F1 links: McLaren in trouble

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McLaren admit problem, but how bad is it?

"Looking at the lap times from Wednesday and Thursday, Hamilton doesn’t do any long runs, 10 laps is his maximum and the car runs in the 1m 22s and high 1m 21s. It’s very hard to guess how heavy the car is when they did this run, as 10 laps worth of fuel is only about 25 kilos, so the car could have had another 30 on board at the end of the run or just fumes. Generally I would expect them to have a total of around 40 kilos in the car as a reference for their tests. They were not doing long runs or race distance tests, where you’d expect to use 50 kilos per 20 lap stint."

Top Gear Grand Prix 09

"Jeremy Clarkson meets Lewis Hamilton down at the Top Gear test track, James May gets to grips with the six eras of F1 and the Stig thrashes the arse off F1’s safety car."

Technical analysis: Brawn GP BGP 001

A thorough look at the car everyone's talking about.

Thoughts on BMW Sauber After Testing

"Melbourne is just a few weeks away and from my standpoint, the team seems in pretty good shape to compete for wins and the drivers championship with either one of their drivers."

The Brawny Question

Clive provides more answers to what happens "If Brawn GP really are that fast…"

Pre-Season Testing Comparison: 2008 vs. 2009

"The biggest gainers are Brawn, who over their previous pace as Honda, have improved by a whopping 3.733s."

Massa: Brawn GP pace unreachable

Felipe Massa: "As far as the performance is concerned I'm really satisfied with our competitiveness compared to all the others, except obviously Brawn GP, who were unreachable for all of us."

McLaren admits new car not quick enough

Martin Whitmarsh: "This week the car has run in Barcelona with an updated aero package, as we had always planned it would, and a performance shortfall has been identified that we are now working hard to resolve."

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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17 comments on “F1 links: McLaren in trouble”

  1. Terry Fabulous
    14th March 2009, 10:18

    There is bit of glee from some people about McLaren’s (Apparent) lack of form.

    What’s it called ‘Shadenfreude’? Or something like that

    1. McLaren are a high ranking team – they will have just as many enemies as they do supporters.

      If it happened to Ferrari there would be more than a few people gloating about it. I think more people are happy that Brawn could beat the Ferrari, than the McLaren being rubbish.

  2. McLaren are welcome to have a bad year this year, so long as the come back strong next year, and win BOTH championships.

    Still though, McLaren have incredible resources behind then, and I have little doubt that they will overcome any problems within the first few Grand Prix. You can’t count out the top end teams too quickly ;)

  3. As long as we have Brawn Gp at the front with Ferrari,BMW,Toyota and Renault i will be very happy!

  4. So lets start placing bets on when the media will start speculating on Hamilton’s unhappiness with the car and the team so much so that he is looking for a drive elsewhere after invoking his get out clause. Yes, ok, I’m sorry for being cynical, but you all have to know it will start soon enough…

  5. Bigbadderboom
    14th March 2009, 12:50

    Chaz, certainly cynical, but F1 surprises nobody these days, and the journos love a good story. McLaren need to sort their issues out because Lewis’s vale will drop, as its his feedback and input the team now need to get to grips with the lack of grip!!

    @ Loki I would love to see Brawn turn over the Ferraris this year, Schumi and others owe a lot to Brawn and this year we may see how much!!

  6. I’m not a Hamilton fan, but I would like to think I could give him more credit to his words of seeing his future out at McLaren. I reckon jumping ship would be a PR disaster, especially if it’s his first season in a crud car – what’s that going to say about the drivers commitment.

    To be honest, where else is he gonna go? Would he seriously think about jumping in a Ferrari – what would half his fans think about that? Would Ferrari even have him when they are potentially looking for an Alonso or Vettel for the future? For a long term future in F1, how many teams will have some sort of consistent top form, and will still be in the sport in a few years time? Not many options, I’d say – best stick at McLaren.

    Bigbadderboom, as a Ferrari fan I genuinely would like to see Brawn mix it up up front. I was a fan of Honda anyway (as well as Renault) and I think Ferrari should’ve given Brawn the position he wanted (although understandably they didn’t given the circumstances) and they may now see that decision work against them.

  7. Woking, we have a problem :-D

    1. hahaha, excellent, pit board wall to Major Ron.

  8. If BruanGP turn out to be this fast, the one of the biggest losers will be ForceIndia.

  9. Yay, more Top Gear posturing for Lewis Hamilton, despite Clarkson’s supposed hate for Grand Prix drivers like him.

  10. I don’t think you should write off McLaren, even for this year

  11. is this ROn’s departure= goodbye mclaren championship future?

    i hope if they are already making F1 2009, the game should have brawn GP as a fast car. Otherwise I wouldn’t bother buying if it’s as slow as a super aguri.

  12. i dont understand why brawn gp is so fast, while mclaren and force india are at the back or midfield.

    is brawn like adrian huey? he did it with schumi at ferrari. maybe honda pulling out was abad move for honda, they didn’t know they had a good chasis. maybe the hona engine was bad

  13. i dont understand why brawn gp is so fast, while mclaren and force india are at the back or midfield.

    is brawn like adrian huey? he did it with schumi at ferrari. maybe honda pulling out was abad move for honda, they didn’t know they had a good chasis. maybe the hona engine was bad

  14. Errr, excuse me, but if both Brawn and Force India have improved their timings with a new Mercedes engine, doesn’t that say soemthing about their performances last year using Honda and Ferrari power?
    Or are we saying that the technicians at Brawn and Force India are that much better than the guys at McLaren? Not that I’m saying McLaren never have off days, or years, but they always have a little something else to offer.
    Either that or maybe some teams have been interpreting the rules differently to others?

  15. I think after Newey left McLaren they never made a good car by themselves. 07 and 08 had ideas copied from Ferrari especially the weight distribution etc about the Bridgestone tires. Now that they have to design a new car they are back into trouble like 06. We need to wait and watch till Melbourne. Of course Brawn is a master like Newey. If he has worked on a design for one year I am pretty sure it will deliver and show the Results. He has 8 Constructors title to his credit. 1994 to 2004 should be looked upon as Brawn vs Newey era as much as it is a Schuey era.The only thing we all missed was though Schuey driving a Newey’s Mclaren Mercedes.

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