Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 2013

[jknights]

so perez out and mclaren delay there title sponsorship announcement on the same day. Linked?

I'd say Yes.

I think McLaren have acted like 'losers. It's not Perez fault that McLaren have provided him with a 2nd rate car to drive. Even Jenson Button looks like a second rate driver who constantly whinges about his car.
Cant say that they have made a good choice but then again it makes the choice made by Hamilton look like he has crystal balls!!

[adrianjordan]

Am I the only one who would like to see Ron Dennis come back to having more involvement in the F1 team?

[akshat21]

IIRC, Anthony Hamilton at the time had said that Lewis will look for drive elsewhere if McLaren didn't offer him a drive. Maybe they are put in a similar situation again this year.. and they know Magnussen is a faster driver (they have been monitoring his progress since a long time)..

As far as Perez is concerned, I am not too disappointed that a change is being made. Jenson is a solid Team Driver and can get the points. If McLaren weren't sure of Perez's point scoring abilities for the future, then they might as well gamble on a newbie, but at least its known quantity for them. That can be one reason why they would want a change.

[Richard]

On the plus side McLaren have acknowledged Perez is leaving, on the downside they haven't issued a press release but simply tweeted a link to an AutoSport article.
https://twitter.com/McLarenF1/status/400696450004168704

[Manoah2u]

Am I the only one who would like to see Ron Dennis come back to having more involvement in the F1 team?

nah. Ron Dennis was at the wheel bringing the success since the 80s with f.e. Senna, Prost, Hakkinen, Hamilton.
Then he was ousted due to the spygate scandal and Whitmarsh pops up. Since then they never managed to get back
up to where they were before, and I think it's starting to wear on the team - Martin may be a very pleasant person,
he's not the guy fit for the job because he doesn't show the 'sharpness' to demand championship-winning commitment
from the team, rather almost amateurish errors are made by the team, which in the long haul, may have cost them
actually winning the championship or atleast, being very close to that.
Ron Dennis doesn't have eternal life and I think his time with mclaren would fade out if he'd still be principal - even
though i have no doubt he's still commandeering the team.

I think the Mclaren team itself is struggeling internally yes - struggling to be a 'whole'. I think there are many skilled
people there, i just think the 'glue' is missing. People working out THEIR part instead of a 'TEAM part'. If you have that,
then blame dances around the entire business when something's off, and instead of dealing with the problem, the company has to deal with the personnel, which is not efficient.

I think that's what makes RedBull so different. The entire team shows much more 'bonding', much more 'team spirit' [i'm not talking about webber vs vettel, i'm talking about the general team motivation]. Same goes for Mercedes.
Ferrari seems to have shown cracks in team 'unity' and lotus since recently has become a total mess. Williams showed the same before and HRT probably is the golden example of failing leadership and unity.

If Mclaren will not sort that out soon, then i can only see them fade away to the midfield, and brandwise, that's lethal for business. Maybe they're completely overhauling everything for when Honda jumps in in 2015, and they've concidered 2013 and 2014 a loss and 'expendable'. We'll see. I think many things are about to change at Mclaren. I'm starting to think Button has become expendable aswell.

[JimClarkFan]

This was a team famous for a tight control of their message and obsessive attention to detail.

So this news vacuum infers something most odd is going on behind the scenes. Perhaps an internal battle, or they maybe they're dithering not knowing what to do..... or perhaps they really do believe they have a chance of something very big.

Their decision making over the last few years makes me fear it's another sign of misjudging events, but after years of watching F1 you can't fully discount the idea that something big will make the current trouble worthwhile.

I fear it'll turn out to be a damp squib.

Hopefully a power struggle - something needs to change. Brawn should be brought in with haste I think.

Most likely though, it is poor decision making, and more misjudgment.

[Trocola]

McLaren confirms Magnussen

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/111297

[stefan_]

After keeping a close eye on him in FR 3.5 this year, I'm really glad to see Kevin in F1 and with McLaren.


The Danish flag looks good on the McLaren.

[raymondu999]

Seems to me Magnussen-Button will have very similar helmet schemes, albeit Button has "flatter" (as in more flat, not flattering) colours

[Holm86]

Seems to me Magnussen-Button will have very similar helmet schemes, albeit Button has "flatter" (as in more flat, not flattering) colours

His helmet doesnt look like that when he was racing in FR 3.5.

[stefan_]

I wonder when we will get over the "they have similar helmets, how can we distinguish them on track" discussions.

[Manoah2u]

After keeping a close eye on him in FR 3.5 this year, I'm really glad to see Kevin in F1 and with McLaren.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BZCpbNkCcAArODP.jpg:large
The Danish flag looks good on the McLaren.

magnussen all up and ready formed and milled into the mclaren-camp. just the way they want to.
well I can imagine it's a easy choice if driving in F1 depends on whether you'll change your helmet
how MCl wants to see it, though.

[Holm86]

The Danish flag looks good on the McLaren.

Agreed

[Manoah2u]

sleek and simple. i like it.

[Thunder]

Looks great, but i think the Airbox design will stay like it is now.