Is McLaren really off the pace?

[horse]

Agreed, the quotes sound much like an overview of the general characteristics of the car - reduced downforce from the regulation changes (as expected) but better handling from last years car (substantially better than the MP4-24).

To me, it doesn't sound like a bad base to start from, even if they are lacking a couple of tenths.

[Hangaku]

Even with those things, the car isn't suddenly going to leap infront of Red Bull...

What's the fun in that? It's much better to be sitting in an emotional rollcercoaster for 90% of the season, not knowing if McLaren have lost the plot or not...

[segedunum]

Drivers will never give the media the gory details and drivers don't respond in that way if they feel they are anywhere in the ballpark.

Telling us that it is better than last year's car, and especially the MP4-24, doesn't tell us anything. You would certainly hope it would feel better to the driver. The fact that the MP4-24 is even brought up as a comparison is a bad sign.

[Richard]

Seg - I agree most the quotes are PR piffle, and the ref to the 24 is equally worthless piffle.

... this car better than last year ... less downforce without DDD ... room for development ... more testing will help us get a better set up ... our upgrade will bring 6 tents.... etc. Those quotes could be from any team.

You and I don't know why the 24 was brought up. Perhaps someone asked about the last time they ran without a DDD. Most likely a journalist looking for a story said "how does it compare with the 24?", and the answer was "it has a single diffuser and KERS just like the 24 but it is nothing like the 24 to drive".

That leads to a shock horror headline "Hamilton says this year's car is like the 24", completely ignoring the comment that is is nothing like the 24 to drive. Now I think about it, not only does the car have a single diffuser, but it also has 4 wheels and a fuel tank ... just like the 24 ... my god they are doomed.


- caveat - I'm not saying McLaren don't appear to be slow, and don't appear to have a jumbled testing programe. I'm just saying that these interviews and resulting headlines are complete bollocks if you read the actual quotes.

[volarchico]

Even with those things, the car isn't suddenly going to leap infront of Red Bull...

Oddly, no one mentioned leaping in front of Red Bull, except you. Bring on Barcelona round 2! Waiting another whole week for any sort of real news is horrible.

[Alge7a]

Oh dear. When Mclaren allow there drivers to publicly speak out in a negative way about the car then you can be 100% sure they downgrading expectations of the fan base and media. There must be panic at the factory going on. Pat fry was behind the 09 dog so it's hard to say he's been a huge loss in the design of the car . But who knows. We can only take random guesses.

[Richard]

Oh dear. When Mclaren allow there drivers to publicly speak out in a negative way about the car

Perhaps you could quote the negative bits please, because I'm finding it really hard to find them.

[i70q7m7ghw]

Even with those things, the car isn't suddenly going to leap infront of Red Bull...

Oddly, no one mentioned leaping in front of Red Bull, except you. Bring on Barcelona round 2! Waiting another whole week for any sort of real news is horrible.

I didn't mean to upset anyone! I'm just trying to be realistic here. Update or no update McLaren aren't going to be winning races at the start of the season.

[bonjon1979]

I tend to agree with you Diesel but look what happened last year when it was a similar situation. Despite being over a second slower in Qualy Mac won in Aus and took a 1-2 in China.

The first few races are going to be really mixed up with people coming to terms with the tyres/ pitstops. If there's any time to be behind, then the beginning of the championship is definitely it! That's not to say I think it is a good thing being behind. Just that it's not a complete disaster and it could've been worse had Bahrain not been canceled. Also, anything can happen in Oz even the '09 Mac ended up competitive there.

[marcush.]

hamilton said it feels better than the 2010 car (which was the best Mclaren he ever drove!)it only lacks downforce compared to 2010..so it feels weak in that area...

[sadzik]

as far as I remember he says this about every new car (the feeling better than the previous car part, of course, not about lacking the downforce)

[raymondu999]

He says each car is the best/most planted/has the most downforce etc. Even praised the MP4-24 too

[imightbewrong]

He says each car is the best/most planted/has the most downforce etc. Even praised the MP4-24 too

"I'm pleased to report the car feels good, but it's going to be an extremely busy winter." - 2009 after first test

[i70q7m7ghw]

Probably best to ignore Lewis's comments Jenson had some interesting things to say:

"When I first jumped in the car my first reaction was not 'wow, we're going to blow everyone away'.

"But then I don't think anyone would have felt that because the car has a lot less downforce and the tyres [Pirelli] are working very differently to the previous tyre [Bridgestone]."

[PlatinumZealot]

Not completely negative but from autosport:

Hamilton said the MP4-26 was not as bad as the team's 2009 machine, with which he struggled at the start of the season, but admitted it is currently lacking performance.

"The '09 was terrible because the car was hopping, three-wheeling through corners, it was locking up, and it had no downforce," Hamilton told Reuters.

"This doesn't lock up, it doesn't three-wheel and it handles really nice, better than last year's car, but it just doesn't have as much downforce...so that's where it feels weak.

"Hopefully we've got some more downforce coming onto the car before the first race."

Team-mate Jenson Button also conceded he was not blown away when he first drove the car, but he too is confident there is more performance to extract from it.

"When I first jumped in it (the car) the first reaction was not 'Wow, we're going to blow everyone away'. No," Button told Reuters.

"I don't think anyone would have felt that because it's got a lot less downforce, the tyres are working very differently to the previous tyre.

"But there's nothing that really scares me about the car in a negative way, so there's a lot we can improve with this car through general set-up work."