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.)

 

[Jen]

A rabbit caught in headlights perhaps? I haven't written him off yet, except in my FF1 team - I think he can cut the mustard, but as a immature free-thinker it must be hard joining Ron's outfit.

 

[Merc]

Give him a little time please

 

[Jen]

I thought I had!

 

[Merc]

Not you Jen but the rest of the F1 drivers on here.

 

[Lewywo4]

The more I see of Pérez, the more I'm convinced McLaren made a huge mistake.

Even Brundle said today that it should have been Hülkenberg who got the seat.

Carlos Slim may have helped Perez to land that seat at Mclaren, especially since Mclaren is losing Vodafone sponsorship at the end of this season.

 

[MCLS]

I get the feeling that Perez is just gonna be another Kovalainen, decent driver who is very quick on his day, but not gonna be cut out for the top

 

[The Pits]

It does make me ask the question- just how good was last year's Sauber?

 

[Galahad]

He looks to be over-driving, possibly. It can't be easy; this wasn't the car he signed up to drive.

On the other hand, there were plenty of more experienced drivers available. Maybe he just needs some time to settle.

We might have overestimated Kobayashi, too.

 

[Johnny Carwash]

The problem for Perez at the moment is that when he was at Sauber if he qualified 11th or 12th for instance then that was a good effort for him.Now that he is at Mclaren qualifying outside the top 10 is not really good enough. It is of coarse early days for him at Mclaren, but he has to get his act together soon or he could end up like Kovalainen and only have a short stay at Mclaren.

 

[FB]

Perez = Derek Daly to me

 

[Speshal]

as a immature free-thinker it must be hard joining Ron's outfit.

They had one of those

 

[Quintessentially]

Perez = Derek Daly to me

Yeah well he looks like a fish out of water at the moment, compounded by his defacto number 2 status. Early days though

 

[Slyboogy]

I get the feeling that Perez is just gonna be another Kovalainen, decent driver who is very quick on his day, but not gonna be cut out for the top

I just wrote something similar in the "Did McLaren jump to sign Perez" thread!

 

[Soumya Banerjee]

As a Ferrari fan,im just happy that he wasnt chosen to partner Alonso. So much for all that "Alonso is scared of Perez" and "Ferrari lost one of their own to a rival team" talk...

 

[ExtremeNinja]

"Alonso scared of Perez?". That's bonkers. Where did you hear that?

 

[KekeTheKing]

I get the feeling that Perez is just gonna be another Kovalainen

I'll bet McLaren would take that in a moment right now. On his best days he could occasionally match Lewis. It remains to be seen if Checo can even get near Button.

 

[Senna's_right_foot]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/106792

We've no idea what has happened to him since we announced his signing last year, but to be honest it's not like we were ever going to win anything this season anyway. He may get better over the season, but frankly we're too busy counting the Telmex cash to give a monkeys. At least we can change all 4 tyres in 2 seconds, which may make all the difference between 7th and 8th in the Constructors' Championship.

 

[Hamberg]

Goes to show that going into a top team as a young driver (especially a rookie) is not as easy as has been implied!

 

[Brogan]

I chuckled at that Senna's_right_foot

 

[Fenderman]

McLaren are performing well below even my own pessimistic expectations. It really bugs me that McLaren have produced (IMHO) the best looking car on the grid yet it defies the old adage "if it looks right, it is right". The car is obviously not right by their standards and so I personally give Perez a perhaps generous benefit of doubt.

Judging any new driver arriving at McLaren, or for that matter F1, having witnessed Hamilton's debut season is fraught with expectation and preconception. In Perez's case, his good performances at Sauber looked special because we view Sauber as a midfield team and our expectations were not necessarily unmet. We expect more of him at McLaren since we expect more from that team. I think Whitmarsh has forgotten how to handle and what to expect from a relative newby. Not many newbies have ever been or are going to be doing much better in a car that is below par and in a season where your luck literally turns on your tyres.

From where I sit on my comfy sofa with no responsibility whatever for what happens to any folk in F1, it's easy for me to say this but fearing a can of worms I'll say it anyway. Hamilton is special. He was special in karts and all the way through the other formulae into F1. So when I judge Perez I personally have to measure my opinion by leaving Hamilton out of the equation. So, looking at the other new arrivals in F1, I think Perez's performance has been okay and no worse than most and maybe not as good as some. His first three races with McLaren are certainly not much to write home about. However, until the car improves he's going to have difficulty shining up against his vastly more experienced team-mate. Button's experience and innately smooth style allows him to cope better with the tyre issues that have plagued their season so far and certainly his judgement in the heat of battle will be better for that as well.

Perez has a mountain to climb and I hope that Witmarsh's words sound less harsh from his lips than it appears in print. If he thinks he's got another Lewis on his hands, then he is wrong. If our own eyes haven't told us that the statistics should. If he bears that in mind he will concentrate on supporting his new charge and making sure the team sort out the car. In my view Perez will need a season or two of development to get up there with Button and McLaren need to develop him as well as well as the car.

Usual caveat. I could be talking bollocks but I don't I am.