Bad Team Decisions and Excuses

[marmer]

BMW stopping development and dropping out just as they got everything together is up there

[NathanOlder]

The bad descision regarding Mclaren and Honda was when Mclaren decided to end it, I said that when it happened and haven't changed my mind since. It was by far the worst team decision in modern time that I can think of.
Another bad decision was when B.Senna was told to crash to help Alonso. Or when Schumi very conveniently stopped at Monaco, but I don't think the team had anything to do with that.

No need to drag poor Bruno in to that crappy disgusting mess with Flavio, Fernando , Jr and Co.

[NathanOlder]

BMW stopping development and dropping out just as they got everything together is up there

Surely Honda pulling the plug in 08, and giving it all to Brawn for £1. Then turning out to be the most valuable package of 2009. Thats gotta be up there.

[Scorpaguy]

...just to show Merc can make mistakes, that 2015 Monaco call to pit Hamilton under the safety car, costing him the win was enjoyable for this Ferrari fan to watch (as we redmen are usually the ones ruing the results of such sophomoric decisions).

However, that Toto doublestack in China was the epitome of professionalism.

[Manoah2u]

The bad descision regarding Mclaren and Honda was when Mclaren decided to end it, I said that when it happened and haven't changed my mind since. It was by far the worst team decision in modern time that I can think of.
Another bad decision was when B.Senna was told to crash to help Alonso. Or when Schumi very conveniently stopped at Monaco, but I don't think the team had anything to do with that.

are you for real?

it was not Bruno Senna,
it was Nelson Piquet junior.

[Tzk]

Double stacking Hamilton and Bottas pit stop at Chinese Grand Prix was Toto Wolff's idea....well, who else can make that call at Mercedes?

Toto mentioned on german tv (RTL) that he usually stays away from these decisions. James Vowles is the one to make that call. However Toto sometimes suggests something which is then considered as option

[wesley123]

Double stacking Hamilton and Bottas pit stop at Chinese Grand Prix was Toto Wolff's idea....well, who else can make that call at Mercedes?

This was a solid one. One of the drivers would have lost more time had he waited a lap. Track position was very important here.

[marmer]

BMW stopping development and dropping out just as they got everything together is up there

Surely Honda pulling the plug in 08, and giving it all to Brawn for £1. Then turning out to be the most valuable package of 2009. Thats gotta be up there.

In fairness honda was awful the year before they didn't know they would have had such a great car

[Scorpaguy]

Give it a year and..."Ferrari dropping Maurizio in favor of Binotto"..will be right up there

[Edax]

Funny, for Mclaren there are plenty of things where you can say that it wasn’t smart, ranging from management composition, driver selection to technical stuff ( like the suspension blockers).

But looking at williams, falling from championship winner to backmarker; they must have made tons of bad descisions too, yet I cannot really think of one.

[Just_a_fan]

Double stacking Hamilton and Bottas pit stop at Chinese Grand Prix was Toto Wolff's idea....well, who else can make that call at Mercedes?

In the team's post-race video, they state that is was Toto's idea but the chief strategist gets to say yes/no to it.

So it was Toto's idea, James's call.

[DiogoBrand]

Or it is true, there are major problems to be found with the chassis and aero, not unlike Ferrari who also got a few things wrong as evidence by their not very consistent performance so far. Who are you to say it isnt exactly so?

I'm absolutely sure that both the Red Bull chassis has issues, as does McLaren's, but this change of "it's all Renault and Honda's fault" to "The PU is amazing, the bad performance is all our fault" is just PR crap.

Funny, for Mclaren there are plenty of things where you can say that it wasn’t smart, ranging from management composition, driver selection to technical stuff ( like the suspension blockers).

But looking at williams, falling from championship winner to backmarker; they must have made tons of bad descisions too, yet I cannot really think of one.

Perhaps Frank's choice of successor. But to be honest it's difficult for a team to go from world champion contender to the back of the grid just because of one decision. Also, unlike Ferrari and McLaren, they haven't got enormous investment backing them up, that may be the biggest reason for their downfall.

[nokivasara]

The bad descision regarding Mclaren and Honda was when Mclaren decided to end it, I said that when it happened and haven't changed my mind since. It was by far the worst team decision in modern time that I can think of.
Another bad decision was when B.Senna was told to crash to help Alonso. Or when Schumi very conveniently stopped at Monaco, but I don't think the team had anything to do with that.

are you for real?

it was not Bruno Senna,
it was Nelson Piquet junior.

Sorry about that Bruno

No need to drag poor Bruno in to that crappy disgusting mess with Flavio, Fernando , Jr and Co.

That's right, I forgot it was Nelson. It truly was a bad decision from the team.

[marmer]

Funny, for Mclaren there are plenty of things where you can say that it wasn’t smart, ranging from management composition, driver selection to technical stuff ( like the suspension blockers).

But looking at williams, falling from championship winner to backmarker; they must have made tons of bad descisions too, yet I cannot really think of one.

Giving pastor Maldonado a driver?
Whilst he probably did his best work at Williams he was still awful and sent the wrong message out for the team. It was we need the money over talent pick and as soon as you start making choices like that you loose a tenth here and a tenth there and suddenly your getting towards the back of the grid and getting less money F1 constructors pot and then you start making more money grabbing decisions.

[Andres125sx]

The bad descision regarding Mclaren and Honda was when Mclaren decided to end it, I said that when it happened and haven't changed my mind since.

Agree. What marmer said about letting some other team to do the hard work until the PU is in good shape (and I agree but replied saying no other team was willing to do so), is what finally McLaren have done for RBR, assume the step back in first seasons, and when the PU start performing decently, let your competitors enjoy the fruit...

At the time of the McLaren switch the engine manufacturers were not required to provide equal engines. Now that they are I think McLaren would have had an easier time getting to their goals with a Merc vs. Honda.

Yes agree, but that was not the case when Mercedes was supplying PUs to Mclaren, so even when hindsight is great, they did the sensible thing in the moment