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]

I love George Russell - not physically before that debate spreads over to this thread - and I think he is a great talent but I'm afraid there are too many big name drivers with big sponsors and great PR who will hang on to those seats like limpets and therefore he'll never get near a big drive - he might not even get into F1.

Norris on the other hand has a good team behind him but that will depend on Mclarens future.

 

[Il_leone]

RasputinLives That depends how Russell does in the next few years in junior formulae because no one wants Wehrlein and after Ocon , Russell is potentially next in the Mercedes young drivers programme to get promoted otherwise we will see him in Formula E no doubt.

Norris record is phenomenal in terms winning just about everything he's competed in so far so it will be interesting to see once he gets into Mclaren - how he copes with them if they were uncompetitive. Hamilton found it hard to adjust in 2009 if I remember.

 

[RasputinLives]

The first signs that Renault's intentions in supplying engines to Mclaren is not to make them a front running team.

Renault plan close connection between young drivers, engine deals

Merc placed young drivers at Williams and we all know what's happened to them.

 

[Bill Boddy]

McLaren with a decent engine, 1 good driver and 1 driver supplied by Renault would probably score more points than McLaren with a Honda engine and the top two drivers.

 

[RasputinLives]

Yeah but they'll never win anything if there Renault's second team.

 

[FB]

Second? You think they rank that highly on Renault's list of priorities?

 

[Il_leone]

Where does Oliver Rowland now fit in Renault's plans then in all this ? I don't see how Mclaren will be bullied by Renault into taking on one of their young drivers because their relationship is quite different than the one Mclaren had with Mercedes up to 2009 where it was a 50/50 team and engine partnership

 

[RasputinLives]

Surely it'll work the same way Merc and Ferrari make teams take on their young drivers.

 

[Il_leone]

I don't see Mclaren getting bullied to make that decision.. Then again Mclaren have not been in a position of true customers probably since 1993 when they had a Ford Engine but were swayed to adhere to Marlboro to have world champion drivers

Mercedes when Mclaren were a customer from 2010 onwards did not sway Mclaren on taking young drivers

 

[siffert_fan]

Renault wary of 'high maintenance' teams | PlanetF1

Isn't any team with Alonso "high maintenance"?

 

[RasputinLives]

I have to say I think Renault and Mclaren are going to be in direct competition for 4th place this year along with Force India so I Don't think this is going to go well. Look what Renault did to Torro Rosso when they were in direct competition.

Alonso reaction to the situation will be......interesting to say the least.

 

[Titch]

I read somewhere that some think that McLaren will be up there this year. But then I remember that I read that last year, and the year before.
I expect Alonso remembers the same thing.

 

[Il_leone]

When Renault has Benetton and Williams.. they did not mind which one of them wins.. I think Red Bull might be the ones who will suffer more given the grief they have given Renault for the last 4 years.


siffert_fan I think when you have one team who does not waste an opportunity to slag you off that you have a sub par engine and blame you for being slower than your main competitors despite delivering 8 championships


and the other team with a driver who you won two drivers titles that shakes the tree hard and gets the best fruit but is not afraid to unleash his wrath if the engine is not up to scratch

Then you have a seriously stressful time for Renault to deal with along in trying to make their own team go faster

 

[siffert_fan]

'Alonso did everything to make Honda look bad' | PlanetF1

 

[Il_leone]

That is rich coming from the Dark Lord whose voice tried to make Renault look bad and gave them very little credibility

 

[siffert_fan]

And Alonso, with his Trump-like ego, is the soul of impartial evaluations

 

[Bill Boddy]

I think that Alonso can tell the difference between a good engine and a bad engine.

 

[RasputinLives]

.....but only if Flav tells him.

 

[vintly]

Alonso can tell everyone the difference between a good engine and a bad engine!

 

[Il_leone]

siffert_fan I never said Alonso was a saint but it is double standards to come out of Helmut's mouth