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.)

 

[canis]

Since the rumour was around this time last week that a deal had been signed (at least on the Lewis front) I would assume that all announcements about the changes made today were delayed so they could be done at the same time. I would expect everyone just waited till the ink was dry before shouting about it.

 

[tooncheese]

canis, or just to make Eddie Jordan look like an idiot for a couple of days.

 

[sushifiesta]

canis But like Brogan says, a week is not long enough to sign a driver. Either McLaren have known for a long time that Lewis intended not to sign for them (most likely) or they were pursuing other drivers whilst they were supposedly trying to do everything they could to keep Lewis (would seem strange).

 

[Brogan]

There's no problem with McLaren simultaneously trying to retain Hamilton and speaking to other drivers; they would be mad not to, as everyone pointed out.

But to claim they had no fallback if Hamilton left was obviously a lie.

 

[canis]

sushifiesta I doubt it has only been a week since things were signed at the Lewis side. I would say that they have known this move for sometime, but have agreed to delay the announcement until McLaren had their replacement signed.

Remember that Eddie has been saying this since the beginning of the month, and as much as I don't believe most of the things that man says, there have also been rumours that certain high ups had been feeding him information to get the press levels up around F1 (wonder who that could hav been?). Both sides of the current arrangement hav been saying all th right things to keep the press speculation going, and just as it was starting to fall away Brawn came out this week to say he was definitely interested in Lewis to spark it all off again.

I would put money on this deal having been done for a while (including the Perez contract) but some people have been using it to get the press exposure of the sport high again. Remember when Ferrari came out and said Perez wasn't ready for them? Was that also in the knowledge that he was off somewhere else already (or at least in serious talks) so as not to loose face. Why else would they have delayed the signing of Massa for so long if they had no other options?

 

[Viscount]

I wonder if any McLaren team personnel are also going to Mercedes at the end of the season as well.

 

[RasputinLives]

I've heard Martin Whitmarsh is going over.

 

[sushifiesta]

Yeah, I agree that they have probably known for some time. If they didn't though I personally find it a bit strange if they were speaking to other drivers at the same time in this case. Hamilton was clearly the best available option and apart from the Ferrari seat (and Ferrari seem content to be patient with that, I think they're looking for reasons to keep Massa) they would have known that they'd have the pick of the drivers if one of their seats did become vacant.

Anyway, I don't really know what I'm trying to achieve. I'm making a mountain out of a molehill.

 

[Vortex]

Anyone still think they will ask Button to help him win the title now? lol

 

[Brogan]

Whitmarsh already made it clear they would never ask Button to do that.

The decision would be Button's.

 

[F1ang-o]

I've heard Martin Whitmarsh is going over.

Needs a 'going over'....

 

[RasputinLives]

Poor bloke.

 

[sushifiesta]

This article on the BBC makes it sound like McLaren (Whitmarsh) knew about the decision only a couple of days ago:

"We were working towards him staying, but we realistically knew there was always a chance he wouldn't.
"He rang me two days ago, from Asia, and I believe I was the first person he told. We had a long conversation, a warm conversation.
"He rang me again yesterday and we had another long conversation. In the end, for all parties, you need to make a decision and move on.
"So we had to look at other options."

I maintain that I find it strange that the Perez deal was announced so quickly, but I'll do my best to make this my last post on the issue and not take it further because I think it's a bit of a dead end.

P.S. In other news, if you click on "Read more of Eddie's thoughts" on that BBC article you get "Page not Found"

 

[Quintessentially]

Doesn't sound like someone who supposedly wanted Hamilton out.

 

[siffert_fan]

Prost named 3rd best McLaren driver

http://www.mclaren.com/page/mclarens-50-greatest-drivers-8

Obviously the driver most valuable to the team was Bruce himself.
I would rate Denny Hulme next. He dominated the Can Am for years, when that series was the team's cash cow. Denny was also the glue that held the team together after Bruce's tragic death

 

[KekeTheKing]

Bit of a McLaren flashback here. Some interesting stuff from the Turkey 2007 buildup.

 

[Brogan]

Off topic for the thread but watching that, it's very noticeable how Hamilton has changed in both his demeanour and how he speaks to the press.

 

[Viscount]

Ah, the infamous "6 tenths".

 

[The Artist.....]

JB is going to get a 5 place grid penalty at Suzuka following the discovery of an identical gearbox problem to the one that Hamilton suffered from in Singapore...
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/103002

 

[Hamberg]

Uh oh, I'm hiding (from the Jenson getting better deal fight)