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.)

 

[RasputinLives]

I imagine De Vries will stay on for WSR. If they were going to put him in GP2 it would have most likely have been with ART.

 

[Il_leone]

Gp2 series looks to be the most competitive than last season o might not be a bad idea but De Vries has to win the series you think

 

[Il_leone]

Jenson Button on Instagram: “Oh yeah!! #JB22 #FA14 #beliveinmclarenhonda”

Make what you will of this mugshot

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

Honda boss Mr Arai is a goner.
Honda to get new F1 boss

 

[cider_and_toast]

So they let the man run the development program for the 2016 engine then force him to step down on the eve of a new season. Any one else think that he was given the winter to sort it out and failed leading to another season of struggle for McLaren?

 

[Kewee]

I don't think that cider_and_toast, it's the Japanese way for punishing failure and they certainly failed in 2015. The first day was promising at least. I think they'll be looking good by the time they arrive in Melbourne, they won't win but they'll be fighting near the front. I'm looking forward to Alonso's times on the last day of this test.

 

[cider_and_toast]

But if they wanted to punish failure then surely giving the new man a full run across the winter to influence (even in a small way) the 2016 engine would have made more sense. Letting Mr Arai go now means that his replacement is left with whatever state the engine is in at the start of the season and with very little scope to influence design, managerial or business change that will have a major effect on this season. Any benefit of a new boss now won't be felt until much later in the season.

 

[Kewee]

Mr Arai is only one year away from compulsory retirement. He will be continuing to attend some races and will help Honda's new man settle in. He will still contribute behind the scenes. There's a lot more being made of these changes than is warranted.

 

[cider_and_toast]

Maybe so, but it still seems a strange bit of timing, I'm sure the new guy would have wanted an off season in which to find his feet rather than being thrust forward into the limelight at the start of what could be another difficult season and left to be taking the blame for events that occurred on Mr Arai's watch.

Have to admire your 'cup half full' attitude towards McLaren though. Let's hope they reward your continual optimism

 

[Kewee]

Of course we don't know how long the change Honda have made had been planned. Their new man may have already been going through a settling in period throughout the winter, Honda may have decided to wait until now before making an announcement.
You should know me cider_and_toast, I'm a Kiwi, I have to support McLaren.

 

[F1Brits_90]

Honda boss Mr Arai is a goner.
Honda to get new F1 boss

No I may have been jumping to conclusions yesterday with eric buoiller comments at lunchtime yesterday but surely this adds more fuel to the fire that all is not well at McLaren

 

[FB]

Ted Kravitz said of Honda that they are going to test the old engine and the new engine, put together the best bits of both and let McLaren use that for 2016. Nice to know they have such faith in the design improvements their engineers have come up with.

 

[cider_and_toast]

That does not sound good.

 

[The Artist.....]

Ted Kravitz said of Honda that they are going to test the old engine and the new engine, put together the best bits of both and let McLaren use that for 2016. Nice to know they have such faith in the design improvements their engineers have come up with.

Because of the tokens system, they almost have to do this - it is a crying shame that they can't just thrown the entire shitbox of the 2015 engine in the bin, and start again!

 

[teabagyokel]

If any part of the old engine makes it, it'll be a shiteotron.

 

[The Artist.....]

teabagyokel - roughly 50% will carry forward from 2015 to 2016.....

 

[teabagyokel]

Oh dear.

 

[The Pits]

My understanding was that the actual enginey bit was pretty good, let down by the poor ers/h. I suppose it depends on which bits they keep or chuck, but poor performance does not mean the wole thing is bad.

That said, they may find a wayto lash it all up, i mean, the renault engine looked ok in 2014...

 

[Kewee]

My understanding is the engine they're now using is completely new, so is the hybrid. Despite this it is not the engine they'll be running in Melbourne, this will be a refined development of the new engine they're currently using for testing. This is part of their pre planned development program.

 

[Il_leone]

Mr Arai is retiring because it is Honda's policy that they retire at 60 years old not like here where you may work till 75 years old

I remember Toyota ran a similar policy with their team principals having to retire.

The Japanese culture is ill suited to F1.

Lets hope the new guy will make a difference. My concern is Honda need to supply a second team to get more feedback is it any wonder why Mercedes are doing well when they have 4 teams to get data from