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.)

 

[Fenderman]

If that is true then it's a blow to F1 not just McLaren.

 

[Slyboogy]

Wel they should have taken their sponsor logos off the car and the overalls etc. if they were that concerned.

 

[teabagyokel]

Slyboogy - ING showed how that was done.

Josh - I hope that's right because F1 needs to learn a lesson about the kinds of bastards they're dealing with.

 

[Brogan]

McLaren are either in big trouble or trying to out-sandbag Red Bull.

"I think we should be worried about the pace,"

"It is a tough day in the office for everyone at the moment, we are lacking grip and there is a lot of head scratching at the moment, but certainly we are lacking pace.

"I think we are still learning and there is a lot we still need to learn about this car. But we have struggled frankly to quite understand how it is performing - understanding the tyres and the car.

http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1...chael-admit-McLaren-s-lack-of-pace-is-a-worry

 

[Senna's_right_foot]

Martin Whitmarsh said on Sky that he'd be surprised if either car was in the top 10 tomorrow.
To be honest i'm not surprised at McLaren anymore. The past few seasons they have started near the front, developed, lost ground and then developed more until they have the fastest car in the final third of the season, by which point it's too late. I'd put money on McLaren having the fastest car after the mid-season break, by which point it will again be too late and mean absolutely nothing.

 

[Slyboogy]

And I predicted Button to win in the ZDKF1 league prediction

 

[Quintessentially]

Too early to write them off but considering they ended last year with arguably the fastest car it's not acceptable to be suggesting performance issues this early in the season. Most of the top teams have gone for evolution and it's difficult to understand the thinking behind their approach to heavily revise the car, not to mention engine rules will bring major changes next year. Likely the will have to do it all over again. I believe this is clearly a leadership issue and Whitmarsh has increasingly become part of the problem.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

Not that I'm too bothered about Mclaren's woes, being a lifelong Mercedes fan (since late 2012 anyway ) let's not be too quick to write them off.

I seem to remember a certain team running red cars starting last season with a radically redesigned chassis, including pull-rod suspension, and having initial difficulties getting the best out of it, as Kewee was very fond of pointing out to the doubters at the time. One of their drivers ended up being the main challenger to those evil Austrians at the end of the season.

 

[The Pits]

Well, It is a long season, and we will know by the end of Sunday how serious the woes are, but it looks like it could be a long season for McLaren, as I am sure they were basing their estimates on starting the season quite close to the pace, rather than looking to be 1-1.5 seconds off from the start.

Also, with their competitors having evolved, and looking good, they do need to get a wiggle on.

 

[sushifiesta]

I don't think it's very unlikely that after the first five or so races McLaren figure out where they are with the car and suddenly become very competitive. The question is whether by that point Vettel has picked up five wins or whether the wins have been shared between two or three drivers. If it's the former than McLaren would pretty much already be out of the running for the WDC but if it's the latter they'd still be very much in it.

 

[cider_and_toast]

I listened to James Allen in an interview on Radio 5 last week as he was being shown around the McLaren technical center. Teams talk about cost cutting and then reveal that the drawing office at McLaren has a special acoustic absorbing roof so that the sound of designers talking doesn't carry across the office to disturb anyone. A team that worries that every screw head in the building is aligned exactly the same way is a team with its priorities mixed up!

 

[Brogan]

Yes but it's such a nice MTC.
And they have all that lovely empty space in their trophy cabinet for the future.

 

[ZakspeedYakspeed]

How does Ron Dennis change the lightbulbs ?

He just grasps them with one hand lets the world revolve around him....

 

[sushifiesta]

What bastards McLaren are for giving their employees a nice place to work!

 

[Fenderman]

How does Ron Dennis change the lightbulbs ?

He just grasps them with one hand lets the world revolve around him....

Yup he learnt how to do that from Chuck Norris...

... only Chuck doesn't need to wear a very clean, white glove.

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

What bastards McLaren are for giving their employees a nice place to work!

True - it is nice. I actually went for an interview there 3 years ago for a job which wasn't really suitable, but I wanted a free guided tour and showed plenty of enthusiasm. I'm still on there list and have got contacted for more suitable roles but to be honest though it's a fantastic place, it just seems so strict and humourless that I don't think I could bear it. It reminds me of a bank I worked in for a very short time - couldn't run away fast enough and get back to some dirty old start-up.

I did see a dead fly on a window sill and was so tempted to point it out.

 

[Hamberg]

I did see a dead fly on a window sill and was so tempted to point it out.

It is so clinical in there - Looks like some space age place run by androids

 

[The Pits]

Or Biomatons?

 

[Senna's_right_foot]

Just caught a little of the rerun of P2 - Ted Kravitz (along with another journalist, forget his name) revealed that McLaren have banned their entire staff from wearing shorts during any session this season. Talk about priorities. What an utterly joyless organisation McLaren must be to work for.

 

[Brogan]

I heard that too.
At some of the hotter races that is going to be extremely uncomfortable.

One can only wonder why they came up with such a draconian rule.