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 Pits]

Maldonado? Seriously? Grosjean, maybe, but Maldonado? seriously? really, I mean, Seriously?

 

[Viscount]

Well if it is true, perhaps they believe they can slightly tame him. Aside from the incidents, Maldonado has shown speed and the ability to control the race from front given the right car.

 

[Hamberg]

McLaren aren't fans of having their cars brought home every race then? They like to do continual repair work?

 

[racecub]

I know!! they want Maldonado so he can crash into Lewis when he's not driving for McLaren!

 

[teabagyokel]

They'd be mad to bring in Maldonado. Other than Spain he's brought in only 4 points - which he got in China. He's the only driver in the top 8 teams not to score in the last 6 races. He's level on points with Michael Schumacher, in an equivalent car with the difference being that Schumi has only had 5 finishes. He's only 5 points clear of Senna.

I think, should McLaren lose Hamilton, they should look elsewhere. Perez, if he loses the Ferrari seat. Otherwise, Grosjean or either of the Force India drivers. Hell, they'd be better off with Kobayashi than Maldonado.

 

[Bill Boddy]

.... I was looking at the stationary time of the car rather than the whole pitlane entry and exit time,and it was plus 4seconds, as opposed to sub three seconds which the fastest times have been. That one/two seconds is all he was ahead of Grosjean so slight though the problem was it could have been very costly.
I imagine Lewis greater experience over Grosjean at getting in and out of the pits quickly could have helped counter the slow stop.

The timing is from the start of the pit lane limit to the end of it. Since all the drivers use limiters at the same speed I simply do not see how you can say that Hamilton made up the time anywhere. His pit stop times were all below the average time for a stop, this means that they were all good. The reason that Grosjean was closer after the pit stops was that he had a quicker in-lap once he was in the clear.

 

[The Pits]

Bill Boddy hitting the lines on the way in to the pit at the correct speed, and out using KERS at the right time would help, also nailing the in and out laps.

 

[Galahad]

And if Whitmarsh leaves they'll bring Windsor in as Principal, I'm sure.

Seriously, Pat Symonds is available again from next year. He might be the right man for McLaren - as good as Brawn on the strategy side, in my humble opinion.

 

[gethinceri]

Wow! Good thoughts Galahad

 

[F1ang-o]

http://www.formula1blog.com/2011/08/20/f1b-downshift-exclusive-interview-with-peter-windsor/

This interview is a year ago.........
Sounds like he would fit into McLaren seamlessly

 

[no-FIAt-please]

http://f1elvis.wordpress.com/2012/08/03/the-invisible-divide/
(wasn't sure where to put this but it talks heavily about McLaren's 2007 season)

Just read this, a fantastic insight into how different factions within a race team can be divided.

 

[racecub]

That was an interesting read! Thanks for posting. So now we have the backlash, the lovey dovey Whitmarsh approach where everything is shared, there's no competition between the teams of engineers and everything has got sloppy. The results are worse. Maybe its because there's no competition between the two sides of the garage but neither are they galvanising behind their fastest driver (I don't mean favouring) So they're left floundering in a limbo. Just a thought.

 

[Brogan]

For anyone who doesn't know, Marc Priestley was an engineer at McLaren between 1999 and 2009, so he probably has a pretty good idea of what went on.

 

[sobriety]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/19213732

Paving the way for McLaren to leave FOTA?

 

[Galahad]

Bit of a non-story, Whitmarsh isn't stepping down really, just not re-standing for election, which given that he's already stayed in the role longer than intended, is perfectly understandable.

 

[racecub]

I am amazed at some of the ways Mclaren operate. They are know for having superb simulator facilities which they rely heavily on. They have just produced a stunning new rear wing capable of allowing Button to do three laps that would easily have put the car on pole.(Whitmarsh puts the pole down to Jensons stunning lap, but since he did it three times its probably down to the new wing). Anyway, with all their state of the art simulator facilities they still allowed Lewis to run the old wing and told him it would be faster in qualifying. Perhaps they should stop relying so heavily on the simulator, or believe completely in what it says. Either it was wrong, or they didnt believe it ,or they wanted Lewis on the old wing. Non of those look like good options. Mclaren had the opportunity here to steal a march on Alonso. They could have had a one/two with both McLarens scoring at a time when all the competitors are down the grid. And what do they do, just close the gap between their drivers. Nice one.

 

[gethinceri]

 

[The Artist.....]

... Or Hamilton didn't want to run the new wing.....

 

[KekeTheKing]

........Based on a handful of dirty track laps on Saturday morning.........Basically worthless running.......

McLaren rendered their state-of-the-art facilities useless when they disregarded what can be only be assumed to have been positive simulator/CFD feedback.

 

[Hamberg]

On a more positive note, that car looked awesome this weekend, looking forward to Monza.