Darth-Piekus wrote: ↑05 May 2024, 00:37
I will have to agree with CJC here. Those who grew up with the good Mclaren simply feel livid seeing a team underperforming on their best chance. As Emag said above Miami was their best chance and if they couldnt win with a B Spec car what do they expect to do when both Ferrari and Red Bull bring their upgrades at Imola? The difference between Zak Brown and Ron Dennis is that Ron Dennis is a racer not a manager and I clearly dont see racing winning attitude on the team. Not when they are screwing fundamental things like tyre temperature, dismissing the best aerodynamisist of the last 40 years, not trying to pursue a works status, screwing pit stops,not having the upgrades in time from the first race, forced to chase each time and promising each time that we are getting there for more than a decade now. I had high hopes from Q1 and Q2 yesterday but all I feel now is the frustration I had in Bahrain last year and I dont hear Hakinnen anymore telling about a Red Bull challenger.
Ron Dennis is the main reason McLaren fell off for the good part of the last decade ...
The moment Mercedes split from them, he should have started what Zak started in 2018 in terms of investments. But Ron and his "racing attitude" was busy pointing fingers internally for the lack of performance instead of actually doing something about it. It's because of Ron Dennis that McLaren fell into midfield levels of both operations and resources. Of course it will take a long time to repair the damage.
You're again taking things for face value with Newey and have been making the same comments over and over again. Zak is relatively close with Adrian and obviously Adrian has made it pretty clear in private with him that he is not interested in joining McLaren at this stage of his career. For PR reasons, Zak will obviously say that he is happy with the technical team they have, and that they don't need Adrian Newey. It's also a boost of morale for the team working back at the factory so it's a no-brainer statement.
"Works" status can't happen because there are no good options available. Do you want another rushed McHonda period? There is no engine manufacturer that has the resources or the expertise in such complicated Power Units to deliver immediately in 2026. Mercedes is their best bet, and they're doing just fine as their customer team.
It's interesting you point out the false promises from last decade. Who made those false promises? Wasn't the guy you praised for being a racer? Zak made the decision to ditch Honda because 2017 was absolutely horrid in both performance and reliability. The moment they get a slap back into reality in 2018 (which made it obvious McLaren was no longer the team they used to be), he started working on the background to try and bring it back to how it used to be.
Even a behemoth like Ferrari couldn't get themselves out of a slump within 2 years from 2020-2021 when they got a slap by the FIA for PU tricks of questionable legality. McLaren obviously needs more, since they actually had to rebuild things.
I am all from demanding good results from McLaren. I am very critical of them myself. But to do it in such blind manner really stirs the pot for me. It's so easy to just ignore the big picture. How difficult it is to make things work in this sport. Mercedes can't figure out sh*t in this regulation set for the third year running. Ferrari was lost for a long time after TD39 and it took them a long time (plus internal restructuring) to get to where they are right now.
The upgrade wasn't even a remedy to their major weaknesses, a fact said multiple times by both Andrea and Lando, yet people apparently thought it would be enough to overcome a 0.6s+ deficit on an unfavorable track.
Snap out of it. Yesterday was good, and with better temperature management and a higher starting position, Lando might have been in the mix with Max and Charles. But that's about it. There was no lost victory.
