McLaren - were they right to favour LH over FA?

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Just something I thought of today after the race, thought it could be discussion worthy, though no doubt its gonna be full of IFs and BUTs. I guess with speculation comes heated debate so lets keep it civil

I do think in hindsight that if McLaren had kept Alonso over Hamilton they as a team would have enjoyed more success by now and most likely achieve the WCC thats eluded them for many years aswell as more WDCs for Alonso. For sake of argument lets assume they still picked the same second drivers so during the Kova years I doubt it would have been much different though that leads me to my second thought.

I also think during this period McLaren would have built better cars from the outset purely on the basis that Alonso is the better technical driver over Hamilton and much more able to inform engineers how to setup the car and where to investigate upgrades which would have lead to a virtous circle in success and performance, especially in todays world of limited testing...

This has kinda ended up as a statement rather than the simple question I posed in the title, but whats your thoughts? Seriously if you feel this topic has been done to death, say and Ill get this thread deleted, I personally think this angle regards McLarens fortunes hasnt really and Im considering not who is the faster driver but who would have benefited McLaren more or worked better within driver pairings.

NB: For sake of argument lets pretend that LH entered the sport with another team so LH and FA never raced at McLaren together...

P.S. Im happy to attempt to backup my claims where possible, but thought most were either generally agreed or just plain obvious

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Alonso never really looked like he fitted in at McLaren, the season after Alonso left and Hamilton won the driver's championship so I don't think they could have made any better decision...

Not sure winning one WDC in so many years is that great when you consider their car has pretty much been there or thereabouts. Maybe not good enough to win WDCs year in, year out, but a favourite to win the WCC with 2 competent drivers.

To me its like McLarens success/performance is directly related to LH being there. McLaren wasnt really known as an untidy outfit when Mika was there but now its considered near enough the joke of the paddock. Just makes me wonder if their ability to deal with race day strategy or even something unrelated as decent pit stops isnt bourne out of this one decision. Its a massive assumption on my behalf and I dont really believe it but theres some poorly qualifed logic behind it (call it an enducated guess).

Im trying to encourage some discussion, not to rile people

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They weren't anywhere near competitive the whole year against the Brawn and Red Bull in 09, 10, 11, and I doubt Alonso would have changed that.

See Im of the thought that the car they would have produced with Alonso there would have been better. But then I kill my own reasoning because its not like Ferrari havent produced dud cars while Alonsos been there at the start of the season...

Hmmm not as clear cut as I first thought

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What good is keeping Alsonso when he wasn't on speaking terms with his opposite number and didn't get on with the team? I seriously doubt Alonso would be winning anything in that environmental. No good having the car when you don't have the state of mind...

See my NB please, it was made exactly to counteract your point

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Sure, McLaren would be no worse off if they'd managed to keep hold of him, but I don't think they'd be any better off either.

No doubt Im sitting on the same fence, I just think that LH was quite a destabilising force at McLaren and it as a team (on race day) is a shadow of its former self. By a distance though Id rather have FA there if what happened that season just never happened (as per my NB).

I concede I dont really follow teams so perhaps its me just remembering more recent times much more easily and forgetting when they were just as amateur in the past, but even if they were they seemed to convert more wins/podiums than they are now...

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I think Ron not leading the race team has been a much bigger factor in the Mclaren we see now.

Well I did consider that, but the issues at McLaren were happening while he was still firmly at the helm, so its hard to consider that a bigger factor IMO. Perhaps its something that happened before LH even joined - any ideas?

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I think 10 years from now we will be looking at how Lewis only won one world title, analyzing where it all went wrong. He's now navigated himself into a position where regardless of talent he's saddled at a team that isn't able to provide him with the equipment or consistency his talent deserves. He's now boxed in where he has to spend another 3+ years watching them flounder from one disaster to the next.

His management/advisors have messed up. He's now worth far less than the deal he signed years ago.

Im going to be harsh here, but I do think LH has pretty much made his bed and now has to lie in it. Hes a very talented driver but I dont think hes a great one for developing cars which has led him to his current situation at McLaren and maybe why hes overlooked by other teams as their main driver.

To get back on topic, the relationship between LH and McLaren (aka Ron Dennis) while tight hasnt been purely beneficially symbotic for both, lots of compromise has led to the current 'downfall' of the team...

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In regard to the OP. It's all speculation. It's hypertheitcal and subjective. Nothing of any use can come from this and it serves only to cause pointless debates.

It's like saying, what if there was a man on the grassy knoll.

I wish I had realised that when I posted my OP. Thanks for the contribution

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Awesome - Ill note down your vigourous stance on past hypotheticals and make sure everyone on the forums is made aware to prevent non-beneficial replies.

Time to stop all those threads on how the Olympics will go, how dare people guess the future , or is it just hindsight you hate?

NB: Sarcasm for other people, just in case they need to post to check . I know you are too sharp to miss it

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Unless of course your bored and just want to talk twaddle, in which case I apologise and I will leave this thread and go elsewhere.

BOOM Inception

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Thanks. I'll do my best to note down your vigourous stance on sarcasm and make sure everyone on the forums is made aware to prevent non-sarcastic replies.

Bah I spelt vigorous wrong

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Read my NB in the OP

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Oh yeah, lol.

In that case, Alonso would have won the title in 2007, and again in 2008, then not won it since as Hamilton would have been in RBR and won in 2009 and 2010 and then been beaten by Vettel in 2011.

So in your opinion McLaren would have been better off with Alonso too

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Man DM why dont you return back to the football forum with your overly worded posts, you clearly know nothing about F1, so why repeatedly embarrass yourself?

LOL Hamilton is better than Alonso

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