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.)

 

[cider_and_toast]

Looks like the mythical 'we've found a second a lap extra' that once appeared in Autosport every week next to Caterham's name, has found a new home in articles about McLaren.

 

[Il_leone]

EJ was in no holds barred mode at the F1 forum and good on him questioning whether Ron Dennis is the right man.

Also he questions where are Mclaren getting additional money from because its an expensive team to run and they have no title sponsor yet again which you would Mclaren should attract

Are the Bahraini's willing to put more money from their pockets?

Are Honda going to give more money?

Is Ron going to dilute the shareholders situation by bringing in more equity?

At this rate they will finish 9th in the constructors championship and that money alone is only enough to pay Alonso's wages

--

Jonathan Neale came out bullish mood and was honest that Mclaren are underperforming but they will stick Honda and get through this

 

[FB]

He isn't funding the team through the sale of road cars. https://www.duedil.com/company/01967715/mclaren-technology-group-limited

 

[Mephistopheles]

I didn't expect them to be at the front winning races but I did expect them to be able at least take part in qualifying and to at least be able to finish a race If my expectations were to high then call me an optimist.

 

[The Artist.....]

Mephistopheles

I also expected Honda to be able to build an engine that would conform to the rules... After all, we're 7 races into a 19 race season, and McLaren have run out of (penalty free) engines. Up until Canada, Rosberg and Hamilton were still on their first engine of the season! What a joke!

 

[Mephistopheles]

Like said The Artist..... if you didn't take the piss out of it you would cry..

 

[Il_leone]

Has anyone seen Ron Dennis ? It seems like everyone took turns to answer for all the problems in front of the cameras except himself

 

[cider_and_toast]

McLaren's previous longest run without a win was 53 races. Japan 77 until GB 81.

The US GP this year will mark 54 races without a win and a new record for McLaren. Not one they would want but I can't for the life of me see any other result.

 

[Mephistopheles]

If I were Alonso or Button I'd say sod this for a shit game of shit and I'd hang up my crash helmet and do something more interesting like London bus spotting or picking fluff out of my belly button...

 

[Olivier]

I think others have thought of it, but wouldn't this starter similar to that of the tag engine in 83? I think they had 7 retirements before they finished the first race. And we all know how 84 turned out to be.

 

[cider_and_toast]

I like the optimism, It would be great to see McLaren back among the challengers at the front end and we all know that the more challenges for the win there are, the better the potential for a great race, however, I think in 83, McLaren had a sound chassis in which to place the TAG engine. So once it stopped blowing up it was always going to be one of the cars to beat. This time round, the engine is woeful but the chassis appears little better.

 

[F1Brits_90]

they were making improvements every race, in the 1st 5 races in qualifying they'd gone from 1.5 secs off in melbourne to both making Q2 by 4 tenths. was only 1 tenth of Q3, but its almost like this new honda engine has sent them back in
performance because at least they had reliability.

but all we can say is button did say in melbourne we wont win the 1st but could win the last

 

[Incubus]

cider_and_toast not to mention the fact that in '83 despite its early teething and reliability issues the Tag/Porsche was immediately competitive straight out of the box and very clearly among the most powerful on the grid from the word go.. Nick Lauda during practice for the Dutch GP topped the speed strap at 289 k on the TAG's very first competitive outing.

Clearly a very different situation to what we have now with Honda.

 

[Il_leone]

well is Ron Dennis hiding under a hole or something because he has been very quiet in amidst all this nadir?

http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/1...rules-out-podium-finishes-for-mclaren-in-2015

http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/24096/9879047/f1-is-on-the-wrong-wavelength-with-radio-ga-ga

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/119394

 

[Titch]

I can't see Alonso staying the course, no power, no reliability, poor fuel consumption. What's the point of starting the race?

 

[Il_leone]

Titch I wonder if Alonso would engineer a move to Williams to be working with Pat Symonds again. He could bring Santander bank with him as additional sponsors for Williams

Alonso has reiterated about his commitment but last time Mclaren said they had a watertight contract with him and ended up releasing him for nothing so unless things improve they could be some serious fireworks between him and Ron

 

[Jen]

If Nando feels like the 'average' fan, I suspect he will say "stuff it" and leave F1 at the end of this season.

I know he likes a challenge and was hoping for another WDC, but McLaren have let him and Jenson down big time. Two of the best drivers on the grid and they offer up that pile of cack - Ron should be ashamed!

 

[KekeTheKing]

McLaren was Nando's only option. In his heart of hearts he probably knew he was headed for disaster. I think his only consolation was that he knew he could take a big chunk of Ron's money for his troubles.

Alonso has bungled himself out of a plum drive drive twice now and McLaren don't owe him anything, in fact, he's certainly still in arrears from his antics in the first go-round Woking.

 

[Jen]

Bollocks.

 

[F1Brits_90]

Titch I wonder if Alonso would engineer a move to Williams to be working with Pat Symonds again. He could bring Santander bank with him as additional sponsors

Thats possible because bottas is rumoured to be leaving for Ferrari after kimi expected retirement at the end of 2015 but would massa want to work with Alonso again