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.)

 

[Rutherford]

Whilst I can agree and I am quite fond of the idea of Button returning, I don't want him to; If he'll race next year, it'll be in the Japanese Super GT series, he's stated that before and he completed the race in Suzuka a few weeks ago:

 

[Il_leone]

Mclaren are known to field world class drivers .. it would some fall from grace if they have ended fielding a pairing of two rookies in Vandoorne and Norriss so as some suggests

Mclaren do not have the power they use to say to sponsors we've have got two potential drivers that are stars of the future with 1 season experience .. it sounds a lot better if you want to convince a sponsor that one of your drivers is (was ) a world champion and one of the best to sway them more

Which is one of the things Mclaren had to do to make sure Marlboro was backing them from 1981 onwards after getting rid of the crashprone De Cesaris who was heavily backed by Marlboro but junked a lot of chassis. So Ron got Niki Laudi out of retirement and even though Lauda did not perform as well as Watson in the years together as teammates it kept the sponsors happy.

Up to 1993 Mclaren always had one world champion driver which but 1994 was the first time as Senna left for Williams and Prost was going to u-turn his retirement until a legal challenge from Williams against Prost warded him off so they had the pairing of Brundle and Hakkinen.

In 1995 despite Ron wanting Brundle and Hakkinen there was continuing pressure from Marlboro that they wanted a world champion driver to prove that the money they poured into Mclaren was worth it and the only one left was Mansell - someone who Ron never rated and even produced a video full of his accidents as a reminder to Williams that they are making a mistake. The rest is history and Marlboro left Mclaren for Ferrari after 1997 after another winless season.

Button is also sponsor friendly which seems to help Mclaren on the commercial side. It is definitely something Mclaren will factor in but off course if Button does not want to return and Alonso does not want to stay then they will have to rely on their deep pockets of the owners for a while

 

[teabagyokel]

Mclaren are known to field world class drivers

They're also known to sack world class drivers who're causing a problem and replace them with Heikki Kovalainen.

 

[Il_leone]

teabagyokel They did not sack Alonso . All parties agreed to part and Mclaren were the real losers in many respect losing $200m in the process from the fine , no money for being thrown out of the constructors, no money for Alonso's supposed watertight contract and sponsorship money as well

 

[teabagyokel]

"Mutual consent" means "sacked".

 

[RasputinLives]

Alonso has never been sacked. Wasn't sacked from Mclaren and wasn't sacked from Ferrari either. Oh no. Never sacked. NEVER SACKED! He keeps saying it so it must be true.

 

[Road of Bones]

I believe McLaren actually were not winless in '97 Il_leone - DC won at Melbourne & Monza, and Mika won at Jerez. I make that 3...

 

[Il_leone]

Road of Bones Whoops I meant 1996

 

[Il_leone]

teabagyokel Still Mclaren were serious losers out of it in terms money and reputational damage

RasputinLives I thought you were referring to Kevin Keegan who was seems to walk out or leave by mutual consent before being "sacked"

 

[teabagyokel]

At least Alonso wasn't crying in the gents.

 

[Greenlantern101]

Deal is done. McLaren Renault & Toro Rosso Honda for 2018

 

[RasputinLives]

So do we think that once Mclaren have Renault engines they'll be back at the front? I have my doubts.

 

[cider_and_toast]

Back in the midfield maybe.

How funny would it be if Honda find the sweet spot with next years engine? You know it's going to happen.

 

[TR]

McLaren certainly will have nowhere to hide once they switch to Renault engines. Any difference with that other Renault customer team will be down purely to the chassis performance.

 

[Rutherford]

Bow to Don Alonso. McLaren have pushed the panic button.
I wonder, if they relied on computer based predictions as they do in the races which then turn out to be horribly wrong.

 

[The Artist.....]

Well, I've just heard it said that in order to get the Renault deal, McLaren had to promise Alonso to the Enstone concern- so he could team up with Kubica, with Button returning for one season, before Lando Calrission comes in to the McLaren hot seat....

Mind, I only heard it because I said it!

 

[Galahad]

How funny would it be if Honda find the sweet spot with next years engine? You know it's going to happen.

Now imagine that His Fernandoness decides to jump ship to Williams regardless of the new engines...

 

[cider_and_toast]

Now imagine that His Fernandoness decides to jump ship to Williams regardless of the new engines...

If Carlsberg did Formula 1 seasons.....

 

[teabagyokel]

Now imagine that His Fernandoness decides to jump ship to Williams regardless of the new engines...

It'd be especially hilarious if McLaren outpace Williams on a consistent basis.

 

[F1Brits_90]

if alonso leaves for Williams. then i have no sympathy for him. because i said in 2016 about 2017 that i would be Williams with a 10 foot bargepole. as in hindsight there pace was only because the mercedes was county mile ahead of anything. as they have dropped back down the grid as the engines have equalised