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.)

 

[FB]

Not going to encourage many free thinkers to the organisation is it? And for a compnay which is supposed to thrive on innovation and prototyping it sounds like they are trying to kill it off.

 

[ZakspeedYakspeed]

That is only half the story... what you didn't hear about is that their pit crews will be sourced entirely from the closest cities premier ladies modelling agency... no shorts... no trousers... umm...

Internal modelling has suggested that Vettel, Raikkonen and Webber will all plough into the adjacent pit box at least twice every three races whilst craning their necks... with JEV, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg and Grosjean strangely not in their cars during race day but standing around the McLaren pits trying to look like racing drivers... the results are expected to amplified during wet / rain affected races...

The (not so sublte) art of misdirection.... the above should result in solid 4th / 5th places until they get their car sorted...

 

[ExtremeNinja]

McLaren may look like they are up shit creek but an insider has told me that they have two paddles on each steering wheel and, as reenforcement, a load of spanners in their strategy department. They will be fine, I'm sure .

 

[no-FIAt-please]

I bet Hamilton is feeling somewhat smug now. Those who thought he should get a short-term McLaren contract until 2014 also appear to be wrong. Still the season is yet to play out, McLaren could still win both titles.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Perhaps vindicated more than smug. It is an answer to his critics, or at least the beginning of one. I think there was a great amount of arrogance from McLaren over their expectation for him to stay and what looks evident at the moment is that there is no entitlement in F1 beyond what you earn for yourself. Having said that, I don't believe that McLaren should bend their ethos for a driver. It was becoming an awkward fit and I think both parties will learn from the separation.

What do people think about McLaren's decision to start from scratch only a year before a major rule change? My thoughts are that you only need to look to Red Bull to see the strength in evolution over revolution. My heart tells me that McLaren have made some huge errors in their approach to this season. They have lost Hamilton, lost Parr Lowe, thrown away their field-topping car and hastily employed an unproven rookie to sit alongside thier already inconsistent, although talented, lead driver. McLaren puzzle me to no end.

I was unsure how my loyalties would be distributed upon Hamilton's departure, not being a historical fan of F1, but I think my disappointment in McLaren on many levels leaves me fairly indifferent to the success of thier campaign.

 

[Brogan]

I think you've probably just neatly summed up exactly how I think and feel about McLaren these days.

Which is a shame.

 

[teabagyokel]

Don't McLaren have two teams working separately on two cars? If so, I'd stick with the even-numbered years team, because the odd-numbered years' blokes are shite.

There seems to be the flexibility of a concrete wall about their approach.

 

[no-FIAt-please]

ExtremeNinja It was Williams who lost Adam Parr, McLaren lost Paddy Lowe.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Thanks, no-FIAt-please. My mistake. I was on my second pint of Delirium at the time of posting (GREAT BEER, if you can handle it). Back to the comfort of my workstation, now.

 

[Brogan]

Interesting.

Whitmarsh suggested that part of the problem with the new car is that its performance is too peaky, which means its speed is only delivered in a very narrow window.

This was highlighted at the Jerez test in February when Jenson Button was able to deliver a very competitive lap time only with a low ride height that could not be used during an actual race.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/106081

 

[Titch]

ExtremeNinja said .."My heart tells me that McLaren have made some huge errors in their approach to this season."


They did the same last season

 

[Jos the Boss]

The main one being not keeping Lewis

 

[Brogan]

The last time both McLaren drivers qualified in double figures was Malaysia 2010.

 

[no-FIAt-please]

I wonder how many races it will be before McLaren lose their streak of always scoring at least one point. Gotta be soon...

 

[MCLS]

It took until just qualifying for the first race for the first McLaren 'strategy' mess up by effectively messing up Perez by sending him out on the wrong tyres when intermediates were clearly the way forward

 

[ExtremeNinja]

In the commentary, they said that Whitmarsh had said that they are not toying with the idea of reverting to last year's car yet, but that it's a possibility. I don't know whether the commentator was quoting Whitmarsh directly or suffixing his comments with his own but it does show that the concerns are not minor.

 

[cider_and_toast]

It seems likethe call for slicks came from Button if I understood the radio message. There was a problem with Perez's first set of slicks so he came back in and got another set. Whitmarsh said they should have sent him back out on inters but they made a mistake again. Is this mission control thing at woking causing them more harm than good? Is it unique to McLaren to have strategy called by the factory team and not on the ground?

 

[Lewywo4]

Is this mission control thing at woking causing them more harm than good? Is it unique to McLaren to have strategy called by the factory team and not on the ground?

That is a question that I've always had, since events that had occurred going back to 2007 and 2008.

 

[Senna's_right_foot]

Having watched both the quali and race earlier, i'm amazed yet not surprised at McLaren. It really didn't take them long to balls up their strategy calls did it.
Quali - sent both drivers out on wrong tyres, then appeared to be the only team who thought the super softs would reach optimum performance on their third lap. Every on else was saying the second lap would be the fastest. Then, to further compound the error, they sent Button out too early in Q3, when it appeared to be obvious that the track would get faster as it dried out towards the end of the session. I have no idea why they would have thought any different.

Race - what can I say? I was reminded of a comment Lewis Hamilton made at the first test when he said his new Mercedes didn't have as much downforce as last year's McLaren. I wouldn't worry about it Lewis, neither does this year's McLaren.
How you can have the fastest car at the end of last year, then with one year until a major regs change decide to design a new car rather than an evolution of an already fast car is puzzling to say the least.
The more things change, the more they stay the same

 

[Galahad]

I wonder whether the change to a pullrod front suspension has a lot to do with their problems. In testing they were, apparently, good in faster corners, which suggests the issue may be more mechanical than exclusively aerodynamic. Thinking back to last season, of course, Ferrari debuted the same configuration and were struggling at the start of the year.

Malaysia may give us some more answers. The fundamental question, of course, regards the decision not to evolve the 2012 car.