Discussion
S1KRR said:
ralphrj said:
The loss was partially reduced by the £10m profit made selling off some of the teams collection of historic racing cars.
That just seems incredibly short sighted imo! Can't imagine Ron ever doing that!
Slight tangent. Is there a McLaren museum for people to visit?
On the flip side I suspect McLaren were more paring down their “collection”. Happy to be corrected and someone might pull out what was auctioned vs the overall collection, but think they had multiple chassis and cars of the same models, so you then ask what’s the point of keeping so many if a quick buck can be made.
Additionally didn’t actual ‘cash’ have to be found to pay off Ron?
Car-Matt said:
Good result today, solid 4th in constructors still
With the boost in Renault power available now the immediate future is in their own hands, the car seems like a solid platform to race and develop . A step change from last year, the trajectory is upwards
Soundly beating Renault is good going. If Max wasn't doing such a good job, they'd be looking vindicated in blaming Honda for their woes.With the boost in Renault power available now the immediate future is in their own hands, the car seems like a solid platform to race and develop . A step change from last year, the trajectory is upwards
glazbagun said:
Soundly beating Renault is good going. If Max wasn't doing such a good job, they'd be looking vindicated in blaming Honda for their woes.
McLaren has absolutely been vindicated in their decision to switch to Renault (I know that wasn't what you said) power no matter Redbulls performance this season IMHO.Until McLaren stopped giving themselves excuses, pointing fingers elsewhere and refusing to take responsibility for their situation they couldn't stop the rot never mind improve.
They had no benchmark for their chassis with Honda power so were more than happy to publicly pass the buck.
Sharing an engine with a similarly sized old hand F1 team that won't take any of your bulls
t was the first and most important step in McLaren's redemption in my opinion.Edited by The Vambo on Monday 27th May 14:43
McLaren are getting it together this year, ahead of the Renault team, next best after Red Bull. Maybe it is now that they are away from Honda and not looking sideways at other teams, maybe its not having Alonso in the F1 team, maybe they have sorted out the personnel. Last year's car did have an issue with the aero that they couldn't fix, they've sorted it this year, Sainz and Norris are both doing a good job. Onwards and upwards.
Hopefully the onwards and upwards part is by McLaren and Alonso going their separate ways. If Alonso still wants to go for the triple crown and win the Indy 500, do it properly, sign for an Indycar team and get in there.
Hopefully the onwards and upwards part is by McLaren and Alonso going their separate ways. If Alonso still wants to go for the triple crown and win the Indy 500, do it properly, sign for an Indycar team and get in there.
S1KRR said:
Can't imagine Ron ever doing that!
I wouldn't have thought he would either but apparently he used to carry the inventory of heritage cars in his briefcase and was always prepared to sell - at the right price. I suspect that those prices have softened in recent years as McLaren's financial situation has deteriorated.tigerkoi said:
Additionally didn’t actual ‘cash’ have to be found to pay off Ron?
Correct, which the Bahraini's weren't prepared stump up. Instead the McLaren topco created a finance company to sell bonds to raise the money to buy off Ron. As this took sometime to sort out, and there was a risk that McLaren might have gone bust in the meantime, Ron secured the debt with a charge on the heritage collection. This has all now been resolved but it has left McLaren around £0.5bn in debt.Incidentally, virtually all of the money paid to Ron was for his shares in the car company. The F1 team was (on paper) virtually worthless when he left. The only thing of any value was the heritage collection (hence, using it as security).
ralphrj said:
To bring the discussion back to the team:
The accounts for 2018 have now been published and are terrible (as expected).
Income fell from £197m in 2017 to £124m in 2018. This is £8m less than Williams earned last year.
.
Despite the poor performance one Director was paid £3.7m (£0.6m in 2017).
.
One Director had a pay increase of £3.1m from 2017?!! Was it Zak Brown? I hope not.The accounts for 2018 have now been published and are terrible (as expected).
Income fell from £197m in 2017 to £124m in 2018. This is £8m less than Williams earned last year.
.
Despite the poor performance one Director was paid £3.7m (£0.6m in 2017).
.
Unless he is getting his commission based on the number of pointless bulls
t words he says each year? Instead of finding sponsors and fighting to drag the team towards the sharp end of the grid (ad not fannying' around at the back of the grid at indy with a DNQ for one of the worlds fastest drivers?).
rallycross said:
One Director had a pay increase of £3.1m from 2017?!! Was it Zak Brown? I hope not.
Unless he is getting his commission based on the number of pointless bullst words he says each year?
Instead of finding sponsors and fighting to drag the team towards the sharp end of the grid
Likely him as he was promoted to CEO of McLaren's Formula One team during this period.Unless he is getting his commission based on the number of pointless bulls
t words he says each year? Instead of finding sponsors and fighting to drag the team towards the sharp end of the grid
The rest of your post is bulls
t.Under his watch, McLaren has brought in more sponsors in than anyone thought possible and the car is now the 4th best car on the grid, miles better than last years.
The Vambo said:
Under his watch, McLaren has brought in more sponsors in than anyone thought possible and the car is now the 4th best car on the grid, miles better than last years.
I can't stand the guy... But you're right - or it appears that way so far at least.Still some distance off breaking into the top 3. Nonetheless, to be best of the rest when the rest of the pack have also shown some solid evolution this year too (not you, Williams - and probably Renault), is indeed impressive.
Or maybe it was just the opposite of impressive before this season
Either way, solid progress has been made.
We all deserve a good laugh on a wet Tuesday morning.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mclaren-seeing-...
I do believe that McLaren have taken the first steps towards greatly improving their fortunes, but to actually use these words to a journalist shows just how flawed Brown’s judgment could be. Choosing a customer Renault PU, post Honda, now looks to be about as bad as things can get.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mclaren-seeing-...
I do believe that McLaren have taken the first steps towards greatly improving their fortunes, but to actually use these words to a journalist shows just how flawed Brown’s judgment could be. Choosing a customer Renault PU, post Honda, now looks to be about as bad as things can get.
rdjohn said:
We all deserve a good laugh on a wet Tuesday morning.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mclaren-seeing-...
I do believe that McLaren have taken the first steps towards greatly improving their fortunes, but to actually use these words to a journalist shows just how flawed Brown’s judgment could be. Choosing a customer Renault PU, post Honda, now looks to be about as bad as things can get.
I don't see anything wrong with the words he actually said. What do you think is so wrong with what he said in that interview? Seems pretty accurate to me.https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mclaren-seeing-...
I do believe that McLaren have taken the first steps towards greatly improving their fortunes, but to actually use these words to a journalist shows just how flawed Brown’s judgment could be. Choosing a customer Renault PU, post Honda, now looks to be about as bad as things can get.
Every effort that a team makes is condensed into the points they score.
McLaren currently have 30-points against Mercedes 257. 4 retirements from 6-races tells its own story.
Saying stuff like “From my leadership standpoint I'm done, I've got what I want and am very pleased with it," he said. "I landed everyone I wanted to land. I don't feel like I got second-best in any of them. What Andreas ends up doing with the racing team is up to Andreas and he has my full support."
Much of Brown’s input went into the Indy sideshow.
Appointing Seidl will at least allow Brown more time to play with United Autosports and his collection.
It’s worth noting that Toto Wolff commits himself fully to AMG Mercedes, despite having other business interests.
McLaren currently have 30-points against Mercedes 257. 4 retirements from 6-races tells its own story.
Saying stuff like “From my leadership standpoint I'm done, I've got what I want and am very pleased with it," he said. "I landed everyone I wanted to land. I don't feel like I got second-best in any of them. What Andreas ends up doing with the racing team is up to Andreas and he has my full support."
Much of Brown’s input went into the Indy sideshow.
Appointing Seidl will at least allow Brown more time to play with United Autosports and his collection.
It’s worth noting that Toto Wolff commits himself fully to AMG Mercedes, despite having other business interests.
rdjohn said:
It’s worth noting that Toto Wolff commits himself fully to AMG Mercedes, despite having other business interests.
Is it worth noting? Toto is team principal of Mercedes, whereas Zak Brown is not and has never been team principal of McLaren. He's the CEO of McLaren Racing, in charge of all McLaren racing activities, not just F1.rdjohn said:
Every effort that a team makes is condensed into the points they score.
McLaren currently have 30-points against Mercedes 257. 4 retirements from 6-races tells its own story.
Saying stuff like “From my leadership standpoint I'm done, I've got what I want and am very pleased with it," he said. "I landed everyone I wanted to land. I don't feel like I got second-best in any of them. What Andreas ends up doing with the racing team is up to Andreas and he has my full support."
Much of Brown’s input went into the Indy sideshow.
Appointing Seidl will at least allow Brown more time to play with United Autosports and his collection.
It’s worth noting that Toto Wolff commits himself fully to AMG Mercedes, despite having other business interests.
He was tasked with restructuring and rebuilding the McLaren F1 team. He's done that now with all the people he wanted in place. He says he can see the benefits started to take place but you're essentially calling him a liar because they don't have the same points as Mercedes?McLaren currently have 30-points against Mercedes 257. 4 retirements from 6-races tells its own story.
Saying stuff like “From my leadership standpoint I'm done, I've got what I want and am very pleased with it," he said. "I landed everyone I wanted to land. I don't feel like I got second-best in any of them. What Andreas ends up doing with the racing team is up to Andreas and he has my full support."
Much of Brown’s input went into the Indy sideshow.
Appointing Seidl will at least allow Brown more time to play with United Autosports and his collection.
It’s worth noting that Toto Wolff commits himself fully to AMG Mercedes, despite having other business interests.
So I suppose he's not allowed to make any comments about improvements in the factory or the way the team works until McLaren hold both titles again then?
rdjohn said:
Saying stuff like “From my leadership standpoint I'm done, I've got what I want and am very pleased with it," he said. "I landed everyone I wanted to land. I don't feel like I got second-best in any of them. What Andreas ends up doing with the racing team is up to Andreas and he has my full support."
To be fair, this is the exact role of the CEO. Get the right people in to do a job and them leave them to do it using their expertise in whatever. ZB also has to think about all the other McLaren activities so micro-managing the motorsport side will only be detrimental to the rest of the group.https://www.mclaren.com/racing/heritage/cars/
Do we read anything into this about selling off the family jewels over the past few years or are they just choosing to highlight the more successful cars they have?
I wonder what Unit 2 currently looks like?
Do we read anything into this about selling off the family jewels over the past few years or are they just choosing to highlight the more successful cars they have?
I wonder what Unit 2 currently looks like?
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