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.)

 

[Il_leone]

gethinceri Remember Ron Dennis took control of the team through a coup at a time when Ojeh was recovering from illness

Apparently also his preferred choices was definitely not Button for one of the seat but he got overruled

 

[F1Brits_90]

still a bad decision to boot honda out.

 

[Il_leone]

Has anyone shown Honda that I think with all the grid penalties they have taken in the past 3 years due to engine issues, it has probably meant Mclaren would have started probably 1 lap down if you count the distance the cars have had to go back on the grid by adding up all the circuits lap distance together?

 

[gethinceri]

gethinceri Remember Ron Dennis took control of the team through a coup at a time when Ojeh was recovering from illness

Apparently also his preferred choices was definitely not Button for one of the seat but he got overruled

Indeed, and this was just one part of the demise. Management appointments, driver selections, sponsor agreements; all may have been influenced/driven by one or other of Ron/Mansour with prejudice.

 

[Rutherford]

During the race I said that it's a waste of time for McLaren to plan their strategy. And five laps later Alonso retired. A good thing that they'll have Renault engines next season or else they could introduce cost cutting measures by releasing the strategy department.

 

[gethinceri]

He clearly drove the bollocks out of the car. Bad idea or good?
Makes him more valuable to Indy.

 

[RasputinLives]

It's a good job Mclaren are moving to an engine supplier who have reliability. I mean Renault never have engine failures and have to take grid penalties. Just ask Danny Ric and Max Verstappen. I'm sure they'll tell you all about it.

 

[Bill Boddy]

It's a good job Mclaren are moving to an engine supplier who have reliability. I mean Renault never have engine failures and have to take grid penalties. Just ask Danny Ric and Max Verstappen. I'm sure they'll tell you all about it.

Bur when the engines are running RBR are the third team and sometimes even second or third. When in a race could you say that about the Honda engine? At Austin the qualifying speed trap showed the 2 RBRs at 322.8 and 321.8, the Renaults at 320.9 and 319.8 with the McLarens at 314.8 and 310.7; the Mercedes were 330.8 and 328.7.

 

[siffert_fan]

And how do you know how much of that deficiency to ascribe to the engine and how much to the aero of the chassis?

 

[teabagyokel]

Red Bull have historically done OK in the speed traps because their cars are so aero-efficient they could take off more downforce than other manufacturers without losing performance; I remember a particularly skinny-winged year at Spa.

 

[Bill Boddy]

And how do you know how much of that deficiency to ascribe to the engine and how much to the aero of the chassis?

I don't, but McLaren do seem to do better on high downforce circuits. They also run out of oomph towards the end of long straights, presumably due to shortage of battery power.

Have you ever noticed that Alonso slates Honda but never McLaren?

 

[FB]

Have you ever noticed that Alonso slates Honda but never McLaren?

Just wait until next year

 

[Il_leone]

Renault ought to deliver better engines next year seeing they have 2 top teams ' expectations to fulfill... don;t be surprised if Red Bull start to accuse Renault of favouritism if Mclaren seems to be doing a lot better with the same engines

 

[RasputinLives]

So they should produce better engines because they're supplying to more teams? Not sure of the logic.

 

[Il_leone]

RasputinLives They've got more data to gather than Honda who only have 1 team plus with two pushy teams to compare against their own team they are ought to be making more progress.

 

[RasputinLives]

I still don't think that guarantees a better engine.

 

[Andyoak]

You can have too much information.

All of these teams will want something that delivers to their own chassis' and driver requirements: Often conflicting.

And considering how destructive the Red Bull contribution has been to motivation and development over the years it could be that Renault see this as an opportunity to break up that particularly bad marriage.

 

[Bill Boddy]

More teams supplied = more money coming in; more money coming in = more engineers doing development; more development = theoretically better, faster engines.

Or in the kitchen, too many cooks....

 

[siffert_fan]

I would think that, given the amount of money each team will be paying for their power units, each will expect (demand) the latest-spec engine. If Renault is unable to live up to that expectation, the resultant discord among their customers will be rather comical to watch. The result could easily be rather bad PR, and, possibly even the threat of legal recourse.

 

[Galahad]

Er, Renault will be supplying the same number of teams as they are now.