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.)

 

[Titch]

McLaren is doomed I tell you. Doomed.

 

[Il_leone]

I think it is clear to say they will be in the bottom 3 teams at Melbourne at the moment

 

[F1Brits_90]

Im looking forward to pit stops in Australia for Mclaren.

• Box this lap stoffel
• Take the 4 old tyres off
• Clear the sidepods
• Remove a tearoff on visor
• Change the engine
• Put 4 new tyres on
• Go Go Go stoffel

 

[RasputinLives]

I think it is clear to say they will be in the bottom 3 teams at Melbourne at the moment

Bold prediction. As much as I like to mock Mclaren I'm holding my tongue. Remember how bad they were in testing in 2009? But for a bit of gamesmanship they would have got a podium in Australia that season.

 

[Rutherford]

Bold prediction. As much as I like to mock Mclaren I'm holding my tongue. Remember how bad they were in testing in 2009? But for a bit of gamesmanship they would have got a podium in Australia that season.

This time it's the engine, I can't see any major changes being done to fix issues. They are on their second engine again today, after problems yesterday and it's supposed to be their PU for Australia.

 

[Bill Boddy]

It has taken Alonso to third in today,s testing. Not bad for a sewing machine.

 

[TR]

It has taken Alonso to third in today,s testing. Not bad for a sewing machine.

In what alternate reality was that?

 

[F1Brits_90]

Ouch

Alonso: Honda has no power and no reliability

Although looking forward to the Australian GP & Alonso shouting down the radio "GP3 Engine GP3 Engine"

 

[Bill Boddy]

In what alternate reality was that?

At the time Alonso did his fastest lap the BBC showed that he was in third position. This scared all the other drivers so much that they all went out with only fumes in their tank to get ahead of him. Or maybe something else happened.

 

[Il_leone]

The fastest lap a Mclaren did was nearly 3 seconds slower than Ferrari did on the fastest tyre and they've not been able to do full race simulation runs longer than 11 laps.

Honda boss is now quoted that he is scared of the performance gap between Honda and the other engine manufacturers

Andrew Benson summed up correctly that Mclaren said deny that they are not in "crisis" but the definition of such word means

"a time of intense difficulty or danger" and/or "a time when a difficult or important decision must be made" which indicates they are

The 10 year contract that Honda have with Mclaren surely is going to be questioned given they are not making enough gains more embarrassingly is if Alonso walks and they can't attract world class drivers namely World champions for a start
----------------------------------------------------------

Melbourne 2009 when Mclaren were on the podium was more down to keeping out of the carnage than on pure pace as the subsequent races proved the car lacked aerodynamic grip until it got on top of the problems

 

[The Artist.....]

From what has been said, it seems the Honda engine has significant issues of vibrations. It's vibrating so hard that electrical connections are coming apart!

Because of the vibrations, the team cannot run at full power, and even holding back are desperately unreliable.

Honda need to have been running simulations since day 1 of testing to get rid of the vibrations- or this could be a very long season for McLaren! Ideally, they need a new spec engine for Melbourne!

 

[Bushi]

Same problem that Ferrari had last year, in pre season testing. Although they could run more laps.

Maybe it comes from going from one turbo to bi turbo.

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

I'm surprised issues like that aren't resolved when the engine's being tested in development, and not when they've got to the late stage and limited time of actually testing the completed car. I'm guessing they must do a variety of 'punishment' tests to the engine?

 

[The Artist.....]

rufus_mcdufus I think that what we can conclude is that Honda's dyno is not very good - or at least lacking in realism. I would guess that they hold it far more rigidly than the engine is mounted in the car.

Of course, if the engine is vibrating, since that is a structural part of the car, it will be causing all manner of issues for the balance of the car as well!

All in all, it's a complete disaster for McLaren, and I suspect that Alonso will be looking at the 2018 Mercedes seat from now on.

 

[FB]

I would think that Alonso to Mercedes would depend on what Hamilton decides to do at the end of this season. Wasn't Toto Wolff quoted as saying they would have signed Fernando but it would have upset the team dynamic too much?

 

[Greenlantern101]

I think it is worth saying that Honda could turn this around over the course of the season. You must remember there are no token restriction on engine development and Honda could throw 100 million at this with ease. I'm expecting them to go from the back off the grid in Melbourne to chasing Williams and Force India by the end of the year.

 

[The Pits]

They are still going to be limited with the number of power units that they are allowed to use within the season, so I believe that this will mean a maximum of 4 engine updates without penalty. taking in to account the track record since they started back, I would not put significant stock in Hondas ability to make the necessary leaps before the end of the season, I would suggest that the best they could hope for is midfield, still most likely a backwards step relative to last season.

Unless the issue is related to vibration, and is something that can be easily rectified. I cannot understand however how this has not been identified already, Dyno testing should be fairly close to live running, with the engine mounted in much the same way as in the car, so vibrations should be tracked, even the club level engine builders have something similar, to let them identify when parts are out of balance.

 

[FB]

Maybe the problem is not the vibrations from the Honda engine but a dodgy wiring loom from McLaren that needs to be improved?

Anyway, weren't most of the problems due to some problems with an oil tank? That will be McLaren's fault as they will have chosen where to install it.

 

[Bill Boddy]

The fuel tank may be understandable since what happens with the fuel slopping around is more difficult to control on a track than on a dyno.

 

[Andyoak]

Does the fuel slop around?
I thought it was a big sponge to stop that...