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.)
 
As a McLaren fan I would welcome Ross and as we know he has worked with and has a great respect for Jenson...

So come on Ross get over here!!!

Very good news if as always EJ is correct in these matters...
 
OK, racecub. Now that is a McLaren story! Whitmarsh is in for "the sack" according to Eddie Jordan. A previous tweet from him says that he caught up with Ron Dennis after the race and that he is none to pleased with the way the race team has approached this year. Can't blame him. It makes no sense to me, either. Has Dennis' faith in Whitmarsh as team principal now crumbled?
 
Err, did you notice the account that comes from? :)
eddie.webp
 
:shocked: Damn! Thought it was the real one with zillions of followers!!ah well. That's it for me on posting links tonight. I've done three and got something wrong with every one! Still at least it means that story isn't true......er.. Excepting still could be. :o
 
Well that would just be stupid. Being drunk on whiskey and in charge of a weapon. Anything could happen. Bloody dangerous if you ask.....

Oh wait.... I get it.

:D

In my head I still think I'm not going to judge McLaren fully until after Malaysia. It's a track that has always been half decent for both McLaren and for Jenson who scored his first Podium finish there. I know there will have been little actual changes to the car but I think the wake up call they've just had should see at least a slight improvement in performance.
 
I'm sure McLaren will return to the top again in no time and Whitmarsh will say their decision to overhaul last year's car is vindicated. They will probably be too far back in both championships by then. Also I think there was more to this development approach than what we've been told and the change in drivers had a lot to do with it.
 
For 2 of the last 3 years McLaren have been incredibly hampered by the weather when they planned to introduce their biggest upgrades. These middle of the season delays have been extremely detrimental to their title ambitions. I wouldn't be surprised to see them in a similar predicament this year when it comes to reaching the frontrunners.
 
According to an article in Autosport, this is McLarens fourth worst start to a season ever in terms of percentage defecit to the overall fastest lap. The three worse starts are as follows

1966 - 2.900 % deficit
1982- 3.385 % deficit
1987 - 3.047% deficit.

This years car is 2.777% off. In 2009 the defecit was 1.184 %. But in the letters cases the double diffuser accounted for some of it and they were able to rectify it quite quickly. The problem this year seams more allusive.
 
Yes, the article that went alongside the statistics did acknowledge the weather conditions would have affected running in both Sat practise and quali, but also said 'there was no compelling evidence that this was not a fair reflection of the MP4-28's speed in Australia'. Perhaps we'll have a clearer view after the next race,but it is a shocking statistic.
 
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