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.)

 

[The Artist.....]

Il_leone - given how much money Red Bull have thrown at F1, Coca Cola may well be feeling the heat in terms of sales, and title sponsorship of a big team (especially one that is currently in the doldrums, so cheap) may well be very attractive. Red bull is a direct competitor in markets to Coca Cola; as I say above, a return to a livery close to the 1980s Marlboro livery (for, say, Diet Coke) would be fantastic!

 

[RasputinLives]

I have to say I find it kind of funny that people have been saying that McLaren will only land a big name sponsor if they have a big name like Alonso driving for them and then they finally look to have landed a long term one for the season they are running two young drivers.

 

[Il_leone]

RasputinLives In the days of Marlboro that was the definitely the case after Andre De Cesaris who got the Mclaren driven because his Dad was in one of the senior positions at Marlboro at the time. Since then Mclaren every year until 1994 had a world champion driver.

This is an amazing coup but then I looked at where the sponsorship logo was and its near the floor in black maybe not a good thing if unless they were really trying to promote Coke Zero

 

[Il_leone]

The Artist..... Given Zac and Gil 's familiarity is with the US racing scene its not surprising that they managed to entice a big US brand

Aint Red Bull sporting Red Bull Cola on their cars

 

[sobriety]

The Toro Rosso's definitely are, which annoys me as it's a really tasty cola (along with Pepsi Raw) that you can't find anywhere anymore

 

[Il_leone]

Well lets see if the sales of Cola go up then when they are spotted on a Mclaren

 

[RasputinLives]

I don't it will make the slightest bit of difference

 

[Andyoak]

Now, if they lit it up like that Christmas truck...

 

[Il_leone]

As long as they don't mistake it for a Ferrari if the livery is what we think it might be

 

[Bill Boddy]

One of the BBC team said that the reason that they always brought plenty of the hardest tyres to the races is that the McLaren is much more drivable on the harder tyres.

The drawback to this are that they are setting up with a tyre which is two seconds off the pace meaning that there is no real data for qualifying or the race. It would also explain why Alonso usually seems to be finishing higher up the field in the race than he started; also Vandoorne is disadvantaged as he always has to learn how the car is driving on the hoof.

 

[Clay]

McLaren have signed Sergio Sette Camara. Good signing, he's been at least as good as Norris this season.

McLaren Formula 1 - Sergio Sette Camara joins McLaren Young Driver Programme

 

[Il_leone]

You thats two Red Bull junior drivers Mclaren have pinched... Does that say Mclaren have no faith in De Vries then ?

 

[Greenlantern101]

New blood. WEC Porsche Boss moving to McLaren.

McLaren hires Seidl to run Formula 1 team

 

[F1Brits_90]

its a very risky move for Seidi. because he comes with a great reputation doing well at bmw sauber, being successful with BMW going into DTM winning the 2012 title & winning le mans twice. but so was jost capito who came from VW but lasted 3 & half months McLaren can seem a bit of poisoned chalice

 

[RasputinLives]

His rep will be fine as long as he keeps on the right side of Zak Brown. Brown owns the Motorsport media so he'll just veto any article on him that's says he's crap.

 

[Il_leone]

F1Brits_90 It is interesting to me that you mention that Seidi reputation is built with BMW . Is that a hint of a future partnership maybe like they did back in the mid 90's although BMW seems happy to do Formula E apart from yesterday's embarrasment

Interesting move but I wonder if it is to protect De Ferran from getting all the flak as well

 

[F1Brits_90]

saw this article through by random accident looking at something else & your going to have to translate it from Spanish sorry. but the reason Is that something came to my mind. & about something sainz sr said, I know its realistic but it just rammed home how far McLaren had fallen "Everything will depend on how the car goes. Talking about results without knowing how it's going to go ... Maybe you'll do an 11th or a 13th as Fernando did last year or take a point and it's a super result " hoping for 11th/13th & if we scrape a point it would be a super result. this sounds awful for McLaren before theyve even started. what is this McLaren hoping to get 9th

Carlos Sainz, “muy ilusionado” en sus primeras semanas en McLaren

 

[RasputinLives]

Basically they are hoping to be the first of the none manufacturer teams. I think that would be a great result for McLaren. At last some realism. Better than Fernando telling everyone they'll be challenging for the title for a months pre-season and then turning round to the media at race 3 saying their expectations are unrealistic.

 

[Izumi]

Courtesy: Handelsblatt
Effective May 2019 Dr. Zetsche will step down and will be replaced with a designee successor, Mr. Ola Källenius (above). Källenius is a Swede.

 

[The Artist.....]

Courtesy: Handelsblatt
Effective May 2019 Dr. Zetsche will step down and will be replaced with a designee successor, Mr. Ola Källenius (above). Källenius is a Swede.

Should this be in the Mercedes conversation?