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.)

 

[FB]

It will be interesting to see if the car still handles well with full power. I suspect a Nissan Micra wouldn't go so well round corners with a V8 engine bolted in.

 

[Kewee]

I'm picking well FB. The aerodynamics aren't even getting a chance to do what they designed to do. Everything on that car is only operating at two thirds it's capability and if they don't make massive gains when they start using the power they have in reserve they have huge problems. The one big step that's holding them back is reliability and I can't see and automotive giant such as Honda being unable to get on top of that issue sooner rather than later. I hope I'm not wrong.

 

[FB]

The one big step that's holding them back is reliability and I can't see and automotive giant such as Honda being unable to get on top of that issue sooner rather than later.

This was very reliable.

 

[Kewee]

FB..... The problem Honda had then was it was trying to operate their team from Japan by committee. If they had put a team principle in charge and concentrated on what they had always done well in the past, develop their engine, things may have been different. They've been powering a large part of the Indy Car grid, which of course is turbocharged, for years with fabulous reliability. Of course the engine they're currently developing has greater complexity but they're a company well equipped to become more than a match for any other manufacturer and my bet is they will be at the sharp end of the grid by 2016

 

[FB]

And who's to say the engine development team isn't being run by committee? I admire your optimism Kewee but I reckon McLaren and Honda have two season to get close to the front and by then Alonso will be 36 so well past his prime as an F1 driver with little or no chance of winning another title. The feller has made a very made bad choice but, if you look at it from the outside, it would appear Ferrari saw him as part of the problem rather than part of the solution and he had nowhere else to go other than McLaren. I can imagine both he and Ron swallowed on something hard and jagged as they signed the contracts.

Looking at the season opener he would have been better off at Toro Rosso or Sauber for 2015.

 

[Kewee]

It will be interesting to see if our views are the same by the time they reach Silverstone. I reckon my optimism will prove to be well placed. Have pity on me if I'm wrong FB, I'll be a depressed old bugger.

 

[olegg]

There is message on the McLaren blog:
@McLarenF1 7 ч. 7 часов назад
#OnThisDay in '74 McLaren's handsome hero Peter Revson was killed in a Shadow DN3 at Kyalami. #GoneButNotForgotten

"Peter Revson was killed"

It sounds very strange for driver who died in the incident.

P.S.
And another moment.
Peter Revson died on South Africa on the Kyalami Circuit on Shadow's car
After this Thomas Pryce has replaced Peter Revson in the Shadow team.
Three years later Thomas Pryce died on South Africa on the Kyalami Circuit on Shadow's car

 

[Il_leone]

You have to ask Ron Dennis what Mclaren have done to help Honda get up to speed in F1 They have the Mercedes engine to compare and review information so what did they get out of it ?

Ron said Mclaren were starting with zero base because he believed it was high risk and high rewarding in doing something different rather than copy what Mercedes to .

The concern are the parts for the engines fitting the chassis because unless its a customer then you would have thought with the resources of both Mclaren and Honda then they would have managed to synchronise the engine and chassis together

 

[siffert_fan]

If McLaren finish the season behind Manor and Sauber, will Ron survive?

 

[Mephistopheles]

If things don't improve sharpish I can't see him making it til the summer break, they've got the slowest car on the grid and no sponsors.

Good job Ron, a blinding performance, why don't you naff off and polish your gravel drive by hand that should keep you busy..

 

[Hamberg]

How is this Ron's fault the car is shit?

 

[The Artist.....]

Hamberg

The reason people are on his back is after he usurped Martin Whitmarsh, based on the idea that "the car was shit" and "a failure to sign a title sponsor"

Since then, McLaren have got worse, and are still without a title sponsor, and have gone through schisms with the driving line up... If Whitmarsh was to blame before, then Dennis must be to blame now.

(I don't think that Whitmarsh was fairly treated at all btw).

 

[Hamberg]

I agree with all of that and also Whitmarsh being held responsible.

I'm interested in this

Hamberg
Whitmarsh was to blame before, then Dennis must be to blame now.

Many of those blaming Dennis were adamant it wasn't Whitmarsh's fault, it was a collective including the team.

So if that's true then Dennis also can't be held fully responsible (I think he is).

Which means the only answer in the short term is replace everybody.

 

[The Artist.....]

Hamberg

I suppose people are just unhappy that all the pretence Ron used to unseat Whitmarsh hasn't magically been fixed. Personally, I don't blame Whitmarsh for the issues at McLaren- it was very much a team issue, much as I don't blame Dennis. However, I do maintain that all the shenanigans with drivers, and tensions within the team, very much are Ron's fault!

 

[sobriety]

But this year, it looks like the chassis is good but the engine is rubbish. Which isn't the fault of McLaren, it's the fault of the engine supplier, now who agreed that contract?

 

[RasputinLives]

http://cliptheapex.com/threads/the-mclaren-will-be-so-slow.7350/#post-279395

The Mclaren Honda's first legacy

 

[Kewee]

But this year, it looks like the chassis is good but the engine is rubbish. Which isn't the fault of McLaren, it's the fault of the engine supplier, now who agreed that contract?

From what I can understand the Honda engine is very good and is able to put out very high power figures, the problems they're having appear to be related to the MGU units and their ability to gel with the engine. This is all very new and very complex technology, Mercedes are having the most success though even they had their problems initially. It amazes me that people are so critical so soon after Hondas re-entry into the sport, they've only started one grand prix. How can anyone believe that's enough to get on top of their problems.

 

[cider_and_toast]

Perhaps because they've had a year or so of unrestricted testing and development in which they should have got on top of their problems in order to produce and engine that doesn't explode on a warm up lap?

 

[sobriety]

That has surprised me. If I was Honda I would've contracted a company to build me a tub, the nice men at bridgestone to make some tyres and then spent 2014 pounding round and round Suzuka. Bugger the spirit of the regs.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Hamberg Dennis got rid of Whitmarsh on the grounds of lack of results and sponsorship and he promised to change all that but he hasn't hence the sarcasm in my above post...