house of cards at McLaren

[BeeP]

Quite sad really, I know eventually the old guard will be taken over or will simply move on but he has been one of the faces I have associated with F1 for as long as I can remember.

Who is going to make sure the lobby tiles match now?????

Best chassis in F1....not according to J.B. at the weekend.

 

[Mark365]

Quite sad really, I know eventually the old guard will be taken over or will simply move on but he has been one of the faces I have associated with F1 for as long as I can remember.

Who is going to make sure the lobby tiles match now?????

Best chassis in F1....not according to J.B. at the weekend.

Love the lobby tile remark. Ron to me is F1. Between himself and Senna is the reason I am a life long McLaren fan. Loved his interviews over the years which got the name 'Ron Speak' They were brilliant, I even used some of his quotes in job interviews!! Another thing springs to mind was the fascinating documentary called 'A Season With McLaren' which was filmed over the 1993 season. Absolutely brilliant.

 

[KiNgPiN83]

As much as some of us laugh at McLaren in this era we need them to come good and get back to the front. Purely to keep the others there honest... Hopefully next year brings some bigger changes for them. They need to brighten the car up too if Ron is to go. In fact de-Ron the whole grey operation.

 

[The_Abyss]

I'm really hopeful that they get someone of substance in to replace him - the shareholders still appear to very much back the F1 side of McLaren. I need some positives - with no Button next year I'm scrambling around to find a team and drive to support. It might have to be Lance Stroll at Williams, tenuously calling upon my 25% Canadian heritage!

 

[dannyjo22]

Good riddance.

To be honest they need to erase his whole stench from the team. Mclaren for their budget are quite frankly ****. Since having the greatest driver pairing we will ever see they have won a grand total of 3 world titles in 23 years. One of those they were fortunate MS broke his leg. They also won only one constructors in the last 23 years too. That's absolutely pathetic for their budget and engine supplies the last 23 years.

In that time Brawn has won as many titles.

The only time in that 23 years they have built two good cars back to back was 98/99 and they didn't win the constructors both times and wouldn't have won the drivers title if they didn't have a to race against the average plodder Irvine.

They build a very capable car and then the next year they **** it up or go backwards. They don't even manage mild evolution well. Big rule changes they get wrong except when Newey was there to carry them. As soon as he moved they go from one **** up to the next.

But as long as those floor tiles match and the tool boxes have the right grey wheels all is good. If he had no shares in the company he would have been gone 15 years ago never to be heard of in F1 again. Honda made a huge mistake getting involved with them.

 

[Mark365]

Good riddance.

To be honest they need to erase his whole stench from the team. Mclaren for their budget are quite frankly ****. Since having the greatest driver pairing we will ever see they have won a grand total of 3 world titles in 23 years. One of those they were fortunate MS broke his leg. They also won only one constructors in the last 23 years too. That's absolutely pathetic for their budget and engine supplies the last 23 years.

In that time Brawn has won as many titles.

The only time in that 23 years they have built two good cars back to back was 98/99 and they didn't win the constructors both times and wouldn't have won the drivers title if they didn't have a to race against the average plodder Irvine.

They build a very capable car and then the next year they **** it up or go backwards. They don't even manage mild evolution well. Big rule changes they get wrong except when Newey was there to carry them. As soon as he moved they go from one **** up to the next.

But as long as those floor tiles match and the tool boxes have the right grey wheels all is good. If he had no shares in the company he would have been gone 15 years ago never to be heard of in F1 again. Honda made a huge mistake getting involved with them.

You make a lot of interesting points and the 23 year time scale is alarming when you think of the size of the McLaren operation. Newey and rules changes did play a huge part in there demise. One such thing was the ridiculous period we had with two tyre manufactures, you had those teams including McLaren running round trying to find grip with there Michelins whilst Ferrari were disappearing up the road with Ferrari/Bridgestones. Still amazes me to this day how that was aloud to happen. I don't know of any other team that Honda would have re-entered F1 with and thank goodness they are in F1, especially in this current era dew to the list of manufactures lining up to enter Formula E. Hopefully this will be a turning point for McLaren. One thing I will say in Ron's defence is he has built the McLaren road car division into something spectacular creating 3500 jobs and some of the finest super cars on planet earth. It should be Sir Ron Dennis.

 

[KiNgPiN83]

You can't argue with the road car side of things. They have made some proper epic cars for the road over the last couple of years. Maybe he should just stick with that and leave the F1 operation to someone else? I really hope the Mercedes have more of a challenge next year.

 

[MissChief]

You make a lot of interesting points and the 23 year time scale is alarming when you think of the size of the McLaren operation. Newey and rules changes did play a huge part in there demise. One such thing was the ridiculous period we had with two tyre manufactures, you had those teams including McLaren running round trying to find grip with there Michelins whilst Ferrari were disappearing up the road with Ferrari/Bridgestones. Still amazes me to this day how that was aloud to happen. I don't know of any other team that Honda would have re-entered F1 with and thank goodness they are in F1, especially in this current era dew to the list of manufactures lining up to enter Formula E. Hopefully this will be a turning point for McLaren. One thing I will say in Ron's defence is he has built the McLaren road car division into something spectacular creating 3500 jobs and some of the finest super cars on planet earth. It should be Sir Ron Dennis.

More teams wanted Michelin as they weren't completely biased towards one team. Bridgestone worked exclusively with Ferrari and there was little to no input from any other team so the tyres always suited The Red Team more than any other car and development was always what Ferrari wanted from the tyres.

Ron was awful for micro managing as much as he could, even when it wasn't an area of knowledge. He's never been great at delegating but it seems in recent years it's gotten worse and people were afraid of doing something against his wishes. His temper was short and his rants quite the thing to see apparently. Bouiller won't be sorry to see the back of him as he was constantly overruled from above on many decisions and Ron apparently wanted Magnussen in the car but was outvoted by Ojjeh and Mumtalakat last year.

 

[Iron-man]

Not sure who they will think can replace Dennis as martin whitmarsh tried and failed,
They got a good driver in Alonso but think they will need to hit the ground running next year for sure

 

[dannyjo22]

Not sure who they will think can replace Dennis as martin whitmarsh tried and failed,
They got a good driver in Alonso but think they will need to hit the ground running next year for sure

Just because Whitmarsh failed doesn't mean someone else cannot do a better job. Whitmarsh was a Dennis man, Mclaren boring through and through. Especially post cheating scandal he wasn't prepared to take any risks at all and just carry on the normal Mclaren way of slow evolution and then wondering why they never get anywhere.

Mclaren in that form and Honda who also took few risks was never a pairing to work. The whole criticism of Honda the last time they were in F1 was they were so concerned with image back home they constantly went too conservative, paired with Mclaren they won't get anywhere.

Mclaren badly needs a fresh hand and approach.

 

[Mark365]

Just because Whitmarsh failed doesn't mean someone else cannot do a better job. Whitmarsh was a Dennis man, Mclaren boring through and through. Especially post cheating scandal he wasn't prepared to take any risks at all and just carry on the normal Mclaren way of slow evolution and then wondering why they never get anywhere.

Mclaren in that form and Honda who also took few risks was never a pairing to work. The whole criticism of Honda the last time they were in F1 was they were so concerned with image back home they constantly went too conservative, paired with Mclaren they won't get anywhere.

Mclaren badly needs a fresh hand and approach.

Totally agree in that McLaren need a fresh hand approach but what really annoys me is the rules regarding developing a new engine with severe restrictions on testing. The resources that Honda must have at there deposal must be incredible but they have to play catch up with one arm tied behind there back and only two Honda engines on the grid. Tributes should be paid to Honda for taking on such a challenge. What McLaren Honda need is someone to come in and work out how you speed up the development of the car in the fraction of the time with limited resources and make sure you pay them a shed load of money because Ferrari and Renault are looking the same genius.

 

[MissChief]

I believe Ron overruled any chance of Honda supplying another team. Next year should be better as there are no engine tokens or restrictions. The new Aero rules should hopefully mean a big chance for PP to show his worth.

 

[KiNgPiN83]

Totally agree in that McLaren need a fresh hand approach but what really annoys me is the rules regarding developing a new engine with severe restrictions on testing. The resources that Honda must have at there deposal must be incredible but they have to play catch up with one arm tied behind there back and only two Honda engines on the grid. Tributes should be paid to Honda for taking on such a challenge. What McLaren Honda need is someone to come in and work out how you speed up the development of the car in the fraction of the time with limited resources and make sure you pay them a shed load of money because Ferrari and Renault are looking the same genius.

That's the problem. They are chasing an ever moving target so developing at the same rate as everyone else won't cut it for them. Hopefully they are closer to the front next year. Will Honda carry on if they aren't?

 

[Mark365]

That's the problem. They are chasing an ever moving target so developing at the same rate as everyone else won't cut it for them. Hopefully they are closer to the front next year. Will Honda carry on if they aren't?

I think the powers that be within F1 need to do everything they possibly can to retain as many engine manufactures as they can. Look at the recent decision made by Audi in relation to leaving the WEC and putting all there resources into Formula E. They say Formula One is the pinnacle of motor sport. Is it?

 

[The_Abyss]

They say Formula One is the pinnacle of motor sport. Is it?

Formula 1 says Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsport. Much like the Premier League says it is the best league in the world...

 

[TrafficMaster]

Formula 1 says Formula 1 is the pinnacle of motorsport. Much like the Premier League says it is the best league in the world...

100%. F1 cars arent even the fastest.

Its a bit sad really. Delusional. I watch it for the engineering. As entertainment, its utter dross.

 

[Mark365]

100%. F1 cars arent even the fastest.

Its a bit sad really. Delusional. I watch it for the engineering. As entertainment, its utter dross.

Exactly, F1 is a engineering series. That's why Liberty Media need to wipe clean the current rules and regulations in F1.

 

[holdin09]

100%. F1 cars arent even the fastest.

Its a bit sad really. Delusional. I watch it for the engineering. As entertainment, its utter dross.

What car can lap faster?

 

[this_is_gav]

What car can lap faster?

Well if we're comparing wet qualifying to dry qualifying again...

 

[The_Abyss]

Zac Brown's got the job. Great choice - good business man and apparently a McLaren fan.