year they have surpassed themselves. As I say it's understandable and acceptable to write off the season and divert factory resources. but it would be nice to believe that racing was foremost in their minds on track. So if I feel the need to rant and milk it for column inches, I will.

With regard to their performance this season compared to 1994 and '95, I'll let he numbers do the talking:

Note: 1995 season had 17 races and 1994 had 16. Even with a one two finish on Sunday (worth 45 points) they cannot surpass 1994 on an equivalent number of races. To beat their 1995 result they need to get 52 points out of two races. Numerically much more possible but will they?

 

[teabagyokel]

1995 ITALIAN GRAND PRIX RESULTS

The thing I'm trying to suggest here is that getting a podium in 1995 was no subject to the same concerns as it would be in 2013. In that race, of which nearly a third of McLaren's points were picked up, Schumacher and Hill ran into each other, both Ferraris failed to finish, the other Williams of Coulthard failed to finish, both Jordans failed to finish having started in front of at least one McLaren each.

You can say, "well, McLaren did better than all of those by actually finishing the race" and they did, but the fact is that the level of attrition which existed in F1 up to about 2001 means it is impossible to judge a performances from such years as 2013 and 1995 side-by-side. They will get more points in 1995 simply because average performance was better rewarded. A year where Gianni Morbidelli got a podium in a bloody Footwork is clearly a different proposition to one where all the podiums are shared amongst just 4 teams.

 

[Fenderman]

True. Although Macca had their fair share of DNF's in those years as well which kind of levels the field a bit.

Edit: here are the numbers:

1994 Retirements = Hakkinen 7, Brundle 9, Alliot 2,
1995 Retirements = Hakkinen 9 + 1 DNS, Blundell 5, Mansell 1.

Oh and I found that my figures are wrong as Magnussen had a 10th place finish for McLaren at the Pacific GP in 1995 which would add un punto to the 2013 scorecard!​

 

[teabagyokel]

The only problem is that the Monza race is an opportunity that the only equivalent of in the last while was Valencia 2012 - Schumacher's podium in other words.

 

[Fenderman]

I agree that comparisons race by race don't really work at all. Let's face it, in the '90s if one ended up in the gravel trap one was out whereas these days a trip across the run-off just costs places. Considering the challenges to get one's car to the finish back then I would actually suggest that any points system understates the achievements of the constructors (and drivers) back then.

 

[pirateplunder]

A year ago today (I just happened to be looking back at my past posts) I said that I thought McLaren would finish this season in 5th. With two races to go they're 18 points safe of 6th which is probably more than FI can make up. However they are a whopping 202 points off 4th.

Perez is doing better - perhaps they should employ him on a rolling fortnightly contract so he never disappears again (whoever employs Massa should do the same!) and Button is doing what he can (I suspect he's well and truly fed up). I wonder if they will be able to do any better next year? I can't see them doing any worse but I can't really see them improving enough to catch up with a Kimi less Lotus let alone Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes.

 

[Mephistopheles]

There is no doubt this has been a piss poor year for McLaren although the car has looked slightly stronger in the last couple of races...

 

[teabagyokel]

They've signed Red Bull's aero team, which can't be bad news.