Grand Prix Driver, Amazon Mclaren Documntary

[HighwayStar]

Apologise if this has already been mentioned or posted already.....
Just stumbled across this on Motorsport.com
"A new behind-the-scenes Amazon documentary on the McLaren F1 team has revealed how genuine fears were that Fernando Alonso would quit on the eve of the 2017 season – and there being a risk of team "collapse".

The series "Grand Prix Driver", which is narrated by Michael Douglas and produced by Manish Pandey, a BAFTA winner for his involvement in Senna, is being released on Amazon Prime from February 9."

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/amazon-mclaren-...

[HighwayStar]

HardtopManual said:

Wow, a genuinely useful post in the F1 forum, could a mod please pin it?!

Joking aside, thanks for the reminder.

I only found it because I couldn’t be bothered to leave the office for lunch.
There appears to have been no marketing of the documentary and I have Amazon Prime. Saying that I use Netflix a lot more so there maybe some promotion I haven’t seen on Prime.
I’m expecting it to be rather good as producer Manish Pandey did a fine job Senna.

[HighwayStar]

HighwayStar said:

HardtopManual said:

Wow, a genuinely useful post in the F1 forum, could a mod please pin it?!

Joking aside, thanks for the reminder.

I only found it because I couldn’t be bothered to leave the office for lunch.
There appears to have been no marketing of the documentary and I have Amazon Prime. Saying that I use Netflix a lot more so there maybe some promotion I haven’t seen on Prime.
I’m expecting it to be rather good as producer Manish Pandey did a fine job with Senna.

[HighwayStar]

StevieBee said:

mp3manager said:

Enjoyed it but I definitely got the feeling that some of the dept heads were winging it in the meetings.

Yes, I thought the same. There seemed to be less - what's the word? - 'exactness' than I was expecting and can't help feeling that the absence of Ron Dennis is having a detrimental impact on the team. I may be wrong but rather suspect that production timelines wouldn't have been an issue in the past.

By the way "The Return" is well worth a watch - on Amazon, documentary about the Ford GT return to LeMans in 2016.

Don't forget Ron went to Honda thinking they would be able to deliver to the same level they did in they Senna days. Ron was there for 2 of the 3 Honda years and was already frustrated with the lack of progress. Bolt holes not lining up, fabricating mounts were the least of the problems.
From what I've read, one of the issues was Honda did not have a dedicated Formula 1 engine department. They had not kept abreast of developments and engineers would pass through as part of there general training rather than being dedicated to the cause.
Mercedes had a lot of time to perfect there Hybrid package before bringing it to the track. Honda, it appears, underestimated the task although I would imagine that as they were pushing hard there would've been an initial expectation of some 'development' in public. Not 3yrs though.

[HighwayStar]

StevieBee said:

HighwayStar said:

StevieBee said:

mp3manager said:

Enjoyed it but I definitely got the feeling that some of the dept heads were winging it in the meetings.

Yes, I thought the same. There seemed to be less - what's the word? - 'exactness' than I was expecting and can't help feeling that the absence of Ron Dennis is having a detrimental impact on the team. I may be wrong but rather suspect that production timelines wouldn't have been an issue in the past.

By the way "The Return" is well worth a watch - on Amazon, documentary about the Ford GT return to LeMans in 2016.

Don't forget Ron went to Honda thinking they would be able to deliver to the same level they did in they Senna days. Ron was there for 2 of the 3 Honda years and was already frustrated with the lack of progress. Bolt holes not lining up, fabricating mounts were the least of the problems.
From what I've read, one of the issues was Honda did not have a dedicated Formula 1 engine department. They had not kept abreast of developments and engineers would pass through as part of there general training rather than being dedicated to the cause.
Mercedes had a lot of time to perfect there Hybrid package before bringing it to the track. Honda, it appears, underestimated the task although I would imagine that as they were pushing hard there would've been an initial expectation of some 'development' in public. Not 3yrs though.

Yeah - my thinking was more about the car side of things rather than engine. I do have sympathy for RD as the reasoning behind his thinking was sound.

My take is that development across all of F1 has become far more collaborative over the past 15 years and collaboration isn't something that the Japanese do particularly well, partly a cultural thing and partly language. In the past, didn't matter so much.

You only have to look at Toyota which, IIRC hold the record for the most amount of money spent for the least amount of points.

I don't think it's necessarily a Japanese issue... I think it's where any company is at the particular point of the state of the art.
Honda got the job done with Williams and then McLaren back in the day... But can't now.
Porsche got there with McLaren but failed with Arrows. The engine was too heavy.
A Renault was the engine of choice for a long time and they are trying to get back there.
Ferrari of course have always had their own engine and have not always delivered collaborating with their own engine dept.
Ford too, they weren't always front runners. McLaren didn't have a great time with them.
Collaboration has to been done in the right way but ultimately the supplier has to bring a great engine. McLaren's problems wasn't the poorly packaging and installation of a monumental Honda engine or a evil handling dog of a car. Honda just didn't produce the masterpiece McLaren were expecting.

[HighwayStar]

RemaL said:

Another thanks to the OP for this.

Was just good to see more behinds the scenes. OK i've only watched the first 2 but enjoying it

No probs... it was clearly something a lot of F1 fans would like to see...

Shame it didn't cover the whole season but I guess a few more of episodes of McLaren with their lip out and Honda floundering wasn't going to be much good for either of them. I'm a big Williams fan but Ron takes a beating on here. I would've loved Honda to come in, see what it was all about in the first season and then McLaren and Honda wipe the floor with everyone in their second season. Ron with a big F.U. grin while smug, uppity Horner looks on. Alas it wasn't to be.

[HighwayStar]

Nickp82 said:

gmaz said:

"Quick! We need the autoclave for a vital new wing end plate"

"Sorry mate, the meeting room chair spacer still has 4 hours to go"

(this scenario may not have been shown in the documentary )

That clip did make me smile, quite a neat visual description of the Mclaren culture I think (from what I have read about it).

And that is post Dennis!!! As anal as it is, I think it's good to see the company ethos is being maintained. All the other teams are largely run in the same way. Maybe not down to such boardroom details but where the actual engineering, developing and building happens... Clinical environments. McLaren lead the way.