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.)

 

[sushifiesta]

I find it quite ridiculous that McLaren are slowly adopting the stepped nose to be honest. They've built a quick car, probably the quickest at the start of the season, but these developments make it seem like they failed to understand the correct implementation of a stepped nose and how it could be beneficial.

I hope the upgrades work out, but you have to say by not starting with it they've managed to put themselves behind Red Bull and Ferrari in the development race.

 

[Brogan]

Typical McLaren MO we see every year.

Start out competitive, slip back, come back stronger later in the season, usually too late.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

I wouldn't worry. I just heard Jenson on Radio 1 telling us all that he is still fighting for the championship. Go Jenson, go Lewis, go McLaren!

 

[Brogan]

Either McLaren have poor set ups on both cars or they have slipped way behind the other teams in the development race.

I suspect the latter based on their recent performances.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

It looked very handy in Lewis' hands on wets. Looked like crap on inters though.

 

[The Pits]

Difficult to tell for me. Jenson was unable to string any kind of time together for the first 19 minutes, but was well up until the yellow flags when he changed to new inters. Lewis was well up from the start, but unless I missed something, was he on wets on q3 while others were on inters?

 

[Brogan]

He started on wets then switched to inters after his out lap.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

He went out on wets and came in for inters cutting short his outlap. Jenson's problems seems to be universal in generating tyre heat, regardless of conditions.

 

[The Pits]

Righty ho, I was washing up at the time...

Not quite sure what to hope for tomorrow then, pestilence perhaps?

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Rain or dry and nothing inbetween if you want McLaren to stand a chance. the McLaren will go backwards on inters.

 

[F1ang-o]

I thought Jenson was on a good lap until he came to the yellows...was it Glock's car just after the start/finish line.
So he didn't need to lift off.

 

[KekeTheKing]

It really is disturbing how often McLaren are made to look complete numpties.

They tell Jenson that yellow flags are out in "Sector 15", which can only be taken one way, "back off". I'm sure they did this because Hamilton was penalized in FP1 at India last year for improving his time under yellow flags. I guess you can understand where they're coming from, however I'm not sure they factored in the minor detail of JB passing Karthikeyan under that same yellow without sanction..... But I digress, and in actuality today Button was nowhere near the scene of the yellow, and in fact did not have to lift.

Compounding this further, Alonso actually drives right by the scene of a yellow flag incident, improving his time and elevating him into Q3. If he was allowed to do that, then surely Button wouldn't have been in any danger of a penalty by completing his lap.

Pretty much par for the course this year though.

 

[Dizzi]

but weren't the yellows waved before the end of the last sector?
Marussia is having a bad week.

 

[Galahad]

It looked to me that Lewis was put on used Inters in Q3. That might explain the discrepancy from his Q2 performance, though I haven't read the quotes yet to see if it was mentioned.

Obviously a set of brand new Inters could be invaluable tomorrow (assuming they have saved some?) - as long as the track is dry enough for them to be required!

 

[F1ang-o]

Martin Whitmarsh said they had no virgin tyres for the race....he may have been refering wets...
He does have i funny turn of phrase...

 

[riskitall]

jenson was slow in sector 3 because it was wet there.so thats what slowed him down more than the yellow flags.
and its strange that lewis was so slow on inters,maybe they were used.

 

[F1ang-o]

I hope.............if Macca have a cunning plan......that it works this time.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Me...............too..............

 

[Brogan]

I don't think there can be any doubt now that McLaren are well down the order as far as race pace is concerned.
I would place Red Bull, Ferrari and Lotus definitely ahead of them, possibly even Williams and Sauber too.

What is going on at McLaren?
Did they waste too much time and too many resources dealing with the front jack and other issues?

 

[ExtremeNinja]

If it weren't for Hamilton, McLaren would look a whole lot worse than they currently do.