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.)

 

[racecub]

the similar driving style may help, though I'd heard they've designed the car around having Lewis in the team....maybe they can alter it. but like you say it will have to be a monster of a car (ahead of the red bulls and reliable) to stand any chance of a championship.

 

[Brogan]

They will need to build a "monster" next year

I see what you did there

 

[Senna's_right_foot]

The blame cannot lie solely with Whitmarsh as McLaren, like every large organisation, delegates responsibility e.g. head designer, cheif mechanic etc. But, as i've quoted Ron Dennis saying earlier in this thread, as the team principal you are ultimately responsible, even if it isn't your fault. Whitmarsh was certainly at the helm this year when McLaren seemed desperated to throw any chance of either title away in the first half of the season with some crazy mistakes. For that much he does have some questions to asnswer.
I don't think getting rid of Whitmarsh will solve any problems as these issues have been visible since the mid-90's, before Whitmarsh was team principal, but it's clear a rethink is needed.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

I see nothing wrong with the way Whitmarsh runs the team..

I like Whitmarsh and I don't believe by any stretch that he is incompetent. However, as I said earlier, I don't believe he is inspirational. I don't think he puts fire in the bellies of the guys at McLaren. Motor racing is about self-belief and all McLaren seem to have belief in is a system and a bunch of processes. They produce results but systems and processes alone do not win championships and these are the results that McLaren are failing to achieve. There is no doubt that the team, as a whole, has under-performed this year - none whatsoever. The same can be said of the last three years.

 

[Senna's_right_foot]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/103457

Whitmarsh says McLaren are not giving up on either title just yet. Just like I haven't given up hope of marrying Natalie Pinkham.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

It seems that McLaren do have an inspirational individual in their team and that Whitmash recognises that. Shame for him that that person will be driving a Merc next year.

 

[Quintessentially]

Gary Anderson said after Japan that McLaren were running two different floors and that if you do that you end up doing half a job. Well, McLaren have been doing half a job since Canada when it was clear their only realistic chance of winning the WDC lied with Lewis.

 

[Irishgreen]

I don't wish to be rude but isn't that complete bollocks????

You're not being rude, you're just stating your opinion and I'm just stating mine.

 

[Mephistopheles]

It seems that McLaren do have an inspirational individual in their team and that Whitmash recognises that. Shame for him that that person will be driving a Merc next year.

Is that the same individual who inspired the team to do a fun run for charity last weekend instead of going bowling...

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Well, he's out of the club now, isn't he? Boy in the corner, sad as it is to see for all parties.

(Notice how I responded without coming across like a sniping arse .)

 

[landogeorgelewis1]

Senna's_right_foot

Aw I'm sure Natalie Pinkham would marry you dude .

 

[Mephistopheles]

Yes I did nice one ExtremeNinja

 

[ExtremeNinja]

In fact, I'll rephrase and say that for the remainder of the season, Lewis is likely to be more like the elephant in the room than the boy in the corner. Hard to ignore but everyone wants to pretend it's not there.

 

[Il_leone]

teabagyokel
I remember reading an article back in F1 magazine to explain Mclaren's prolonged slump back in the early 2000's I think it was the problems of 2004 where their cars could not even last 3 laps - the infamous antelope nose car


the chain of events that started this were

Mercedes engines were built by Ilmor consortium based in UK...when Paul Morgan ( one of the owners) died in the plane crash Mercedes decided they wanted to take over the engine building operation

Up to that point Ilmor had been providing engines to F1 and Indy for at least 10 years and certainly proved successful with teams both sides...more Indy side with Penske

When Mercedes wanted to come back to single seater Ilmor produced great engines for them in Indy to become the dominant engine between 1993-1998

Their goal was F1 and they wanted immediate success through Sauber ( from Sportscar) transition but results did not come so they jumped to Mclaren and expected Schumacher to join.

Mercedes engines kept blowing up until Mclaren managed to get Newey and suddenly things look more promising as they were front runners


FB not sure why I have lost the ability to quote

 

[Il_leone]

teabagyokel


A brief period of domination was somewhat exaggerated I feel by
a) Coulthard letting Hakkinen through in Melbourne gentlemanly 98
b) Hakkinen made a real mess of 1999

The improvement in Ferrari in 2000 certainly contributed to their reliability problems..

Back to that F1 article apologies
When Morgan was killed, Mercedes decided they wanted to build the engines and control it as a division of the corporation like they are doing now with their F1 team

It turned the small family close knit group into one where they had to obey the corporate heads...problems of integration probably lead to Hakkinen's engine failure at Indy 2000 which swung the title to Schumacher

the next few years Mercedes engines were relatively poor whilst suffering integration issues and Newey having first joined Jaguar then U -turned

then 2003 when Ron Dennis decided to spend the season racing with the 2002 car despite the supposedly faster MP4-19 which was never raced. Raikkonen raced with old car taking 1 win and took the title battle to the end but lost out due the engine failure in Nurburgring

this lead to the hasty decision to get out the 2004 car which was at first quick but also unreliable due to vibrational problems with the engine and it Mclaren half a season to resolve

2005 apparently back on the pace at the front but more problems due to the engine

2006 - the Red Bull hijack lead them wasting another season

 

[Quintessentially]

In fact, I'll rephrase and say that for the remainder of the season, Lewis is likely to be more like the elephant in the room than the boy in the corner. Hard to ignore but everyone wants to pretend it's not there.

Seeing as they are sliding down the WCC table, maybe they'll finally sort out his feckn suspension.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/103457

Whitmarsh says McLaren are not giving up on either title just yet. Just like I haven't given up hope of marrying Natalie Pinkham.

Have you asked her yet?

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

I read today that Mclaren are considering ditching Mercedes and going for Honda engines...

http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3373/8188463/McLaren-to-swap-Merc-for-Honda-

Now where have I heard that before?

New engine suppliers

And will Lewis be wondering whether he really has made the right decision?

 

[The Pits]

Senna's_right_foot Natalie Pinkham is a friend of a friend, I can put in a good word if you like!

I'm not sure what to make of the Honda thing, the Honda engine was not great in 2008, unless it was being seriously badly represented by the chassis. That said, Honda were confident about the engine and KERS for 2009 prior to pulling out, indeed the KERS system that they were looking to put in to the car was incredibly technically advanced, significantly more so than the Merc unit which is seen as the class at the moment.

I think that Honda would be able to make a good fist of the engine if they were to try, however, judging by the lack of work to date, and the fact that other manufacturers are already bench testing, I would suggest that the report is, to use a technical term, utter spheroids.

 

[downforce]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/103668


Optimistic but we've heard this kinda thing before from McLaren.

You can see why they are losing their best driver. Last year Hamilton drives the worst he has ever done and takes only 6 podiums. This year he has driven a magnificent season and made Button look like a rookie at times. For me he has been the best driver of the year, certainly the most consistent one with zero errors and phenomenal pace.

And yet he only has 6 podiums again, let down by either luck, the car or the team, in fact he got better podiums last year 3 wins and 3 2nd places to this years 3 wins and 3 3rd places.
Spain and Singapore were certain wins really but car and team meant he got 4 points from the 2 events instead of the 50 he should have got.

If Mercedes can have good reliability and trackside operations it is going to be fun to see what he can do with it.