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.)

 

[riskitall]

They managed before Lewis, and I am sure they will manage after him, if he is indeed leaving. Also, despite the poles (anomaly in Spa?!?!?!?) both drivers have had wins, and the points tally is not massively different (24 points? yes I know, operational, pit stops etc, but the points is the points) so I am sure there would be some life after Lewis.

well not really.jensons failure in quali will always stop him from winning a championship in a close season.
also jenson is getting on in years,and does not have the same talent as lewis.
mclaren lost alonso,now they could lose lewis.lewis is the only driver in a while to win a championship at mclaren,like alonso pointed out.i also think jenson was helped massively by looking at lewis's data earlier in the season,coz since then he has improved.also lewis can show off the true potential of the car more often than jenson.
the points difference is 41 again,and the underfuelling mistake and other things have cost lewis lots of points.he should be right up there with alonso right now.
for some reason mclaren are backing the slower less talented driver which is unusual in f1.

 

[The Pits]

No, of course you're right. The team will be battling with hrt if Lewis leaves.

And the points difference is 24 points over the time the two have been together. And I am not sure that there are points for qualifying, although I could be wrong.

As you have pointed out, lewis has won their only championship since 1999, and he has been there for nearly six seasons, so they could not really do a lot worse without him.

I agree he is a talent, in the top three, but I do believe they would cope without him.

 

[Mephistopheles]

That's your opinion riskitall and of course you are entitled to it.

 

[Viscount]

McLaren drivers have been in serious contention for three WDCs in recent years (2007, 2008 and 2010). Despite the usual McLaren policy of having equal status between drivers the only time one of their drivers actually won the title was when they had a clear number one in 2008.

It may just be me, but I think both current drivers at McLaren would be better off if Lewis leaves. McLaren will have a clear number one in Jenson Button who knows how to win a championship and Hamilton whose relationship with McLaren doesn't seem to be as as solid as it once was may have the same opportunity at the likes of Mercedes or elsewhere to truly lead a team. Plus I just think in general it's better to have a number one driver.

 

[KekeTheKing]

mid-2011 slump to appear because Nicole Scherzinger got out of bed on the wrong side that morning.

Boy that tweet really set you off huh tby? You haven't missed a single chance to belittle (driver H) since then.

Jenson had his greatest season ever, and finished 122 points adrift. If there was ever a time to hit a rough patch, 2011 was it. The RBR-Vettel package was unassailable. If McLaren have made that a principal reason for creating this circus atmosphere, then they're even more foolhardy than I thought.

 

[Quintessentially]

How else do you describe a qualifying session preceded by a non existent practise session and car setup descending into a gamble.

McLaren will survive without Hamilton alright.

 

[teabagyokel]

KekeTheKing - Is Lewis Hamilton a fantastic driver? Yes. Can Lewis Hamilton win the title in 2012? Yes. Has he managed his position within the team effectively? No.

 

[KekeTheKing]

I thought everybody is supposed to be on equal terms at McLaren?

And has he really managed things so poorly? He beat a double WDC, won the WDC, captured 23 Poles, won 20 GP, and earned McLaren untold millions in his 5+ years at the wheel. For Woking to act like these attributes can be replaced off-hand overnight is a patently laughable proposition.

I guess my main problem with the raft of negative posts over the last 3 weeks is because I just don't know what people want from the guy.

 

[Il_leone]

Mclaren can survive without Lewis...they've proven it in the past they survived when Prost left , they survived when Senna moved on, they survived when Hakkinen retired, they survived with Raikkonen moved on

the key was replacing or having at least 1 world class driver at the time to carry on

I can only think briefly in the mid 90's when Senna left and Hakkinen was erratic and the constant different engine partners did not really help Mclaren where there was a period where Mclaren were not front runners

 

[Lewywo4]

I guess my main problem with the raft of negative posts over the last 3 weeks is because I just don't know what people want from the guy.

To leave Mclaren, but i hope that he pays heed to his father regarding leaving Mclaren

.http://www.yallaf1.com/2012/07/30/father-urges-hamilton-to-sign-new-deal-with-mclaren/

 

[Il_leone]

Lewis' position has not been helped by XIX entertainment clearly the bargaining talks make not look clever

its almost as bad Wayne Rooney being advised to say MAn U do not meet his ambitions so he wanted to leave and only to get a whooping bumper salary from £100 K a week to £250k a week

I don;t think Lewis' attitude at Monza seems to betray the fact he is not as close to his team like he once was

Every driver has to go through this in F1 but his comments was nothing positive assurance

 

[Mephistopheles]

I honestly hope that an announcement is made soon so that this particular argument can be put to bed.....

 

[Il_leone]

Mephisto

The announcement will only be made once Schumacher decides what he wants to do ... like what happened in 2007 about who was going to drive for Ferrari

there is no way Mercedes will tell Michael you're out

 

[Lewywo4]

I honestly hope that an announcement is made soon so that this particular argument can be put to bed.....

It doesn't seem that Lewis is any rush.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/102613

 

[Mephistopheles]

If it is true that Lewis is waiting to see what Schumacher is going to do before he makes his decision then, that would send a clear message to McLaren that he does not want to stay with the team and under those circumstances I don't see why McLaren would want to even offer him a contract, why would they want a driver who doesn't want to drive for them?

This whole waiting for Schumacher thing doesn't make any sense to me, he either wants to drive for McLaren or he doesn't, simple as......

To be honest the longer this thing drags out the more likely it is that he has decided to move on....

 

[Mephistopheles]

It doesn't seem that Lewis is any rush.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/102613

I have often found in life that what I want and what I get are not always the same thing.....

 

[Brogan]

McLaren say they have found the cause of Button's failure at Monza and it won't be an issue for the remaining races.

It wasn't an easy problem to identify, and not one we have ever seen before.
We're very disappointed about it actually, it was really gutting to see that car roll to a stop at Monza. We have fortunately managed to identify the root cause.
It was a problem with the fuel pump. It is something we will have completely covered for the remaining races.

 

[Senna's_right_foot]

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/...gpupdate&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=news

 

[F1ang-o]

LH has a different race engineer this week-end Mark Temple replaces Andy Latham...who is at home with his pregnant wife.
I think I heard that in P2 on Sky.

 

[racecub]

Lets hope Mark ıs a cool headed hard nosed engıneer then wıth HIS drıvers best ınterests at heart. I dont know anythıng about hım. Ang, LOVE your avatar!!