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.)

 

[sushifiesta]

But not at McLaren. Unless there's a Japanese driver around who is clearly WDC (or at least race winning) potential he will not be given a McLaren seat. If Honda supply a Caterham/Marussia type team in the future then maybe they'll pay to get a Japanese driver in, but I'd put money on it not happening at McLaren.

 

[cider_and_toast]

Yeah just like the WDC potential in Sergio Perez and Kevin Magnusson (watch that one come back and bight me in the bum)

 

[sushifiesta]

I edited my post to change to add the "at least race winning" caveat, which you may or may not have seen. There have been plenty of McLaren drivers that have emerged as not being WDC level - Perez, Kovalainen, Coulthard etc. but when they joined McLaren all of them were highly rated or already part of the McLaren family. Forgive my ignorance if I'm wrong but I'm not aware of a single Japense driver that fits the bill and I don't see Max Chilton's Japanese cousin being given a McLaren seat..

 

[FB]

I was going to post a list of all the Japanese F1 drivers but got bored. Suffice to say the vast majority got their seats either through a Japanese entry (back in the day when you could rock up to a Grand Prix and enter a car for a single race), via engine suppliers or through sponsors/a large bucket of Yen.

Not sure if McLaren have ever had a driver placed by a sponsor or engine supplier. Senna is reported to have brought Honda to McLaren. Were any drivers placed during the Peugeot debacle?

 

[Road of Bones]

FB - wasn't Alliot in the running before Brundle got the nod?

Looks like the Johnnie Walker story was just that - a story, created by Byron Young, a noted exaggerator of paddock rumour:
http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns28976.html

 

[teabagyokel]

I'd just note at this point that Romain Grosjean has become a lot less guarded about describing the Lotus in unflattering terms. Ron Dennis clearly wants Button out. Eric Boullier is his team principal.

 

[sushifiesta]

The Boullier link adds some plausibility but to me it doesn't seem clear that he'd offer more than Button and he's a lot older than Magnussen. I won't be too surprised if it happens but it doesn't quite add up for me.

Having said that Bottas has committed to Williams, Hulkenberg is currently being beaten by Perez and bringing an Alonso/Vettel type driver to a team with an unproven chassis and engine seems unlikely so they don't really have many options if they're not happy with their current drivers...

 

[teabagyokel]

If they're looking at the last half of 2013 then they can't help but be impressed. And he's got some points out of that lump.

 

[FB]

Quite possibly Road of Bones. Alliot did stand in for Mika Hakkinen at the Hungarian GP in 1994.

 

[The Pits]

If they are going to move JB out to pasture, they really need to have a grandee signing lined up. I agree that Grosjean is a strong contender, but I do not know if he is in the top top echelon that is required, and I am also not sure he would be an improvement over Button or Magnussen pound for pound.

I get the feeling that McLaren want to make a statement with their next signings, and I would not be surprised to see Button make way for Alonso. The only question I would ask is whether Alonso is the solution for the 3 to 5 years which Boullier has previously alluded to.

 

[teabagyokel]

The Pits - I can't imagine that they're going to get a grandee, as Honda's engine would need to be about twice as good as the Merc to propel the McLaren chassis to a title challenge.

I do get the feeling that Dennis wants all reminders of Whitmarsh out, including those originally from Somerset.

 

[FB]

As sad as it is I do think that's Jenson's problem, his Whitmarsh connection. He's certainly getting the best from a rather crappy car and isn't being embarrassed by the latest McLaren Wunderkind. The big problem McLaren have is who the hell do they get in to replace him?

Here's one from left field, Rosberg seems a bit down in the dumps and has just lost the title lead to some bloke from Stevenage despite the fact that he is a) German (nearly) b)driving a Mercedes (see how the two are linked?) and c) F1 "Royalty". I know he has a contract with Merc but as we all know F1 contracts about about as robust as tin foil tank. What about Nico to McLaren if he doesn't win the title?

 

[The Pits]

Not sure about Nico to McLaren, unless he wins the WDC, that being the case, I think it is more likely that Lewis will make the switch

 

[F1Yorkshire]

I don't see Rosberg going to McLaren, not next season anyway. He's spent the last few years being part of a fledgling team which is what McLaren will become again when Honda come onboard. Will he really want to spend a few seasons developing the car just for someone else to jump in alongside him just as the performance arrives. Rosberg will stay at Merc as it is his best chance of a title in 2015.

 

[Road of Bones]

I'm tired of watching Jenson flogging about trying to wring results out of McLaren's cars. I caught myself getting a bit excited that he was in the running for 6th yesterday, before realising that 2 years ago he was winning races for them. Then, perhaps unsurprisingly, this year's dismal mount decided to turn itself off, presumably in a sudden fit of self-loathing.

Much as I would love for JB to stay at McLaren next year, unless Honda produce a decent PU (which doesn't grenade itself at every opportunity, as the old ones used to), which is mated to a McLaren chassis that is less about aesthetics than effective downforce, then I'm not sure I could bear to watch him tugging about on the edges of the decent points for yet another season. I'd rather he went off to do Sportscars (at which I reckon he'd be bloody good, frankly).

 

[sushifiesta]

My general feeling is that 2016 is the year in which it's feasible that some of the top echelon of drivers could be looking for drives. To move for 2015 just seems like too much of a gamble for those drivers to burn bridges with their current teams with there potentially being quite a big shake up in the order as the other engine manufactuers (maybe) catch up with Mercedes. I know there have been a lot of rumours about Alonso or Vettel moving somewhere but personally I don't see it happening now because of that. And I really don't see Hamilton or Rosberg leaving a dominant Mercedes unless there's a complete breakdown in communications between now and the end of the season.

If I'm right that pretty much only leaves Grosjean and Hulkenberg as viable options for 2015, with Bianchi, Vandoorne and Vergne as outside bets, and Bottas if they felt like paying Williams megabucks to extract him from his contract. Hulkenberg wouldn't be an especially easy sell either considering he's being kept honest by the guy they ditched last year.

So if McLaren want to ditch Button then maybe Grosjean is the only option...

 

[The Artist.....]

cider_and_toast given that McLaren and Honda's most successful livery was red and white, I fully expect to see a red and white mclaren at the start of next season!

JB is also the nearest thing there is to a Japanese superstar driver at the moment; Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton are all not available; I'd say th

 

[F1Yorkshire]

The problem there is that the Red & White came from the Marlboro sponsorship. Cigarette advertising is no more and even though you can't copyright colours I can't see them allowing such a livery again without everyone associating them with Marlboro once again.

 

[cider_and_toast]

Good point about Jenson though, With his other half being Japanese he's definately popular in Asia. That could be one more point in his favour for staying on at McLaren next year.

 

[teabagyokel]

F1Yorkshire - White and red is very much associated with Honda, their 1960s livery had these colours, and they supplemented the BAT colours of 2000-06.