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]

Ahhh I forgot the great Scottish drink!

 

[Titch]

Irn bru is the devils work.

It’s DISGUSTING!

 

[cider_and_toast]

Irn bru is the devils work.

It’s DISGUSTING!

You've obviously never tried "Mountain Dew"

That takes disgusting to a level that Irn Bru could only dream of.

 

[Bill Boddy]

Irn bru is the devils work.

It’s DISGUSTING!

But at least it's not as bad as that drink that those other two cars are named after.

 

[Bill Boddy]

I thought it was only Hamilton who had those?

In this case it means RBR supporters.

 

[Titch]

I’ve never even seen Mountain Dew cider_and_toast . However if I ever come across it, I will give it a very wide berth.

 

[Speshal]

Predictable as ever.... The wheel just fell of Fernando's new McLaren....

 

[RasputinLives]

Must be Honda's fault.

 

[Galahad]

Well, the move to Renault has certainly brought the sponsors flocking in...

 

[Bill Boddy]

Could it be that the McLaren chassis might be pretty good after all?

 

[Titch]

What Alonso in with a chance.
Goodness I’ve come over all funny.

 

[RasputinLives]

I'm sure we'll get told how its 'one of the best on the grid' whatever the results are. We have done for the last 5 years so we probably will now too.

 

[F1Brits_90]

Finally watched the 4th episode of Amazon series & we all knew relationship was bad but wow that last 15 mins, even i was still shocked at how bad things became. Im 99% sure that they had already ditched Honda before Melbourne regardless of the PR. Private meeting with Jonathan Neale, Eric Bouiller saying we are in big trouble with no quick fix & then a dinner meeting few days before Melbourne flight where Bouiller was certain Alonso would say goodbye & had anxiety over team collapsing "takes yrs to build but can be killed in 6 months"

That all company meeting with hasnt aged considering reliability problems in testing where Jonathon Neale saying its a disaster but dont worry im confident that you have l met all our targets. But honda have failed them all

 

[F1Brits_90]

Zak Brown: “I’d rather see every franchise (aka team) financially successful. Instead of the rich get richer and the poor get poorer ... you can travel first class, business or standard but when the boat sinks you are all under the water”.

what is he doing, doesn't he realised that common sense has no place in f1

 

[Rutherford]

Is he suggesting that McLaren are struggling financially?

 

[F1Brits_90]

I dont think so Rutherford i think hes talking about cost caps. & veiled attack on ferrari. Saying that for the sport to be healthy. Every team can be financially healthy. Instead of 3 or 4 & the rest racing hoping they still will be in 12 months

 

[RasputinLives]

Alonso has gone on record today as saying Mclaren will make more progress relatively speaking than any other time and that in fact Mclaren's progress will dwarf that of all the other teams.

Point 1 - that sounds a bit Donald Trump like (it's gonna be so great)

Point 2 - is he basically saying that currently the Mclaren is shit but it's going to get a lot better?

 

[Titch]

Sunday will tell RasputinLives .

 

[marksawatsky]

It's becoming clear that McLarens problems were not all because of Honda. How are they having so many problems that other teams with Renault power aren't? I hope Alonso dominates WEC so he can polish that image of his

 

[Bill Boddy]

It has been the best start today for McLaren since they started collaborating with Honda. They even finished with two cars running.