Mclaren Mercedes 2014

[George-Jung]

Well,.. this might be my first year to also start supporting the McLaren-Honda team with Alonso..
My number one is still Ferrari, but I really like Alonso too.

Looking very much forward to next year!

[Richard]

McLaren are now the factory/works team of a huge manufacturer and have a real world class driver behind the wheel. There's no excuses to why they should fail in 2015.

Really?!?!? RB and Merc both took 4 or 5 years to climb to the top. Yes one could argue that McLaren are starting from a stronger base but on the other hand the long established technical base might be part of the problem. They also have an engine supplier with no current F1 experience building an engine with technology they've never seen before.

They're also competing against teams who will have sorted out reliability and learnt how to get the best out of the PU.


Assuming McLaren don't have a trick on par with the DDD, they'll consider a few podiums a success next year. Then top 3 in year 2, shot at WDC or WCC in year 3 or 4. That assumes other teams are unable to develop a more competitive car.

[astracrazy]

McLaren are now the factory/works team of a huge manufacturer and have a real world class driver behind the wheel. There's no excuses to why they should fail in 2015.

apart from Merc who is the aim to beat is essentially 4 years ahead of them in terms of engine and chassis partnership?

[adrianjordan]

Could this make Button the longest serving Mclaren race driver by the end of his contract?

[zeph]

McLaren are now the factory/works team of a huge manufacturer and have a real world class driver behind the wheel. There's no excuses to why they should fail in 2015.

Really?!?!? RB and Merc both took 4 or 5 years to climb to the top. Yes one could argue that McLaren are starting from a stronger base but on the other hand the long established technical base might be part of the problem. They also have an engine supplier with no current F1 experience building an engine with technology they've never seen before.

They're also competing against teams who will have sorted out reliability and learnt how to get the best out of the PU.


Assuming McLaren don't have a trick on par with the DDD, they'll consider a few podiums a success next year. Then top 3 in year 2, shot at WDC or WCC in year 3 or 4. That assumes other teams are unable to develop a more competitive car.

Exactly. Before the testing ban it was entirely possible to come into the season with a new chassis/engine and be competitive right away, but without testing that has become very unlikely. Also, it is helpful to have 'special' relations with F1's power brokers and the FIA, something McLaren has never been particularly apt at, historically.

While not absolutely impossible, it would be nothing short of a miracle if they were to be competitive right away.

[Manoah2u]

Busy day today, happily rewarded with the news Jenson stays with Mclaren

like i said, no chance for Magnussen at all.

Will be interesting seeing the 2015 livery. The red-white cars might be a hint after all

[KingHamilton01]

So does anyone think McLaren Will announce a title sponsor? rumoured Movi-star were coming on board but nothing mentioned today!

[PlatinumZealot]

McLaren are now the factory/works team of a huge manufacturer and have a real world class driver behind the wheel. There's no excuses to why they should fail in 2015.

Really?!?!? RB and Merc both took 4 or 5 years to climb to the top. Yes one could argue that McLaren are starting from a stronger base but on the other hand the long established technical base might be part of the problem. They also have an engine supplier with no current F1 experience building an engine with technology they've never seen before.

They're also competing against teams who will have sorted out reliability and learnt how to get the best out of the PU.


Assuming McLaren don't have a trick on par with the DDD, they'll consider a few podiums a success next year. Then top 3 in year 2, shot at WDC or WCC in year 3 or 4. That assumes other teams are unable to develop a more competitive car.

Never underestimate the Japanese when it comes to electronics and battery technology. Not sure how drunk enough you have to be to say that, but all I can say is you will be surprised... you will be surprised..

[Manoah2u]

McLaren are now the factory/works team of a huge manufacturer and have a real world class driver behind the wheel. There's no excuses to why they should fail in 2015.

Really?!?!? RB and Merc both took 4 or 5 years to climb to the top. Yes one could argue that McLaren are starting from a stronger base but on the other hand the long established technical base might be part of the problem. They also have an engine supplier with no current F1 experience building an engine with technology they've never seen before.

They're also competing against teams who will have sorted out reliability and learnt how to get the best out of the PU.


Assuming McLaren don't have a trick on par with the DDD, they'll consider a few podiums a success next year. Then top 3 in year 2, shot at WDC or WCC in year 3 or 4. That assumes other teams are unable to develop a more competitive car.

Exactly. Before the testing ban it was entirely possible to come into the season with a new chassis/engine and be competitive right away, but without testing that has become very unlikely. Also, it is helpful to have 'special' relations with F1's power brokers and the FIA, something McLaren has never been particularly apt at, historically.

While not absolutely impossible, it would be nothing short of a miracle if they were to be competitive right away.

Erm, I can't really fully agree to the above.

Though it's obvious a lot of preparation is neccesarily to get to where you want, it has its limits. It took mercedes 4-5 years to climb to the top? Not true at all - essentially, Mercedes is Brawn GP. Brawn had incredible success with their DD gimmick, lack of funding made they couldn't develop and other teams catched up, namely RedBull. Brawn were champions in 2009, and got rebadged as Mercedes in 2010. You might even concider the Brawn GP BGP001 to already be a non-official Mercedes AMG car, as it got the Merc engine and the 2010 Merc car was essentialy an updated or slightly evolved BGP001.

in its 'maiden' year, 2010, as a works team, Mercedes lost both it's drivers and gained 2 new drivers; An ex-retired champ (whom as it later turns out was coping with the motoric aftermath of his moto accident), and another german that just went from Williams to merc. Add to that a bunch of Mercedes bosses and Norbert Haug to weasel his behind in there and you essentially have a bunch of guys that have to start something.

Mercedes being amazing in 2014 is not because of what happened in 2010; it's because the previous concept didn't work. Merc then focused on restructuring and re-organising with the aim of benefitting from the 2014 rule changes. They might have started as early as 2012, thus 2 years for the 2014 car.

Now let's turn to Mclaren;

Mclaren traded a very competitive car for a dog in 2013. Meanwhile, it was no secret the Mercedes marriage was over and they were going for somebody else and it was rumoured back then Honda might make a return. 2013 and 2014 were lousy cars, but perhaps they were built as a platform to gather information in an already decided focus to 2015.

We don't know how long Mclaren has been working on the 2015 car, they could have been working since late 2012 on the car.

Honda is entering with the sole goal of winning the WCC (and the WDC). They have the money, they have the experience, they have the people, and so does Mclaren.
They have attracted Alonso whom essentially only is interested if he can win and be WDC, something that did not work out with Ferrari. He had the 'option' to go to Mclaren for quite some time, and he was happy about the prospects for a long time.

Something that could suggest Alonso was shown technical and simulation data to show just how powerfull and how good the 2015 Mclaren will be.

Mclaren has an experienced Mclaren driver in the form of another World Champion, Jenson Button, whom was runner-up for the WDC in a Mclaren versus RedBull recently, even beating Hamilton. Not just that, but Button has loads of experience with Honda.

There were all sorts of negativity from italian sources and newspapers against Honda, claiming they were atleast a month behind scedule and weren't prepared at all and had a setback because it didn't turned out thow it should. Meanwhile, Ferrari arguably has the weakest engine of the field and Honda has built 2 types of V6T, and have been running their engine this year, a loooong time before the 2015 season.

Neither Merc, Renault or Ferrari has the benefit of being able to test a car with the V6T engine back in 2013. Honda did just now, and Honda has a certain amount of experience and knowledge they got from the mighty Mercedes powerplant.

If you ask me, Honda is in a very very good position to come into the party and trash the field. I'd really like to see them do that, and I'd be all smiles if they ruined the Mercedes party by winning by a mile in a 1-2.

[Avocado]

So does anyone think McLaren Will announce a title sponsor? rumoured Movi-star were coming on board but nothing mentioned today!

MP4-30 + new title sponsor + new livery, all at once. That's what I think.

[NathanOlder]

Could this make Button the longest serving Mclaren race driver by the end of his contract?

Hakkinen and DC would have been in the Mclaren for longer.

Button will make it 7 years after this contract. Mika come in mid 93, and retired after 2001 (8 and a bit seasons)

DC did 9 years I believe 1996-2004

[acosmichippo]

Will be interesting seeing the 2015 livery. The red-white cars might be a hint after all

Maybe, but I think the only reason they brought those cars was because they had Honda engines. Livery is incidental.

[zeph]

Really?!?!? RB and Merc both took 4 or 5 years to climb to the top. Yes one could argue that McLaren are starting from a stronger base but on the other hand the long established technical base might be part of the problem. They also have an engine supplier with no current F1 experience building an engine with technology they've never seen before.

They're also competing against teams who will have sorted out reliability and learnt how to get the best out of the PU.


Assuming McLaren don't have a trick on par with the DDD, they'll consider a few podiums a success next year. Then top 3 in year 2, shot at WDC or WCC in year 3 or 4. That assumes other teams are unable to develop a more competitive car.

Exactly. Before the testing ban it was entirely possible to come into the season with a new chassis/engine and be competitive right away, but without testing that has become very unlikely. Also, it is helpful to have 'special' relations with F1's power brokers and the FIA, something McLaren has never been particularly apt at, historically.

While not absolutely impossible, it would be nothing short of a miracle if they were to be competitive right away.

Erm, I can't really fully agree to the above.

..........[edited for brevity].........

If you ask me, Honda is in a very very good position to come into the party and trash the field. I'd really like to see them do that, and I'd be all smiles if they ruined the Mercedes party by winning by a mile in a 1-2.

I sure hope you are right, Alonso needs a third (and fourth) WDC pronto. It would be tragic for him to finish with only two.

But I think you undervalue MercedesGP, and overvalue Honda.

Yes, there was a lot of management restructuring at Merc, but in a 2009 (post-BrawnGP acquisition) interview Dieter Zetsche stated that the target was to be competitive in 2013, the original year of the engine rule change. From that perspective you can just as easily surmise that they hit their target.

McLaren has a pretty good track record of bouncing back, but I am not as sure about Honda. Yes, their engines were mighty from 1986 to 1991, but not so much since. The mere fact that the BrawnGP 001 flew to both championships with a shoehorned-in Merc engine speaks volumes in this regard, and at the time Barichello expressed his surprise at how powerful the Merc engines were.

Again, not saying it can't happen, and I absolutely hope it will, but based on the little data we have to go on, I'd be very surprised to see McLaren-Honda be competitive right away.

[matt_b]

I'm just glad Jenson has a competitive team mate in case its a great car, gonna be fun to watch. I suspect though that McLaren are building towards 2016 hence why they have signed multiple year contracts with both drivers.

[zeph]

Time for realpolitik. Ron Dennis revises his view on 2007:

Dennis added that he believes Hamilton was a key player in the problems at McLaren escalating in 2007, rather than Alonso being solely to blame.

"To go back to that period, you look at this young guy, understandably perceived by many people as the chosen one," he said.

"But [he was] also someone who had immaturity, and really, who struck the first blow?

"I would say Lewis had his role to play in starting this process which escalated."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/117114

Back then, I believe he said "We were fighting Alonso."

Similarly, a few years back Alonso opined he never had a problem with Hamilton, and his beef was with Dennis. As recently as last year, when asked about possibly returning to McLaren, he said "I only had a problem with one person (Dennis) and that person isn't there anymore, so why not?"

=D>