McLaren are slow – and unreliable too
Lewis Hamilton made it into Q2 before his McLaren faltered
Even when McLaren admitted their MP4-24 wasn’t on the pace there was still a suspicion that maybe, just maybe, they were having us on.
But qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix proved not only that the new car is slow – it’s unreliable too. A disastrous combination for defending world champion Lewis Hamilton.
The question now is, what can they do about it?
Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton line up 14th and 15th for the Australian Grand Prix tomorrow – assuming they don’t get any penalties which, with Hamilton’s car needing repairs, is possible.
The only cars behind them are the two Toro Rossos, the two Force Indias, and Nelson Piquet Jnr’s Renault. How has the team with the number one on its car got it so badly wrong?
Mclaren have a pattern of producing poorly-performing cars. The 2006 MP4/21 was winless and the MP4/19 of 2004 was a disaster until a B-specification version was introduced.
On top of that, while other teams like Brawn and Williams made an early start on their 2009 cars, McLaren pushed on with development of last year’s MP4-23 as Hamilton fought Massa for the drivers’ championship. It’s probably no coincidence that another team that have under-performed at Melbourne so far, Renault, also had a strong end to 2008 as they continued development of their car later than some of their rivals.
This opens up an intriguing storyline for the season, giving us an opportunity to see how well Hamilton and rival Alonso perform in two uncompetitive cars,and how good a job they make of bringing their teams back to the front.
There is one obvious development channel open to them – the controversial double-decker diffuser. Brawn GP, Williams and Toyota are all running with the innovation, which the FIA is set to hold an appeal hearing into on April 14th, five days before the Chinese Grand Prix. McLaren, like the other teams, will probably be banking on the FIA ruling the diffusers legal, and not having to go through the messy business of stripping likely wins and points from other teams.
But Red Bull, Ferrari and BMW all ran with conventional diffusers and all made it through to the final stage of qualifying, showing the MP4-24 has more problems than what’s going on at the back of the car.
Can McLaren get back to winning ways before the end of the season? Is Lewis Hamilton’s title defence over already? Have your say in the comments.
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frecon said on 28th March 2009, 13:44
The last day of test, they were testing with the spray… For me this fact says a lot about Mclarens concerns. Doin’ what usually are secert test in front of everyone.
It’s obvious they have a problem with aerodynamics,and they are not able to find where the problem is.
If tyhey can fix it with some pieces maybe they’ll win races in the second part of the season.
If it’s a concept problem then…
matt said on 28th March 2009, 13:51
Can they really strip teams of wins for the diffuser? I heard that, as the car was declared legal to run this weekend, if it is banned then the race results up till that point would still stand.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 28th March 2009, 14:40
The WMSC can impose pretty much whatever punishment they choose.
Lynn said on 28th March 2009, 14:27
No one really knows what will happen unless you work for Mclaren. It’s not so bad really, it might give Lewis a chance to demonstrate his powers as a driver. And if it turns out to be a bad year, then so be it. As my old gran use to say tomorrow is another day.
Morcov Agresiv said on 28th March 2009, 14:38
Mclaren is sandbagging LOL
David - BR said on 28th March 2009, 14:57
Ferrari will be out in front within 3-4 races, I think, with the ‘Braun’ diffuser technology. And way out in front with Kimi Raikkonen leading. The last two years were stormy and emotive for McLaren – in 2007, the spygate scandal, infighting with Alonso, Hamilton failing by a whisker. In 2008, with Dennis planning to retire, everything was focused on LH correcting this ‘mistake’ and they committed just about everything to developing the car until the very end of the season. Without this Ferrari/Massa would have won. So this season is really a bad hangover from the last two years. I’m sure they’ll come through. And it could be good for Hamilton if he resists dreaming about ‘solving’ his problems by jumping team. This is the ‘milk-float’ many wished on him: he has this season to concentrate on being a low/midfield driver, learning knew race craft to maximize to get into the points and develop the car.
daN said on 28th March 2009, 15:18
Matt, if for instance Brawn win this weekend and are then deemed at malaysia to be illegal they will still keep there points.
But I hope Brawn arn’t deemed illegal, if they arnt then you will see every 1 else copying some parts of there car, I feel McLaren need a different nose simialer to Brawn, as well as the rear diffuser.
pSynrg said on 28th March 2009, 16:44
Poor start but early days. Just the kind of challenge that will do Lewis a world of good in the long run. Look what happened to Schuey when he moved from Benetton. The struggle that followed made the greatest competitor F1 is likely to ever see.
So happy to see Brawn do the biz and utterly enthralled at the prospect of Jenson at last. I seriously and sadly thought his F1 career was finished!
In reference to several earlier comments, I don’t understand why people like a team and ‘hate’ another. I love all the F1 teams. They are all there and they all make it happen. Why would you as an F1 supporter want to hate any of them?
Allie500 said on 28th March 2009, 16:48
McLaren’s season is over before it even began. They may get back to winning ways during the season but it will be way too late to go for the championships.
This season is all about saving face for them. I’ll be happy if they finish in the Top-5 of the constructors and I’d be estatic if they finish 3rd or better.
Mclarista said on 28th March 2009, 17:05
HOLD ON GUYS. KOVALAINEN HAS THE THIRD HEAVIEST CAR ON THE GRID AND HAMILTON DIDN’T HAVE A SHOT AT Q2. LET’S WAIT AT LEAST 1 MORE RACE BEFORE WE GET TO SUCH CONCLUSIONS.
Allie500 said on 28th March 2009, 17:14
Well i’ve already jumped to conclusions. the MP4-24 is an abomination. my ten year old chrysler 300m POS would lap both McLarens at Albert Park.
Journeyer (@journeyer) said on 28th March 2009, 17:14
But Kovi’s that heavy because that fuel was put there post-Q2, so it meant he really was legitimately slow. And this is in the cooler confines of Melbourne. I think the KERS cars might struggle even more in the heat of Sepang.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 28th March 2009, 23:01
Exactly.
Matt said on 28th March 2009, 19:18
By blaming the problems on maintaining the performance of MP4-23 last year, Mclaren are playing into the hands of those who seek to cap team budgets. If a team like Mclaren can’t develop the following season’s car at the same time as maintaining a championship winner with their resources, what hope for Brawn in 2010 if they have the kind of season people are predicting….?
Oliver said on 28th March 2009, 22:06
Developing a car is not so much the amount of money you can put into it, but rather the quality of the expertise. Perhaps the quality engineers were working performance improvements of last years car, and they only had the personnel who change tyres to lead the development of this years car.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine) said on 28th March 2009, 23:07
I’m very surprised to see McLaren has admitted it’s slow in 2009 because it kept so much of its development focus on 2008:
Fair enough, by concentrating on 2008 they made sure they secured the title. But by admitting to it I think Whitmarsh has tacitly reduced the perceived value of Lewis Hamilton’s accomplishment.
If I was Hamilton right now, staring a tough season in the face, I wouldn’t be too happy about my boss giving everyone carte blanche to say “Hamilton only won the title last year because McLaren sacrificed their 2009 development programme”.
frecon said on 29th March 2009, 1:34
The point is that Mclaren and Ferrari are supposed to be big enough to work in two projects at the same time.
The idea to forget about the development of a car to focus in the next season’s one is ok for BMW, Renault, or Williams, but is not for Mclaren.
Salty said on 28th March 2009, 23:43
Talk about baptism of fire, poor Martin Whitmarsh is having one very unpleasent debutante year. Shame, nice chap. Not too nice I hope though. F1 does like tough as nuts a-holes (cit.b.eccelstone)
The only obvious result from the first 2 days at Melbourne are that BrawnGP are quick in a Merc and McLaren are not. Very embarassing. MCL have consistantly not been able to lay down power in the apex of corners, so have a fundamental problem with rear grip and downforce at lower speeds. A new diffuser will be sooner on the horizon for them than any other team I suspect. There also might be scope for redisgn in the exaust system to angle more over the rear wing – just a thought. Feel free to shoot.
Salty.
Jason said on 29th March 2009, 4:30
Sadly, I think that they are not going to fare very well this season. I became interested in this sport because of Lewis Hamilton, suffice to say and it really sucks that this is happening. I just don’t see it happening. As long as the Ferrari’ are out of front running contention, I am a little more happy. Go Brawn GP in Melbourne! They deserve it after the winter’s heartrending they were all put through.