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.)

 

[teabagyokel]

Well, I don't think they can justify Hakkinen being above Prost, I would reckon Prost should be #1.

 

[Galahad]

Mika never gave any of the cups away I suppose.

 

[Mephistopheles]

It says they are in order of contribution to the team and not on driver talent but I don't know if that contribution is on revenue generated or points scored, if it is on points scored then Prost was driving for McLaren when there were a lot fewer points available for the drivers but in the same way so did Senna, also it doesn't just cover F1 some of these drivers never even drove in F1 and some may have driven for McLaren in other series as well as F1 Le Mans for example, these other series would have had a different points scoring system.

As I am now completely lost I declare that whatever system they used to generate the list, it is probably fundamentally flawed as are all things of this type, and so is ultimately a completely pointless exercise...

 

[gethinceri]

It is a list created by someone with whom you may disagree. Write your own list, if you hadn't read his you probably wouldn't know 50 McLaren drivers, let alone write an article explaining your view of each.

 

[Mephistopheles]

gethinceri Which proves that not all pointless things are useless.....

 

[Senna's_right_foot]

Gutted. I feel the same as I did when Hakkinen retired. I'm not sure I understand McLaren's logic, I would have thought (and hoped) they would have broken the bank to keep Hamilton. Although saying that I am very much looking forward to seeing Perez in the car next year, i'm glad they choose him and avoided the Di Resta hype.

 

[The Artist.....]

Mika never gave any of the cups away I suppose.

That was exactly what I was thinking about when mentioning 1989.... Still, 3 championships for the team should outweigh 2 championships in terms if contribution to the team!

 

[Senna's_right_foot]

2014 - Telmex McLaren Cosworth

 

[ExtremeNinja]

McLaren's website is down! Overload!!!

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Good piont. How long does the Mercedes engine-supply deal currently run for? Anyone know?

 

[RasputinLives]

2015 I think

Telmex Mclaren Ferrari!

 

[sushifiesta]

I think they have to pay for engines starting from 2014 and I think the current contract ends in 2015, but I'm not sure.

McLaren have always been my favourite team (since the Coulthard/Hakkinen days) and Hamilton is my favourite driver. If I'm brutally honest I think I'll support Hamilton over McLaren now, but the whole deal leaves me feeling a bit hollow.

 

[Senna's_right_foot]

Good piont. How long does the Mercedes engine-supply deal currently run for? Anyone know?

This season, engines are free. Next year, Merc are contracted to supply them but McLaren will be paying for them (I think). Not sure there is a deal in place for 2014, hence the rumours last year of McLaren building their own engine.

 

[Speshal]

I'm with you on this one sushifiesta - a touch conflicted now.

 

[Senna's_right_foot]

I'll do what I did when Senna went to Williams for '94 - I'll stay a McLaren fan but will "follow" Hamilton to Mercedes.

 

[ZakspeedYakspeed]

2014 - Telmex McLaren Cosworth

There is no truth to the rumour that Ron Dennis was seen at the Peugeot HQ 75 avenue de la Grande Armée, Paris 16th arr. late last week....

 

[RasputinLives]

I saw him coming out of a shop with a big bag that had Yamaha written on the side if we want to start rumours.

It could have been a keyboard of course.

 

[canis]

I don't think McLaren will move away from Mercedes power unless to go to their own build, it doesn't make sense for them to buy someone elses engines when they have the ability to build their own, plus taking a nive V6 Turbo and putting it into a road car would help to pay for the costs

The whole change sill swings ound the 2014 regulations and who will buy from who after that point. Why would a driver leave McLaren to go to what is essentially a midfield team? Because of the 2014 changes and the perceived ability to interpret them to the teams advantage. Why would a long standing relationship break down between constructor and engine supplier? Because of 2014 and the engine changes, they may feel another supplier can do more for them.

All the moves today and for the next 12 months between drivers, teams and suppliers will be to potentially position themselves to take the greatest advatage they can of the reg changes, there will be much more to come befoe the end of next season with probably more than a few surprises in there...

 

[sushifiesta]

McLaren have now come out and said they did absolutely everything they could to keep Lewis and had drawn up complex and competitive contracts.

Obviously we don't know exactly when the deal was signed and/or McLaren knew Lewis wasn't going to stay but I find it a tad strange that the Perez deal is announced at the same time. They had no reason to be looking for a replacement in parallel to Lewis' negotiations in my opinion, particularly when it appears Perez wasn't in conetention for the Ferrari seat. It's a decision McLaren would want to weigh up very carefully I'd imagine as well.

I try not to subscribe to conspiracy theories, but it seems to me that this has been going on a lot longer than we've known about it at the very least.

 

[Brogan]

As always there is a lot of bluff, double bluff and outright lies when it comes to F1.

It was only a few days ago that Whitmarsh definitively stated they had no "plan B" if Hamilton left.
That was obviously codswallop as there's no way a driver would be contacted, discussions held and a contract drawn up so quickly.