What are Mclaren doing!?!?

[dumrick]

Just look at McLaren's site and you'll se they are trying to be the best at everything, not just Formula 1 racing. That lack of focus cannot be a positive thing.

Furthermore, I think that Newey is overrated, but changing the structure of the tech dpt. will not be the solution. Just look at Ferrari and see the benefits of stability.
In 2002, they felt so far behind of Ferrari, they took the wild approach of being radical to try to have a leap in performance in 2003. That explains the huge investment in the MP4/18. That panic has shown to be injustified when the MP4/17D almost took the championship last year. If they had worried in basing the 2003 car in the MP4/17, correcting its flaws and taking firm steps further in performance, I believe they would have been ahead of Ferrari.

Also, this year is the bad one to have a car radically different from last year's. With the limited mileage in training because of the 1-engine rule, being able to base the setups in last year's give the teams an enormous advantage.
To finish, as I've written in another topic, maybe Kimi isn't the right driver to lead the team. He's lightning fast, but doesn't seem to have any interest or talent for setting-up or developing the car.

[-shr3d-]

yeah interesting points dumrick....
i could understand why they thought they had to make quantum leaps after the pasting Ferrari gave them in 2002 but i think they might have underestimated how good the Ferrari Bridgestone package was that year.
Why Williams made such a radical step this year when they arguably had the best car last year (reminiscent of 95 season perhaps) and the way their cars usually evolve (91-97) to better machines with no such jumps...
Perhaps Mclaren were convinced of the basis of the MP-19 as a good car but not sure how...
Mind you Ron Dennis told a reporter the other day to back mclaren for a victory this year.... we wait with baited breath...

[Guest]

lots of very good points were mentioned here ,and i feel there´s much truth to it.and almost anyone alone enough to make sure mclaren does not meet its own targets,a point indicating that Mr dennis has his eyes not on F1 at the moment.

[inspectah]

Well, just happened to read an article with Newey saying the new mclaren is ready to hit the test track in two to four weeks. They haven't changed the technological parts of the car, just mainly the body. They've changed the monocoque(?) so dramatically they had to take the crashtests again, which they passed with flying colors some weeks ago. Their simulations have showed great improvements in speed, but ... so they did in the beginning of the season, too. Who knows.

[inspectah]

oh, and he said the mercedes engine won't be competitive until 2006. The problems with the engines, according to him, had been because of problems in the management, but that they had already been succesfully repaired. It's strange that Newey is talking about the engine, instead of Norbert Haug...

[Irvingthien]

Glad to hear that they have passed the crash test.Strange to hear that they just need only 50 km of testing before it goes racing.Probably all the technological parts are setteld.Would love to see more changes espeicallt to the brakes...with those big ducts..it looks ancient next to a Ferrari.

[rumpelstulskin]

they seem to be getting better i would say. at least kimi is near enough scumacher to challenge him.

[Guest]

what could be wrong with their monocoque?perhaps one keel too much?
any bets on them pitting after a handful of laps today?may they have read one of my earlier posts and opt for a storming start to get rid of the talk before the race?lets wait and see..marcush.

[-shr3d-]

ah the cold harsh light of the next day shows slow progress for Mclaren hey.... a more competitive weekend but once again reliability lets them down again....... wonder if its a problem in engine design, engine installation in the car or a control system in the car that is causing the problems...... would seem to be something that they are having a lot of trouble getting in top off..

[Guest]

Mercede admitted publicly after Bahrain that they had a pneumatic problem in their engines which would take some time to solve.

DC had a pneumatic problem with his engine I think last year in Monza, this year in Bahrain. Raikkonen's had them in the last coulpe of races - Spain & now Monaco. They should be in real --- indeed if they cannot get on top of it for so long!

Perhaps someone could explain how Mercedes's engine pneumatic systems could be 'radically' different from other teams, for it to consistently fail & cause headaches!!.

[StiK]

You people must understand that a Formula1 car is a very complex machine, so it takes time to solve some problems. Put yourself in McLaren shoes: try to design a car, even a simple one and then you will see that a apparently simple thing like deciding how to do the suspension is in fact quite complicated. Then add to that the fact that you have another car you need to improve while the new one is being designed and built.
If F1 where simple than anyone could have a team competing there

[Guest]

Sure but that does not address to how much 'different' Mercedes' pneumatic systems may be. All other manufacturers don't have such problems & they are surely competing in Formula 1!!.

[Monstrobolaxa]

If F1 where simple than anyone could have a team competing there

Well actually anyone can compete in F1....the only problem is the $48million that they have to give to enter F1.....in the early 90's and late 80's you had all kinds of teams....AGS, Andrea Moda, Coloni, etc....small temas that could compete. F1 isn't as hard has it seems....yes it's hard to make a quick reliable car....but if the costs were lower there would be alot more teams! Don't forget the Benetton became world Champs in 1994 with slightly more the 12 million!!!! Nowadays it's impossible to race with this amout!!!

[uzael]

I thought Steve Matcheet said on Speed CHannel that in 1994, benetton, williams and McLaren ran on about 40-50 million USD.

[Monstrobolaxa]

Well the number I mentioned was said by Tom Walkinshaw (ex-Benetton 1994) and in 2002 he was mentioning the budget that teams needed in 1994 when compared to the budget arrows needed in 2002.

I'll check with some magazines I have from that time...and I'll post back.