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]

All of which shows that the odds are that McLaren are going in the right direction.

Why does it show Mclaren going in the right direction but not Honda?

 

[Galahad]

There's no doubt that the current Renault is a more competitive engine than the current Honda. The two questions I have are:

• What will be the impact on chassis development of the loss of Honda's $100m contribution to the McLaren budget?
• Will there still be a difference between the engines next season, given Honda's development trajectory this year?

 

[FB]

I'm sure I saw a story somewhere that McLaren are worried they will end up with a huge amount of egg on their collective faces if the Honda actually proves powerful and reliable next season. Based on how the Honda engine nows looks to be performing I would imagine The Happy Egg Co. are warming the truck up to make a visit to Woking.

 

[Greenlantern101]

• Will there still be a difference between the engines next season, given Honda's development trajectory this year?

You have to remember that Renault aren't exactly standing still in engine development. Everyone has gained on Mercedes engines. Malaysia is a good example. Lewis couldn't stay with the Redbull of Max. A lot has changed since 2015.

 

[cider_and_toast]

Must mean we are about ready for a huge change in engine regs to ensure that one team gets it right and has a massive advantage for another 4 years then.

 

[Il_leone]

Renault will get it right ... Honda seriously thinks it can be top 3 based on history . Only time was 2004 with BAR when Dave Richards managed to sort the mess left behind by Pollock and Villeneuve

As for as Mclaren.. hypothetically what would Mclaren do if Alonso does not re-sign ? Button has admitted he has lost his passion for F1 and does not miss it so how will Mclaren convince him to u-turn?

 

[Il_leone]

Anyone waiting to hear the Alonso Gp2 rant tomorrow?

 

[Il_leone]

FB If Honda proves reliable and powerful next season - the question is why did it take them so long to get there ?

 

[FB]

Part of the problem, according to reports, was the instance of McLaren on a "size zero" chassis design which fundamentally compromised the hybrid design of the Honda engine from day one. Perhaps Toro Rosso will be a little more open to a compromise design which allows Honda to properly develop their power unit within a sensible chassis design. I really believe, having been through three years of torture, McLaren are throwing the baby out with the bath water and in 2019 we will see a competitive Red Bull Honda fighting at the front of the grid.

 

[F1Brits_90]

i don't know why honda getting sympathy now because for me they brought on themselves i was on there side from the start even back end of 2016. i was talking about how Honda seemed to have cracked it. finally some light at end of the tunnel. but 2017 they took 500 steps back. no one can tell me that mclaren completed 3 race with either car by baku & taking grid penalties before the european season has started is in anywhere near acceptable for any team on that grid

& as i said before Honda if you include the development year in 2014 have had 4 years & 60ish race weekends & what have we got for that time now an engine that is midtable & is arguably more unrealiable 3 yrs later with grid drops that probably cumulatively reach 1000. lets not forget its a year & tens of thousands of race milage more than mercedes had during 2011 - 2014 & they built 1 of most dominant engines in history. honda have been rescued my mclaren chassis which i believe is a good one. how good will be tested next year with red bull as the benchmark. but cant be any coincidence that every yr 2015 16 & 17 at Monaco Hungary & Singapore. mclaren are in top 10. but like spa this yr on kemmel straight alonso was a sitting duck with car not even needing DRS

 

[F1Brits_90]

love this video very funny. & certainly thats 1 way to announce alonso for next season hopefully 2018 is yr we finally get mclaren competive & back to front competing with red bull with same engine. it been too long with quality drivers like alonso & vandoorne in the midfield

McLaren on Twitter

 

[gethinceri]

Yeah, fucking hilarious. It's certainly got me back on their side.
Fucking chumps.

 

[Il_leone]

Alonso finally comitted to Mclaren well he did not have much choice but I wonder just who they would have considered seeing Button said he does not miss F1

 

[RasputinLives]

Mclaren could have saved themselves a hell of a lot of cash by putting Norris in the car. OK maybe they'd have lost a bit of media coverage with Alonso gone but Vandorne/Norris in a team trying to push back to the front is a story in itself. Vandorne has been in the Mclaren team for years now and is more than experienced enough to develop the car. His results have even been better than Alonso recently as well.

They have no forthcoming big sponsors and have lost all the Honda money. The amount of money they would have saved on Fernando's wages would really have helped them keep improving.

I guess though they would never have got rid of Honda if they weren't choosing to keep Fernando. Just doesn't make sense to me - it's like they think hanging on to a big name makes them a big team. They need to take a look at how Red Bull do things.

 

[Il_leone]

The lesser of two evils so it seems to drop Honda rather than Alonso

Mclaren will never accept they are small team so 2018 is a very critical year...is it over 100 races since their last win now ! The message will be if Alonso - the best driver could not fix Mclaren, then who can ? Remember Schumacher took 5 years to deliver Ferrari their first title which under most circumstances at Maranello is unacceptable or simply drivers don't last long enough to deliver it

I think the big sponsors might come once they get an idea how competitive Mclaren Renault will be in the first test next year.and the noises Alonso makes...apparently not sure if this was true but Vodafone offered £25m but Zak Brown turned down the offer. If you think this year Honda said they missed their performance targets by Barcelona , the whole optimism dramatically went downhill

 

[Il_leone]

F1Brits_90 Replacing the absolutely useless Arai with Hasegawa has done little to help Mclaren move forward

FB I think the original problems stemmed from Ron's ideal how the partnership should have been based on total exclusiveness which clearly did not work but neither party were willing to compromise with Honda not moving engine building to the UK and not hiring anyone outside their corporation

They are plenty of engineers who have worked with Renault, Mercedes, Williams and other teams available in the UK to tap their knowledge and skills

If Honda are saying Mclaren's size zero chassis design was affecting the hybrid power than it might explain tracks where power is not essential where the Mclaren size zero chassis is one of the best BUT with all the data they've gathered ... it appears Honda and Mclaren still don't fully understand each other's requirements

 

[teabagyokel]

Exclusivity only works if the two partners work together effectively; think Ferrari/Bridgestone in 2004.

They now have to produce a superior chassis to Red Bull. I doubt they’ve done so since 2008.

 

[Il_leone]

Well maybe in 2012 the Mclaren certainly at times had the fastest car but kept messing up

--------------------

Looking at it this way

Mclaren's blame game

- Martin Whitmarsh for losing Hamilton and exclusive Merc engines deal as de facto factory team so Mclaren did not pick up podium for the first time in 2013

- Ron Dennis for failing to deliver on returning Mclaren to glory days as promised under his stewarship sending them further down the grid and unable to attract sponsors. Also for leading a culture of fear/oppression/dictatorship which stifled innovation

- Honda for supplying inferior engines and meeting well below expectations with no progress, loss of sponsorship and repeated engine failures and unable to innovate and maintain development with or surpass Mercedes and Ferrari.

Next one in line if it continues could it be Fernando Alonso?

 

[gethinceri]

I’m not sure if the Ojeh/Dennis relationship had a bearing, I think that breakdown took a long time and their personalities dragged the organisation down and potetially irrepairably.

 

[FB]

I think McLaren are getting confused as no team has the "right" to be competitive in F1 and bigger teams than them have withered and died over the years. Over the last 10 years, they have made similar decisions on how to go racing to how Alonso has managed his career and we could be seeing the demise of another once great team.

You only have to look at Lotus, they had a car company to support the F1 team and they failed. Ferrari ended up becoming part of FIAT to survive. Tyrrell never saw the writing on the wall and failed. Brabham lost their most important personnel and disappeared. I can see someone coming in to buy the car company and the McLaren F1 team will become another footnote in history.