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]

Rumour is that Sauber have already signed the deal.

 

[teabagyokel]

You might say that Boullier was slow to that news, but he was driving his company car to the interview. The fact it was slow would've been OK if it hadn't broken down there times on the way.

 

[Il_leone]

FB

I think the only reason that Bouillier has admitted this now to the press could only boil down to that Mclaren seriously wanted to drop Honda and get their hands on Mercedes . They 've looked at this long term and so far Zac Brown came out with " We must stick together approach" rather than the "Beat them over the head" that Alonso has adopted.

So far any news that detract Honda's woeful engine relating to Mclaren is seen as positive news apart from when Mclaren and Honda decide to split

 

[Andyoak]

I know it's unlikely but...

What if the Honda engine is fine in the Sauber and still a pile of shit in the McLaren; how will it look then?
It's almost unreasonable to berate Honda without a benchmark; especially with the assumption that the McLaren side of the deal must be amongst the best.

 

[Road of Bones]

Wasn't there a bit in one of Ted's notebooks where some of the other drivers had commented that the McLaren chassis seemed very good to them, particularly in the corners? I'd be remarkably surprised if Sauber could make up for the deficiencies of Honda's execrable PU to the same extent...

 

[siffert_fan]

F1's Strategy Group to help out Honda? | PlanetF1

 

[RasputinLives]

Yeah...but....ya know...Ted Kravitz!?!? It's got a high chance of being unfounded gossip.

 

[FB]

I think Martin Brundle commented in one of the races that it's very easy for a slow car to look stable.

 

[Il_leone]

FB Road of Bones Martin Brundle commented in Bahrain that he was standing at turn 3 I think and looking at the cars going by. The Mclaren has got good downforce.similar to as some of the leading cars

so it is obvious that it is the gutless Honda engine that is holding them back... we will see then at Monaco possibly Mclaren may make Q3 then if this is true

 

[Il_leone]

Andyoak Can't be any worse than they have now

Also Honda pumped lots of money into Mclaren so to give them junk and then the customer has better engines makes you wonder who has been flushing the money down the toilet in this whole debacle

 

[Andyoak]

I just don't think this is all Honda.
I think McLaren are equally to blame for being shit.
This is, in everything but name, the Honda factory team.
I think McLaren have struggled as much adjusting to Honda's ways after Mercedes as much as Honda have struggled coming 12 months late to the party.
They're a bottle of whiskey behind the others... No wonder they're not having any fun.

 

[vintly]

Everything we hear across the broad variety of sources we have, points towards the lack of performance in the McLaren car being mainly down to the Honda engine. That being the case, why think otherwise? No doubt the McLaren chassis could be better, but 'equally to blame'? I'm struggling to see the reasoning behind that.

Personally I'm not particularly bothered with cars at the back half of the performance battle. They get interesting (again) when they're challenging for decent points and podiums, until then I think of them similar to how I view tennis players outside the top 20. As much as I'd like to see any and every team succeed (some more than others), until they do I'm simply not fussed as to why they're not.

 

[RasputinLives]

The reason it's being questioned is that a few seasons back Mclaren were claiming to have the best chassis but were then ripped apart I. A review of its performance by Gary Andersen.

Mclaren are tricksy little hobbits

 

[The Pits]

Gary Anderson is very anti McLaren. He has ripped in to them every season i can recall, most notably saying the 2012 car was looking like a backward step.

Hugely intelligent im sure, but i dont trust his views on McLaren.

 

[F1Brits_90]

never rains put it pours for McLaren & Vandoorne, all though you have hand it to Honda we've only completed 3 grand prix & vandoorne is already on his 5th MGU-H. I don't believe the reliable crap they gave in Bahrain & how they were upbeat after ‘positive’ end to Bahrain test as Everything worked perfectly in terms of reliability. because I be pretty sure they just turned the engine down

 

[Il_leone]

The Pits I remember the 2012 whilst being the best Mclaren produced under Whitmarsh was very inconsistent and some pointed out to the only team not designing the platypus nose that every other team adopted

But also where Hamilton was qualifying in the top 5 most of the time Button had a series of awful races where his pace was nowhere near and Gary Anderson suggested perhaps Mclaren should look at his data to understand given Button's performance usually declines faster if the the car is not working right to understand the problems more


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Mclaren are adamant they have one of the best chassis on the grid ... I think when the speed traps show you're nearly 20mph slower than the next slowest car makes it an obvious reference point to the engine. Notably how Ocon just breezed past Alonso in Bahrain

If Mclaren have a poor chassis then this will show up at Monaco as well

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Andyoak Part of that is down to Ron's insistence that Honda have an exclusive deal with Mclaren ...which they only realise now finally is actually slowing down their development... the rules have changed now that the supplier with least engines on the grid must supply other teams ...( no wonder Red Bull aint mouthing off their power deficit so loudly now)

You're asking Mclaren to adjust to Honda's way.. well they are are not they given Honda have not recruited any engineers outside their own factory and its all being developed in Japan. Would it not be better be based in the UK then where they could employ British engineers. The Mercedes engine is built not too far from the racing team

Why it work back in the 80's and 90's was mostly due to unlimited testing and you had Senna who really drove Honda hard and made sure he was heard if he was not happy with the engine but they loved him for it.

It just appears Honda have not learnt any lessons from their previous disastrous venture. Its just too corporate and decisions are not being made fast enough

Yes the Mclaren way under Ron where everything needs to be perfect is going to change but it takes time to make this work

 

[The Pits]

Well, according to Odious Jordan, Honda move to Sauber, and Mercedes supply McLaren as of next season, with Alonso moving to Renault.

Sounds feasible.

And remember, twas Eddie who broke the Lewis to Mercedes news which no one believed at the time!

 

[RasputinLives]

I really hope the Alonso to Renault is wrong. Hope they get brave and go for Carlos Sainz instead.

Anyway wrong thread for that. Who on earth will Mclaren get to replace Alonso? Who wants that drive right now.

 

[teabagyokel]

Generally, being in a team Alonso has just left has turned out to be a bloody fantastic idea.

 

[Bill Boddy]

Renault 2008?