Jenson Button has been let down in the past two races by operational problems which the team need to eliminate to stay in touch with Red Bull:
I don’t think Jenson’s fluctation in form is anything to do with him, I think it’s us. I don’t think we’ve given our drivers a car that can get the to the front row of the grid so they’ve got their work cut out.
In the early part of the season Lewis found himself in a few difficult positions and had to do a few overtaking manoeuvres. We let Jenson down in Monaco by dispatching the car with a piece of support equipment in the radiators.
But Jenson and Lewis are working really well together. In terms of their drives, both of them are leaving nothing on the circuit. Now it’s up to the team to give them a car to get the job done.
Jonathan Neale
Speaking at the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Phone-in Neale said he was confident the team could reduce Red Bull’s performance advantage
In terms of the car specifically there’s nothing about Jenson’s driving style relative to Lewis’s that would make them use the tyres differently.
They have slightly different preferences for braking. But by the time you’re into brakes you’re in second orders of magnitude compared to fundamentals like suspension.
We’re very happy that having these drivers doesn’t mean the chief engineer has to open up different development paths which sap the organisation of development energy. So we’re not putting in different suspension layouts on one or the other.
Our focus is on getting more downforce, getting more out of the tyres and more out of the car. It’s the only way we’re going to close the gap to Red Bull. That, and being operationally more effective.
We came out of China on a high but we dropped points in the last two races. When you look at the championship there’s only a small gap in points, it’s all still to be played for.
At the moment Red Bull have an upper hand but I’m confident that won’t be the case by the middle of the season. But we can’t afford to make these kinds of mistakes so we need to eliminate them from our game like everybody else does.
I’m sure Red Bull would say the same thing. If you look at the potential of that car and the points they didn’t achieve, I’m sure they have their own frustrations. But that’s for them to worry about, I’ve got to worry about our cars.
They can be caught. Ourselves, Ferrari and Mercedes are trying to do just that.
They are 0.8 seconds ahead in some places at some circuits. From our experience we closed two and a half seconds a lap between the start of the season and Hungary last year. We’ve demonstrated that that kind of gradient is do-able.
They have a quick car, it’s up to the rest of us now to get the job done. I suspect they won’t have that advantage all season. I think they re eminently catch-able.
Jonathan Neale
He said parts of the Istanbul circuit being used this weekend should play to the strengths of the MP4-25:
Some aspects of the circuit such as long, sweeping curves – turn eight is one of them but there are others – are where our car at the moment seems to work better.
We have more of an issue with the low-speed corners, we’re working on that particular area of the car at the moment.
I’m sure that a number of teams are taking upgrades, so we’ll see what everybody brings.
But it’s a sweeping circuit and very smooth, so you can run the car reasonably stiff which will probably suit us. We’ll see what happens.
Jonathan Neale
He also said he was glad the teams had found a way of resolving queries over the technical rules without disputing them in public. He denied reports Red Bull changed part of their diffuser at Monaco following a request from McLaren:
We’re not aware that Red Bull took any action
But all the teams, whenever there are updates, take a look at each others’ cars and there are differences in interpretation from one to the next. One or two of the teams spoke to us about some things on our car.
What is good to see is that rather than this stuff being played out as major spats in court rooms the technical directors are collectively doing a good job of clarifying with each other, allowing us to run the sport in a seemly way.
Jonathan Neale
Red Bull are expected to run their version of McLaren’s F-duct this weekend. Neale said he thinks the team will get the system working quickly:
I think they will be able to, it depends on how they realise it. Ferrari have also done good work in that area and they’ve demonstrated they’ve been able to get a wing to switch. So it looks like Red Bull will be there or thereabouts.
Inevitably once you reveal these things at the beginning of a season they have to figure out not only what you’re doing but how it works, then the gap gets closed very quickly.
Like the Red Bull car, that has various features on it that people are looking at and trying to understand and now everyone’s in a mad scramble to re-create some of that.
Jonathan Neale
With the choice of tyre supplier for 2011 still undecided, Neale said the team had no preference between likely suppliers Pirelli and Michelin, but admitted their more recent experience with the latter was a bonus:
No, we don’t have a preference. We very much enjoyed working with Michelin as we’ve enjoyed working with Bridgestone. They’re great technical organisations and the amount of support they give the teams in terms of data and wind tunnel information is well established.
We have a huge amount of respect for Michelin because we worked with them for many years.
It is also true that we worked with Pirelli, albeit it a long time ago. There are stories in the corridors here about what the Pirelli qualifying tyres were like but that was before my time.
I’m pretty sure we’d be happy to work with any of the companies, we just don’t have current experience with Pirelli.
Jonathan Neale
Read more: McLaren pleased with return to America
Johnny86
26th May 2010, 12:55
The main problem for the other teams is understanding red bull’s car.they just cant figure out whats the secret of red bulls stunning pace.i think they should give up the idea of copying the red bull and instead focus on developing their own car and improve their downforce . Mclaren’s strategy is good but the problem is that mclaren’s car is in itself at the zenith of its development.so it is very difficult to squeeze out even a few tenths from it.actualy their base car is the same as early last year and it is very poor.it is just developed to a great amount.ferrari in my idea has the best base car because dont forget they built an all new car this year and if they can keep up the development rate they may just catch red bull but the bulls are no slouch in developing a car either. So i say its difficult to catch them unless some team can develop any path-breaking innovation.
US_Peter
26th May 2010, 19:21
Agreed. Another thing the other teams seem to be forgetting is that Red Bull can also develop as fast as anyone. Take last year for example. Their only hope is that the RB6 reaches a plateau where they’re not really able to get much more out of it.
Icthyes
26th May 2010, 19:46
I remember on here the “consensus” was that Ferrari had done the better job. And yet McLaren have improved more than Ferrari, won more races, and would be ahead in the standings if it wasn’t for Hamilton’s retirement in Spain.
I do think Red Bull’s advantage is fundamental and the teams will be hard-pressed to copy it. But from the small tweaks they keep bringing, as opposed to the big packages of the other teams, I don’t think they can stay as far ahead forever. And I haven’t seen anything to suggest Ferrari have a higher potential for improvement. Ferrari may have more of an understanding of their car, but once McLaren do to, it’s six and two threes.
judo chop
26th May 2010, 20:32
If “their base car is the same as early last year” then how come they’re amongst the front runners this year? Surely putting 2.5 secs on this years car is as feasible as putting 2.5 secs on last years car. Even more so since they aren’t barking up the wrong tree with regards to their development emphases. Besides isn’t every car, especially from the frontrunners, at a sort of perceived “zenith” when it hits the track? McLaren and Ferrari must have thought they’d start winning races from the off last season before they started testing. Having found themselves wrong-footed it was a matter of weighing up the pros and cons of continued development and/or earlier development of the following seasons car. Neither car car reached a actual development end-stop though.
Electrolite
27th May 2010, 0:12
This is perhaps why Renault are perhaps improving at a better pace than their faster rivals – even though not necessarily quicker; they seem to be very focused on their own development and understanding their car, where as all you hear from Ferrari and Mclaren is Red Bull this Red Bull that!
Clay
27th May 2010, 2:45
Totally agree. The ’09 McLaren was crap so they had the chance to fix it up quite a bit. This year’s car seems to be closer to the optimum so the law of diminishing returns applies – they won’t find the same time throughout this season that they did last year.
With 19 race season could we see the RB6 do what the MP4/4 and F2002/2004 managed and win 15 races? I’ll put my neck out and say barring unreliability they will do just that.
Scribe
26th May 2010, 13:00
Neale is being a bit of a politician here, sure the pick up from the Mp4-24 was impressive. But the thing was an almighty dog at the begining of the season.
An catching Redbull? What like they caught the F2004 because thats how quick these cars look. Redbull have a fantastic technical department, an there swiming in the cash of a man who says they’ve got to win this year. Unless McLaren come up with something ingenious I have my doubts.
An finally, yes long sweeping curves play to the McLarens strengths. But they rather play to the Redbulls strenghts a little more don’t you think. 20kmh corner speed traps don’t lie.
DaveW
26th May 2010, 17:38
Let’s look back. At this stage in 2009 and through Turkey, Jenson Button in the Brawn had won six of seven, yes SIX, races. The Brawn was understood to be hopelessly dominant. Even if other teams could do a double-diffuser, sage men said, they could not make cars’ concepts accomodate the designs—least of all, you-know-who, due to their pull-rod rear suspension.
From this point, Jenson Button did not win another race and Barichello won only two more for the team, the same amount as Hamilton in the car that finished a lapped 16th in Silverstone. RedBull won five of the remaining races.
Also, through Button’s amazing run, RBR had I believe six podium finishes to Brawn’s 10, and of course only one victory. Now, RBR have 6 podiums and McLaren and Ferrari now both have four.
Looking at last year, there is no way to write off a challenge from at least two other teams for both titles now. In fact, the arthmetic for doing so looks much better than last year because the points are so much closer at this stage. Plus, the new points system makes any RBR DNFs, say, for brake failure, much more costly for them.
I would still put my money on red or silver for the titles this year.
BreezyRacer
26th May 2010, 18:26
Red Bull will continue to suck the headlights out of the other teams. Their engineering is in a different league and they have two very sound drivers to put the car over the line.
Lamo2741
26th May 2010, 19:55
Now I really hope that Mclaren can catch RBR, however I doubt it….
Also this is the same Mclaren that said they were going to win in spain last year after the first race! so I wont get my hopes up!
Patrickl
27th May 2010, 11:28
Wel, it didn’t take them that much longer to actually start winning races.
P. Rippon
26th May 2010, 22:26
They all seem to have forgotten about getting excited when the red bull scrapes the floor in qualifying, on low fuel — does anyone know what the answer was?
DaveW
27th May 2010, 1:48
No. Martin has mumbled something about how RBR “preps the tires” for Q3, which VMM will have to copy, or something. But it’s pretty saddening for the rest of the field that the ride-height fracas has evaporated without any dent in RBR’s qualifying advantage. Their advantage is the thin balding Englishman with the wicked pencil.
Patrickl
27th May 2010, 11:35
I wouldn’t say they didn’t make a dent. In the first few races McLaren was almost a second off of the qualifying pace of the Red Bull.
Yet in China all of a sudden Hamilton was battling with the Red Bulls and until he blew it in Q3 he looked set to finish between the two of them. Even Button was pretty close to the Red Bulls in that race.
I’d say that’s quite a remarkable recovery.
SkinBintin
26th May 2010, 22:32
I’m a mad McLaren loyalist, and as such am still confident they’ll win both Championships this season. Yep, that’s me… blind to the end! ;)
JUGNU
27th May 2010, 3:06
I hope Ferrari and Mclaren catch up Redbull soon but i fear we are going to see more Redbull domination and therefore lot more boring races. Only hope is inter-team battle and that to something like Lewis-Alonso to inject some excitement.