Is it mclarens turn for the gradual decline?
Discussion
It's great to see the williams F1 team starting to look like its old self again. They now have a good title sponser, good engine supply, decent drivers and what appears to be a really good car with some talent and expierience behind to scenes to back it all up.
Over at mclaren, No title sponser for the first time in god knows how long, two drivers who are not on top of their games, granted Magnassen is a rookie who's showed promise. Button, ( of whom I am a big fan and have been since 2000) is looking fed up and who can blame him with poor car after poor car. But this isn't about the drivers.
So are we going to see mclaren continue to fall down the grid? or will Honda power and works supply be enough to drag them back up? F1 is a cyclical thing and lets face it, a team is only as good as its personel, lots of whom have drifted away to other teams. I personally don't see them being in a position to mount a decent title challenge untill 2016 or more likely 2017, but it could go the other way!will we see more podium/winless years ahead?
Over at mclaren, No title sponser for the first time in god knows how long, two drivers who are not on top of their games, granted Magnassen is a rookie who's showed promise. Button, ( of whom I am a big fan and have been since 2000) is looking fed up and who can blame him with poor car after poor car. But this isn't about the drivers.
So are we going to see mclaren continue to fall down the grid? or will Honda power and works supply be enough to drag them back up? F1 is a cyclical thing and lets face it, a team is only as good as its personel, lots of whom have drifted away to other teams. I personally don't see them being in a position to mount a decent title challenge untill 2016 or more likely 2017, but it could go the other way!will we see more podium/winless years ahead?
tThey've been on the decline since 2009. A car that is behind when season starts, an inability to develop it through the year, dodgy pit stops, poor strategy.. etc.
They had lots of technical people leave and I think they had suffered from that. I think ROn is setting about rebuilding the team but it takes time - look at Mercedes, when they took Brawn over everything had been run on a shoe string, lots of staff gone, no R&D done for the 2010 car due to lack of funds. Everyone laughed and took the mickey when they took on Bell, Costa, Willis and eventually Lowe whilst already having Brawn. They quietly set about building a team, working practices and projects, and it took them 3 years to get a win, but look where they are now. Brawn and Bell have/are going, I don't know about Willis or Costa.
McLaren are just about to set out on a similar sort of journey - they might get there a little quicker but it won't be an overnight thing.
They had lots of technical people leave and I think they had suffered from that. I think ROn is setting about rebuilding the team but it takes time - look at Mercedes, when they took Brawn over everything had been run on a shoe string, lots of staff gone, no R&D done for the 2010 car due to lack of funds. Everyone laughed and took the mickey when they took on Bell, Costa, Willis and eventually Lowe whilst already having Brawn. They quietly set about building a team, working practices and projects, and it took them 3 years to get a win, but look where they are now. Brawn and Bell have/are going, I don't know about Willis or Costa.
McLaren are just about to set out on a similar sort of journey - they might get there a little quicker but it won't be an overnight thing.
Yes, F1 is cyclical. It would have been difficult to think a few years back that Red Bull would have been anything other than dominant in the future. Same with Ferrari.
McLaren do not need a title sponsor. Their previous big deal run out last year and the sort of global brands that want McLaren want two or three year deals and with Honda looming, they will be influencing the names on the side of the car and whilst they have a Merc engine in the back, that may not sit well with Honda going forward.
McLaren do not need a title sponsor. Their previous big deal run out last year and the sort of global brands that want McLaren want two or three year deals and with Honda looming, they will be influencing the names on the side of the car and whilst they have a Merc engine in the back, that may not sit well with Honda going forward.
They have been in decline for about 5 years. It started as bad strategic decisions and a series of very poor errors in preparation of the cars and pit stops etc. They had a very fast car which should have been capable of more succsess than they managed. The worry now is that they find themselves with a car which is struggling and they have drastic changes yet to come which will restart a great deal of the development cycle. Honda are a great manufacturer but they will have a little catching up to do and McLaren will have a huge integration task ahead of them. I worry they are set for another difficult 5 years.
StevieBee said:
Yes, F1 is cyclical. It would have been difficult to think a few years back that Red Bull would have been anything other than dominant in the future. Same with Ferrari.
McLaren do not need a title sponsor. Their previous big deal run out last year and the sort of global brands that want McLaren want two or three year deals and with Honda looming, they will be influencing the names on the side of the car and whilst they have a Merc engine in the back, that may not sit well with Honda going forward.
That's my view. I think Honda might well be the title sponsor . If not, they'll be influencing the decision.McLaren do not need a title sponsor. Their previous big deal run out last year and the sort of global brands that want McLaren want two or three year deals and with Honda looming, they will be influencing the names on the side of the car and whilst they have a Merc engine in the back, that may not sit well with Honda going forward.
I doubt very much whether all the teams running Mercedes engines/mapping are the same.....Toto looks to sell some Williams shares and all of a sudden the cars start going to the top of the speed traps.... The Mclarens on the other hand seem to have been 'turned down'....Force India owe some money or are slow to pay,Here's your new map guys.......and so it goes on......Smoke and Mirrors.
They seem to start slow, catch up through the season and then restart again the year after. Look at 2012, a quick car for the latter half of the season then rather than develop it they went in a `radical` direction and just went backwards.
It`s the same each season, I hope they are going to start with a decent car and soon realise it`s another average car that they`ll need to `develop` to catch up
That`s got to be a fundamental issue within the company, it happens too frequently for it to be just bad luck.
It`s the same each season, I hope they are going to start with a decent car and soon realise it`s another average car that they`ll need to `develop` to catch up
That`s got to be a fundamental issue within the company, it happens too frequently for it to be just bad luck.
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