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]

Which is a LOW downforce track. Did you hear that McLaren? A LOW downforce track. And you hiding at the back there Lewis, pay attention, it's a LOW downforce track.

 

[racecub]

Do McLaren's engineers ansd strategists not understand these things very well?

 

[Bill Boddy]

McLaren's engineers understand very well, better than the rest of us in fact. Spa however is an oddie, The first quarter is low downforce, then there is half a lap of high downforce followed by the final quarter which is low downforce.

So you pays your money and makes your choice. Whatever you do there will be winners who say you got it right and losers who will blame you regardless of whether you were right or not.

 

[Il_leone]

Lewis could not get the new wing working in the one practice session in the dry and went to the old wing and he realised he made a mistake as shown on the telemetry and posted it on twitter and got a dressing down from Mclaren

 

[sushifiesta]

It was just a little joke, car setup is certainly a complicated beast and McLaren/Lewis got it wrong this weekend but McLaren/Jenson got it right. Having said that, even considering the Friday washout, mistakes like these are what can decide championships.

 

[The Pits]

Vettel and Raikkonen did ok with a high downforce set up.

 

[sushifiesta]

We'll never know how it would have turned out now, but I do think there was more wrong with Hamilton's setup than just the higher downforce level and the different wing. He was losing time to Jenson in the corners as well.

 

[Il_leone]

sector three where Jenson was really smooth he was I think 0.3 seconds faster than Lewis

 

[racecub]

Hmm I think the wing might have had something to do with that.

 

[Brogan]

He was losing time to Jenson in the corners as well.

According to the trace Hamilton tweeted, no he wasn't.
Hamilton was faster in the technical sections, Button on the straights.

 

[MCLS]

Didn't Lewis say he thought going for low downforce at Monza in 2010 was a bad idea as well, can't win it seems!

 

[The Artist.....]

Being honest, I think many people would have expected Hamilton's high-downforce choice to have been a good choice for qualifying, as not only would it have given good cornering speed, but with the use of DRS, should have allowed him to make good time on the straights as well! (Much as JB showed in Monza 2010, when he used a high-downforce set-up, along with the F-duct to a strong qualifying position). Ok, so in retrospect, it didn't work at Spa - but the fact is, the engineers expected it to work... The (Sky) pundits expected it to work.... It was a strategy to go for pole, but run the risk of being eaten up by other cars on the straights! As others have said - Raikonnen was able to qualify near the front with a high downforce package.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Wow is this still being debated....

 

[The Artist.....]

Some interesting statements from Hamilton after qualifying- he didn't think that his lap was anywhere near good enough for pole - and he felt he could've been a lot faster... This feels like mind games- whether inter or intra team doesn't matter- it's certainly effective!

 

[Brogan]

All is definitely not well at McLaren.

Perhaps, but the body language between the two men was palpably cool throughout the weekend, and they were not troubling to hide it, even in public arenas such as the restaurant at their hotel.

One night, sitting at adjacent tables, they did not even look at or acknowledge each other, let alone exchange a word.

I have always thought the pair of them were an odd fit, so it's no surprise the cracks are starting to show.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/09/lewis_hamiltons_victory_in_the.html

 

[sushifiesta]

And they all lived happily ever after.

I think this is how the real world works? Please.

 

[F1ang-o]

In th above link....post 1195......Andrew Benson says about Vettel " A sense of entiltlement about him"
IMO this has been Jenson's attitude since he arrived at McLaren with a No1 on his car.
He said a year ago that a clear No1 in a team would win the championships...............(so long as he is not the No2?)
His best of the losers last year........ a million miles behind th WDC leader is not enough........
If, as he says he joined McLaren for their parity policy..........why does he want to change it....?
JB pointedly said on TV ...looking straight at the camera....when the discussion was about it being easier for Alonso........'I keep telling them that' .....think it was after his 2nd place in the German GP..
Lewis sending the telemtry/tweets last week, was a desperate niave attempt to show what was happening......he was told his equipment was going to be just as fast in quali etc...............if he had been where he should have been on the grid, he may have avoided the carnage..Then McLaren would have had more points in CC & LH would have been nearer to FA in the WDC.
I hope LH doesn't leave McLaren...but needs to know there is no favourism & any discussions with Whitmarsh should include both drivers.

 

[teabagyokel]

I hope I only have to say this once.

HAMILTON CHOSE HIS SET-UP AT THE BELGIAN GRAND PRIX. HE GOT IT WRONG.

 

[sushifiesta]

Lewis and McLaren chose the set-up together. They got it wrong. You can't blame either party completely. The decision was made difficult as they had to rely on educated guesses due to the Friday wash out too.

The statement Lewis got it wrong is just as unhelpful as the statement McLaren got it wrong.

 

[teabagyokel]

sushifiesta - OK, OK. I may have over-simplified the point.