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.)

 

[Brogan]

Given the choice, I'd rather have a pit stop which is half a second slower than my rivals than a mechanical retirement every other race.

To finish first, first you have to finish.

 

[The Artist.....]

Brogan
True, but I'm not sure you can blame Sam Michael for reliability issues.... (which is the point I was trying to make - he's not all bad)

 

[The Pits]

Was Pat Fry in charge of reliability? since he went, the car seems to be faster, but more fragile. Ferrari had few mechanical issues this year.

Hmmmmmmmm.

 

[Il_leone]

The Artist.....

To be fair when I read Mclaren hired Sam Michael I held with bated breath

I just did not think he was to add any value to Mclaren full stop..he 's had a long stint at Williams to sort them out and the team went backwards

 

[sushifiesta]

I'm not sure you can say much about the 'Pat Fry' effect until next season, as he mostly just inherited this year's Ferrari. As for Sam Michael, there's no question that McLaren's pit stops improved massively from the start of the season to the end of the season.

 

[Il_leone]

Sam Michael is not Ross BRawn who can really sort a team of engineers out

 

[Brogan]

Agreed.
Brawn has done a terrific job this year.

Oh wait...

 

[teabagyokel]

I believe Michael is in charge of operations, not engineering.

 

[Il_leone]

Agreed.
Brawn has done a terrific job this year.

Oh wait...

The Mercedes situation is different to what Brawn previously had at Benetton. Ferrari and BRawn... I get the impression Mercedes HQ are interfering too much in everything and Ross is treated like another employer

------------

If Ross was given the freedom and delegation to run the team then things would be a lot better at Mercedes so I think Lewis might get a few frustrations when things don;t go well

 

[The Artist.....]

So, McLaren have launched their new car... and like the Ferrari last year features.... wait for it..... pull-rod front suspension!!!

 

[racecub]

Agreed.
Brawn has done a terrific job this year.

Oh wait...

But to be fair to him he hasn't had the engineers he wants in place the past three years, that's what he's been working towards.
But it is worrying if Mercedes won't leave him alone to do what he does so well, especially Her Lauda.

 

[Bill Boddy]

I'm not sure that I get the connection to McLaren racecub

 

[racecub]

Oh! It's the McLaren thread! Sorry, just saw The Brawn bit.

Ok, here's a bit of Mclaren news. Jenson and the fifth driver think this is the best car McLaren have ever built.
http://www.mclaren.com/formula1/page/jenson-button-qanda

 

[teabagyokel]

Yeah, you can really tell a week before testing how good your car is!

 

[The Pits]

They did with the Brawn.

 

[racecub]

Yes they did, Brawn's said so recently. oh no!! I've mentioned Brawn again!

 

[The Pits]

I am fairly sure that Lewis alluded to something similar in one of his interviews, saying that he knew the car that Perez would be driving is a good car, besides, with all of today's technology, you can usually tell when the numbers look good, especially against your own from previous seasons.

 

[teabagyokel]

OK, just suspect it is PR.

 

[The Pits]

Almost certainly is, but I do not recall the same level of excitement for a few years.

 

[Slyboogy]

Isn't this car built mostly from scratch aswell?