Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 2013

[flmkane]

As I wrote many pages back, Mclaren seem to have a problem hanging on to their key personel.

Sad to see such a great team losing such a good engineer like Lowe

[Pup]

On the other hand, no matter how many they lose, they seem to have another waiting in the wings who's just as good. Eventually, their bench has got to go empty. You'd think.

Anyway, so that makes what, half the grid now being run by McLaren technical directors? McLaren, Ferrari, Williams, Red Bull, and now Merc. Did I miss anyone?

I'm kinda waiting for the other shoe to drop now - imminent announcement from Lotus?

[McG]

The bench will never be empty.

[Holm86]

As I wrote many pages back, Mclaren seem to have a problem hanging on to their key personel.

Sad to see such a great team losing such a good engineer like Lowe

Thats rubbish. Every team loses personel to other teams. Happens all the time. Newey isnt gonna be with RedBull forever either.

[CjC]

As I wrote many pages back, Mclaren seem to have a problem hanging on to their key personel.

Sad to see such a great team losing such a good engineer like Lowe

I agree. I think the same, I think its something to do with the way Mclaren set up/run their company, its structured in way for sustainablity, where as for example Red Bull have just one (barring Infiniti as of now) massive investor, if and when Matershitz decdies to pull the plug - bye bye Red Bull as we currently know them. In my opinion thats why Newey left, he was thrown a massive amount of money and a really long leash and he's thrived under those conditions, I suspect Lowe will be wishing he'll get the same treatment from Mercedes.

You get these different teams having their moment in the limelight, Red bull are having their moment, it might very well be Mercedes turn next, but they all come and go, Mclaren and Ferrari are the real teams in F1 who constantly occupy the sharp end of the grid.

Mclaren have great strengh and depth, for instance they have immediately replaced Lowe from within the company and as someone said before Mclarens bench will never empty.

Another point, I cant remember any other time that a Technical director swapping jobs has ever had some much media coverage/specualtion. any ideas to why?

[flmkane]

On the other hand, no matter how many they lose, they seem to have another waiting in the wings who's just as good. Eventually, their bench has got to go empty. You'd think.

Anyway, so that makes what, half the grid now being run by McLaren technical directors? McLaren, Ferrari, Williams, Red Bull, and now Merc. Did I miss anyone?

I'm kinda waiting for the other shoe to drop now - imminent announcement from Lotus?

And Red Bull has only ONE ex mclaren man . Won them three titles.

Lotus has one ex Mclaren driver. He used to work for Ferrari, during which time he won them 1 drivers title.

Williams has an ex Mclaren engineer. Got them their first win since 2004.

Ferrari has one ex Mclaren driver. Challenged for the championship twice in the past 3 years in inferior cars.

Mercedes has one ex Mclaren driver. We haven't had time to see what he does yet.

[raymondu999]

I'm quite sure Prodromou, Fry, Tombazis, Iley and de la Rosa were all from McLaren too...

[lotus7]

With Paddy on gardening leave , will attending to the annual washing of Ron's driveway gravel be in his job description ?

[prince]

On the other hand, no matter how many they lose, they seem to have another waiting in the wings who's just as good. Eventually, their bench has got to go empty. You'd think.

Anyway, so that makes what, half the grid now being run by McLaren technical directors? McLaren, Ferrari, Williams, Red Bull, and now Merc. Did I miss anyone?

I'm kinda waiting for the other shoe to drop now - imminent announcement from Lotus?

And Red Bull has only ONE ex mclaren man . Won them three titles.

Lotus has one ex Mclaren driver. He used to work for Ferrari, during which time he won them 1 drivers title.

Williams has an ex Mclaren engineer. Got them their first win since 2004.

Ferrari has one ex Mclaren driver. Challenged for the championship twice in the past 3 years in inferior cars.

Mercedes has one ex Mclaren driver. We haven't had time to see what he does yet.

Despite all this attrition, McLaren has stayed a front running team. It just goes on to show that McLaren has a perfect philosophy in place to breed talented people.

[astracrazy]

With Paddy on gardening leave , will attending to the annual washing of Ron's driveway gravel be in his job description ?

he is in for one --- year

[KingHamilton01]

So a lot of people talk about how McLaren have now been weakened as a team from the departure of both Hamilton and now Lowe. I wanted to take this opportunity to share some thought`s with everyone and see if you agree or disagree, perhap`s in wake of these departure`s this will mean McLaren will spend the next couple of years in transition.
The Question is where is McLaren`s biggest weakness? is it the team principal Whitmarsh doesn`t come across as being serious enough at times and then will state the obvious that the team need`s to perform better,then we have the Mercedes engine, there has been big discussion of recent about the fuel pump failure`s and even still after a modified part at the start of testing fail`s! generally regarded as a top engine but yet Renault better for driveability.

On the subject of the engine, if McLaren are entering a period of transition surely they should embrace it and look at change? I think they could look at going in house to build there own engine`s, surely they have the know how and facilities to do this but I don`t pretend to know anything about what sort of budget you would need to do this. The other option could be to look at another engine supplier and maybe McLaren could look at going back to using Honda engine`s? to forge a relationship with them instead of carrying on using Mercedes engines as surely in 2014 they will not help McLaren as much as they have in the past.

Finally the driver`s I as many view the 2013 as an important one for Jenson, I believe that with the tyre life and tyre preservation been more important than ever, this could be Jenson`s best opportunity for the championship. So if McLaren and Jenson fail does that mean they look elsewhere for another driver as he isn`t getting any younger that`s for sure. Im interested to know what people`s thought`s and opinion`s are regarding these subject`s and idea`s!

[flmkane]

On the other hand, no matter how many they lose, they seem to have another waiting in the wings who's just as good. Eventually, their bench has got to go empty. You'd think.

Anyway, so that makes what, half the grid now being run by McLaren technical directors? McLaren, Ferrari, Williams, Red Bull, and now Merc. Did I miss anyone?

I'm kinda waiting for the other shoe to drop now - imminent announcement from Lotus?

And Red Bull has only ONE ex mclaren man . Won them three titles.

Lotus has one ex Mclaren driver. He used to work for Ferrari, during which time he won them 1 drivers title.

Williams has an ex Mclaren engineer. Got them their first win since 2004.

Ferrari has one ex Mclaren driver. Challenged for the championship twice in the past 3 years in inferior cars.

Mercedes has one ex Mclaren driver. We haven't had time to see what he does yet.

Despite all this attrition, McLaren has stayed a front running team. It just goes on to show that McLaren has a perfect philosophy in place to breed talented people.

Hah. No constructors championship for 15 years. Lets face it, stability is key to consistency. Ferrari had a very stable team during the Schumacher era, Red Bull has a stable team now. Mclaren have been getting rid of people and bringing in new ones since the mid 90s.

[mclaren_mircea]

After I found that Lowe will go to Mercedes, well, we know this from January.
But I'm thinking about a reapeat of the Pat Fry situation, because Fry gradually took a few people from Mclaren with him at Ferrari. It might be posible that gibven the fact that Lowe has deep roots in Mclaren's internal structere, I'm worried that he might take a few engineers with him at Mercedes. It's time for Ron to rise the wages a little. On a Mclaren fanboys forum Jonathan Neale assured the loyal fans that no people will defect anymore to Mercedes after Lowe. Well, we will see, but all this changes can turn againts Lauda and Mercedes and in the end Mclaren might finish ahead of Mercedes.

[GrizzleBoy]

Despite all this attrition, McLaren has stayed a front running team. It just goes on to show that McLaren has a perfect philosophy in place to breed talented people.

So do Arsenal football club. They have an excellent record for taking in your talent and releasing them as some of the most sought after players in the world.

They sold the league's top goal scorer Van Persie to another club and he's once again top goal scorer in the league, but for Manchester United this time. They're very good at being commercially successful.

However, they've not won even a single trophy in almost eight years. They're considered one of the top teams in their respective league and nobody will argue how CLOSE they can get to a championship, but the fact remains that they have not been able to bring home the silverware for almost a decade now.

Point is, there is no point breeding excellence if you can't turn it into championship wins.

No point asserting that you have one of the best technical teams, if they've not yielded any constructors titles in over a decade.

[CjC]

After I found that Lowe will go to Mercedes, well, we know this from January.
But I'm thinking about a reapeat of the Pat Fry situation, because Fry gradually took a few people from Mclaren with him at Ferrari. It might be posible that gibven the fact that Lowe has deep roots in Mclaren's internal structere, I'm worried that he might take a few engineers with him at Mercedes. It's time for Ron to rise the wages a little. On a Mclaren fanboys forum Jonathan Neale assured the loyal fans that no people will defect anymore to Mercedes after Lowe. Well, we will see, but all this changes can turn againts Lauda and Mercedes and in the end Mclaren might finish ahead of Mercedes.

I'm pretty sure that Lowe will take some personnel with him, I'm sure he will make an attractive proposition to current mclaren employees, but there are two things to consider:

A) the grass isn't always greener on the other side

B) don't think you are irreplaceable, for everyone who leaves probably 2 people will want to join.

I can only go by what I read but it seems Tom Goss knows what he's doing, it seems he designed the 27 which was a pretty good car:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/21596378

Another source to back up Goss's credentials:

http://m.skysports.com/article/formula1//8526523