And yet McLaren finished 3rd in the Constructors Championship 82 points behind Red Bull and their highest driver (Hamilton) only managed 4th and was 91 points behind Vettel despite only one less win and two less podiums. In the stark light of day, the 2012 championship wasn't so much won by Red Bull but thrown away by McLaren, for all but the British Grand Prix and the late Asian races (with the exception of Singapore) the McLaren was widely accepted as the quickest car, so where did the championship go?
Well firstly, looking at Hamilton, he's had 6 DNF's and perhaps most significantly, 3 of them being when he was leading a good way into the race (Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Brazil) these alone have cost Lewis 75 points which woulda put him on 265 points (provided he converted them which was looking likely), and if you knock Alonso and Vettel one place accordingly, just these races woulda put Vettel on 269 and Alonso on 269 making them level. Obviously all the situations would change race by race, but it's an interesting approximation to make just on 3 races and on this evidence alone where 2 DNF's in these 3 races were down to mechanical failures, you can see why Hamilton jumped ship.
As stated in an article in mid season, McLarens mid season development problems seemed to rear its head as after Canada McLaren had a small slump as they weren't in contention in Valencia (mainly due to more pit stop problems but they weren't on the pace of Vettel) and more significantly Silverstone where Hamilton and Button finished 8th and 10th having been off the pace in both the wet and the dry. I asked at the time whether the stepped nose was part of the problem as initially they went against the grain and went for a sloped nose and initially it brought results but the team decided to modify this in the long run and it was debated whether it was part of the slump.
However, a big part of the early loss of points was the shabby pit stops, particularly on Hamilton's car but Button also had his fair share of problems in the stops, in the first half of the season Hamilton probably lost the best part of 20/30 points just down to slow pit stops, costing him wins/podiums in Malaysia and Bahrain for example. Although this is probably the only thing McLaren managed to get right and fix in the season as Sam Michael ensured that by the end of the season (one bad stop in Brazil aside) McLaren's stops were the fastest in the grid (Button getting a 2 and a half second stop in the year), however it was these problems that put Hamilton right on the back foot and established a fairly significant gap of 30/40 points behind Alonso.
That's where the difference with Red Bull/Ferrari and McLaren lies, Ferrari's car was nowhere near the pace of the McLarens for large parts of the Championship, but on the whole, their pit stops were slick, their strategy calls were sound and Alonso was (mostly) faultless during the season and that's why he so nearly came away with the Championship, the same applies with Red Bull just that Vettel had a better car although he was prone more to mistakes but that's getting less as he gets older (but that's a debate for another thread)
Between Hakkinen's last championship and the season just gone, McLaren have only picked up one Drivers Championship and have failed to win any constructors championship with 2007 the closest they came to the WCC where they would have won it but for Spygate which disqualified them. Hamilton could/should have at least three world championships right now but currently has 'just' the one, and on the whole the reason for that isn't down to driver error or poor skills.
One thing that Ferrari and Red Bull have in common is that they both have an established number one/two driver system and you can't argue with the results it's brought them, while McLaren have persevered with the equal status positions and that's only caused inter-team problems and more critically, no championships. Some might argue that a number one/two system adopted by Ferrari will cost them the WCC title and the big sponsorship deals etc, although you only have to wonder why Santander are there and that gives a counter argument. So perhaps with Perez coming in for Hamilton could see things change at McLaren for next year and this could work to their advantage as it will be expected that Button will be the number one driver and I think that'll benefit him as well as leading the team forward will suit him and the team and this can only bring better results, providing they can finally sort out the problems that threw away this years title.
Well firstly, looking at Hamilton, he's had 6 DNF's and perhaps most significantly, 3 of them being when he was leading a good way into the race (Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Brazil) these alone have cost Lewis 75 points which woulda put him on 265 points (provided he converted them which was looking likely), and if you knock Alonso and Vettel one place accordingly, just these races woulda put Vettel on 269 and Alonso on 269 making them level. Obviously all the situations would change race by race, but it's an interesting approximation to make just on 3 races and on this evidence alone where 2 DNF's in these 3 races were down to mechanical failures, you can see why Hamilton jumped ship.
As stated in an article in mid season, McLarens mid season development problems seemed to rear its head as after Canada McLaren had a small slump as they weren't in contention in Valencia (mainly due to more pit stop problems but they weren't on the pace of Vettel) and more significantly Silverstone where Hamilton and Button finished 8th and 10th having been off the pace in both the wet and the dry. I asked at the time whether the stepped nose was part of the problem as initially they went against the grain and went for a sloped nose and initially it brought results but the team decided to modify this in the long run and it was debated whether it was part of the slump.
However, a big part of the early loss of points was the shabby pit stops, particularly on Hamilton's car but Button also had his fair share of problems in the stops, in the first half of the season Hamilton probably lost the best part of 20/30 points just down to slow pit stops, costing him wins/podiums in Malaysia and Bahrain for example. Although this is probably the only thing McLaren managed to get right and fix in the season as Sam Michael ensured that by the end of the season (one bad stop in Brazil aside) McLaren's stops were the fastest in the grid (Button getting a 2 and a half second stop in the year), however it was these problems that put Hamilton right on the back foot and established a fairly significant gap of 30/40 points behind Alonso.
That's where the difference with Red Bull/Ferrari and McLaren lies, Ferrari's car was nowhere near the pace of the McLarens for large parts of the Championship, but on the whole, their pit stops were slick, their strategy calls were sound and Alonso was (mostly) faultless during the season and that's why he so nearly came away with the Championship, the same applies with Red Bull just that Vettel had a better car although he was prone more to mistakes but that's getting less as he gets older (but that's a debate for another thread)
Between Hakkinen's last championship and the season just gone, McLaren have only picked up one Drivers Championship and have failed to win any constructors championship with 2007 the closest they came to the WCC where they would have won it but for Spygate which disqualified them. Hamilton could/should have at least three world championships right now but currently has 'just' the one, and on the whole the reason for that isn't down to driver error or poor skills.
One thing that Ferrari and Red Bull have in common is that they both have an established number one/two driver system and you can't argue with the results it's brought them, while McLaren have persevered with the equal status positions and that's only caused inter-team problems and more critically, no championships. Some might argue that a number one/two system adopted by Ferrari will cost them the WCC title and the big sponsorship deals etc, although you only have to wonder why Santander are there and that gives a counter argument. So perhaps with Perez coming in for Hamilton could see things change at McLaren for next year and this could work to their advantage as it will be expected that Button will be the number one driver and I think that'll benefit him as well as leading the team forward will suit him and the team and this can only bring better results, providing they can finally sort out the problems that threw away this years title.