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.)

 

[Il_leone]

How on Earth can McLaren bounce back from this season? Things go from bad to worse with each race. Honda are a mess - Steve Baker

"You can say Honda is a mess. But so are McLaren. They have been a shadow of their former selves since they arrogantly stated that Lewis Hamilton would rue the day he left McLaren. Look how that has rebounded on them.

"That arrogance is still there at the top of McLaren. They are hopelessly off the pace and anyone who thinks it is just the engine is deluding themselves. The engine is a lot of it, but there are lots of other issues there.

"I personally think the day McLaren started building road cars was the day they took their eye off the ball in F1, and I will be surprised if they ever come close to winning titles again while that road car programme is still going and while the current management structure is in place.

"McLaren boss Ron Dennis sacked ex-team principal Martin Whitmarsh. But Whitmarsh never did the job of running that team as badly as Dennis is doing it now."

Eddie Jordan's reply to a question about Mclaren Honda's current predicament

 

[Titch]

Ron Dennis firmly believes that his team are moving forward according to PitPass.

 

[cider_and_toast]

Well Ron is right. His team moves forward for a few laps before something packs in.

 

[Titch]

 

[teabagyokel]

This is the amount of laps completed in race by cars with the relevant engines simply divided by the number of entrants to each race. It looks bad for Honda.

 

[Mephistopheles]

That mountain that Ron said they have to climb, well I reckon they haven't even set up base camp yet..

 

[Bill Boddy]

What gets me is that McLaren get to the circuit having carefully built the car at the factory, no doubt checking that all is well. Then they get to the circuit where they occasionally get installation laps in fairly early but rarely get any other running before the first set of tyres have to be handed in. If the problems came after several laps running I could understand it but it looks as though lifting the car into the transporter, driving 150 miles or so on motorways and then lifting it out of the transporter is sufficient to break it.

What is going on?

 

[Il_leone]

Incidentally just hearing Ron Dennis questioning Christian Horner's tenure at Red Bull. Well he'd better explain when his own team will improve for a start

I am sorry but there is no way anyone is going to invest in Mclaren if they are slow and breakdown all the time

 

[Il_leone]

http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/1...pressure-on-honda-every-day-to-improve-engine

 

[Jen]

"Boullier says well over 50 per cent of McLaren’s deficit to Mercedes at the front is down to Honda and contrary to the Japanese firm’s insistence that their plan is for the long term, he wants improvement soon".

I thought it was a 100% or is that we have been led to believe?

 

[Titch]

But the rest is down to the team?

 

[sobriety]

Trouble is, it's quite hard to develop anything else on the car when bits of the drivetrain seem to break every other lap!

 

[Incubus]

It's even harder when upgraded parts get damaged in first lap crashes as soon as they're introduced for the second race in succession!

 

[Il_leone]

Eddie Jordan is really letting loose at Mclaren saying he does not what solution they could do use but they have been arrogant

That is some serious strong words

I think 99% is down to Ron Dennis he was proclaiming himself to be the saviour of Mclaren and the right man to bring them back to the glory days

That looks a long way off and he had better find ways of getting some gullible sponsors who would invest in the junk they are building

 

[Titch]

I see Ron Dennis has been practicing his charm school techniques. He is calling Eddie Jordan the village idiot.
Takes one to know one.


He really doesn't like criticism, does he.

 

[teabagyokel]

Titch - Having not being criticised at all, I can confirm that Eddie Jordan is a village idiot.

 

[Dash Racing]

For all that things are going badly, for the first time today, I have hope that McLaren is on the road to improvement. They have been making progress, albeit very slowly, but I think by next year Honda will have at least a reliable engine, if not a quick one.

I don't like Ron Dennis, I never have. He reminds me of someone my dad worked for in F3000 - he's a complete numpty who talks nonsense and thinks it makes him sound smart when everyone says "huh?" But I think the team beneath him are getting serious work done, and we'll see a much-improved car come 2016.

I think we'll have seen two new US presidents inaugurated by the time McLaren's battling Ferrari and Williams again, but I do feel like they might be a solid low-midfield team by next year, probably duking it out with Toro Rosso and Sauber for points, relegating poor Manor to tail-end charlie again.

 

[Il_leone]

http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/24180/9905139?

This must be a first where Ron has come out to support Button about his future

 

[cider_and_toast]

Fair play. It's unusual to read a statement from Ron-a-tron that is clear and free of Ron speak. Button has been putting a brave face on the whole thing which always goes down well corporately.

The big question is, with Button at the tail end of his time in F1 and pretty much behind Alonso in terms of pace at each race weekend so far, how muc further will that gap open?

 

[Il_leone]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/33437682