The Official Chinese Grand Prix Thread *** SPOILERS with crispy noodles***

Do we know how long Button signed for? Was it just the one year (which I doubt he'd have agreed to if he knew how far away they were) or did he sign for two? Are we expecting Magnussen back alongside Alonso next year?

I'm usually very much an Rosberg advocate, but yesteday he simply sounded silly. Even if he was technically correct, he still sounded ridiculous. This is supposed to be racing isn't it? Think the car ahead is too slow? Then catch it and pass it or STFU. The truth of the matter is that once again he got comprehensively out raced by his team mate, it's as simple as that.

It was good to see Kimi finish closer to Vettel, now he needs to put together the whole weekend and finish ahead of him.

Williams really do seem to be on their own in P3. It was interesting to hear Ted Kravitz claim that the team describe the Lotus as quicker than them, because at no point were there truly under threat by either Lotus.

Maldonaldo was terrific... Great first stint (credit where it's due) and then pure comedy afterwards... even got Maldonaldoed by F1's resident clean racer. Great trolling by Button by the way... but definitely his fault with the penalties ultimately deserved.

Good stuff by the Saubers, two cars in the points again. The improvement in the Ferrari engine helps but they still had to build a compliant car.. and they have.

Awesome drive by Verstappen, those moves into the hair,pins that late breaking, late moves, but entirely under control and clean were something to behold. Many more experienced drivers would have fecked those up. He almost remined me of Alesi at Silverstone 1991 (only Alesi eventually did feck it up).

Red Bull really are an embarrassment at the moment. Can't even beat the junior team. I can't imagine the Ricciardo of last year making a meal of overtaking other cars, but he did here. Looked positively amateurish compared to Verstappen.

Solid progress by McLaren. I think Alonso has a slight edge over Button overall, but as I expected Button is clever enough to make the best of it, and minimises the deficit. Him out quailifying Alonso 2-0 so far has to be a good feather in his cap.

2 cars home for Manor, not bad for a team without a proper factory and better than some other teams. But I look forward to seeing if the 2015 car can bring the car a bit closer to the back of the field.

I think Rosberg is right in that Hamilton was deliberately going slower than he could have been, given how much they pulled away from Vettel in the first stint, then apparently backed them both into Vettel's range in the second stint. How much time Hamilton had kept in his tyres at the end of the stint also supports this (I think he was going faster than Rosberg on new primes).

His attitude during and especially after the race was simply dire. He's probably right in that Hamilton's race was damaging his, but he's the only guy in a position to do something about it. Either go faster and make Hamilton respond, or qualify in front of Hamilton (his only strength last season) and stay ahead at the start, and he's the one in a position to do the controlling of the race. Be proactive or stop complaining - or ideally, for the sake of the championship, do both.

He's obsessed to the point all he's doing now is feeding Hamilton's confidence.

mitadumapaga Wrote:
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> @Slash, I think what you are missing is Schumacher
> :P. you were very active in the 2010-2012 forums
> :P


HEHE, truth, truth...

Morbid Wrote:
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> Hiring Alonso was a mistake. This is not a
> reflection on Alonso as such (depending on Button
> it might be in the future!), but on Ron Dennis and
> Eric Boullier.

MMm, i wouldn't jump to that consclussion as quick, if you look at Mclaren.. they don't even have sponsors, or at least a big sponsor on their car (i haven't seen one since Australia at least), and the driver's worth is not only based on their car performance, but also on their popularity and that leads to their influence to atract sponsors, sell merchandising and everything and with their current state, hiring a double champion, the most popular F1 driver over the last couple of years, one with a long trajectory and experience on many teams and one who has been chosen by many team directors as the best driver on the grid isn't really that bad, i mean he probably brings a lot of value and also money that they can "use where they will do good". i'm sure they have a strong team of financial and marketing advisors that know exactly how much he's worth and how to exploit his image financially and considering their previous relation they probably over analyzed the whole situation to be sure of what they were doing.

They knew how bad things were before signing Alonso, but of course they weren't going to say it, having said that there's always the risk of unfortunate events and the testing accident seems to be one of them, but if Alonso is the same driver that we know, he'll definitely be up there sooner than we think.

Slash Wrote:
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> MMm, i wouldn't jump to that consclussion as
> quick, if you look at Mclaren.. they don't even
> have sponsors, or at least a big sponsor on their
> car (i haven't seen one since Australia at least),
> and the driver's worth is not only based on their
> car performance, but also on their popularity and
> that leads to their influence to atract sponsors,
> sell merchandising and everything and with their
> current state, hiring a double champion, the most
> popular F1 driver over the last couple of years,
> one with a long trajectory and experience on many
> teams and one who has been chosen by many team
> directors as the best driver on the grid isn't
> really that bad, i mean he probably brings a lot
> of value and also money that they can "use where
> they will do good". i'm sure they have a strong
> team of financial and marketing advisors that know
> exactly how much he's worth and how to exploit his
> image financially and considering their previous
> relation they probably over analyzed the whole
> situation to be sure of what they were doing.

What value? Ron Dennis has already said that the time of the title sponsor is over. No one can afford it! So the only way forward is piecemeal advertising. Tell me that somehow that, plus eventual prize money that could not have been recouped by a rookie or Magnussen, is going to harvest £25 mill plus! Fat chance. It is not going to happen.


> They knew how bad things were before signing
> Alonso, but of course they weren't going to say
> it, having said that there's always the risk of
> unfortunate events and the testing accident seems
> to be one of them, but if Alonso is the same
> driver that we know, he'll definitely be up there
> sooner than we think.

No they didn't know how bad things were before they signed Alonso. Every statement from the signing, to the choice between Button and Magnussen, to the post testing statements, and the post Australia statements have shown that. They did NOT know. That is the definition of mismanagement!

And no, neither Alonso nor Button will be up there sooner than we think. Put your efforts into investigating the technical challenges of the design of the Honda engine. There is no chance in HELL that is going to happen.

gav Wrote:
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> Do we know how long Button signed for? Was it
> just the one year (which I doubt he'd have agreed
> to if he knew how far away they were) or did he
> sign for two? Are we expecting Magnussen back
> alongside Alonso next year?

Two years.

J i m Wrote:
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> Maldonaldo was terrific... Great first stint
> (credit where it's due) and then pure comedy
> afterwards... even got Maldonaldoed by F1's
> resident clean racer. Great trolling by Button by
> the way... but definitely his fault with the
> penalties ultimately deserved.

Yes, he has his days. They are rare but they do exist. I still believe though, based on the Monaco scandal, that he should never have gotten a superlicense.

---

It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/2015 11:39PM by Morbid.

which scandal do you mean Morbid? The 2012 one, when Maldonado purposefully hit perez?

what happened to this man....

i cant remember alonso's last pole on a dry track

[youtu.be]

gav Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think Rosberg is right in that Hamilton was
> deliberately going slower than he could have been,
> given how much they pulled away from Vettel in the
> first stint, then apparently backed them both into
> Vettel's range in the second stint. How much time
> Hamilton had kept in his tyres at the end of the
> stint also supports this (I think he was going
> faster than Rosberg on new primes).
>
> His attitude during and especially after the race
> was simply dire. He's probably right in that
> Hamilton's race was damaging his, but he's the
> only guy in a position to do something about it.
> Either go faster and make Hamilton respond, or
> qualify in front of Hamilton (his only strength
> last season) and stay ahead at the start, and he's
> the one in a position to do the controlling of the
> race. Be proactive or stop complaining - or
> ideally, for the sake of the championship, do
> both.
>
> He's obsessed to the point all he's doing now is
> feeding Hamilton's confidence.

Nico needs to remember back to Monaco 2013 when even the Caterham was lapping faster than the pace he was driving at the front, did Lewis moan NO he just played the team game holding people back for Nico. I did not see at any point Vettel challenge Nico so did Lewis push Nico back into vettel no! Even after the pit stops Vettel was never in a position to challenge.

I agree, its up to Nico to improve and be ahead just like at Monaco 2013 then he can control the pace.

Lewis used to get moaned at that he did not know how to control a race and look after his car blah blah blah and this is why Button would be better than him at McLaren. As soon as he does start to look after the tyres and pace himself he gets this.

They need to make tyres the drivers can race with and push to the max with rather than ones that just get past their best after 2 laps. Also as others have said they cannot follow close this year due to the changes at the front end of the car.

Its so bloody boring now and that's not Mercs fault. You have Merc then Ferrari then Williams and the rest. Williams cannot challenge Ferrari and Ferrari only get really close if everything is perfect for them. I blame Bernie for some of the tracks, the tyres and the new front height.

F1 should never ever be about driving 2 seconds slower than the car can go just to look after tyres and go un challenged in doing so.

Morbid Wrote:
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> What value? Ron Dennis has already said that the
> time of the title sponsor is over. No one can
> afford it! So the only way forward is piecemeal
> advertising. Tell me that somehow that, plus
> eventual prize money that could not have been
> recouped by a rookie or Magnussen, is going to
> harvest £25 mill plus! Fat chance. It is not
> going to happen.

i understand Morbid, but still they need to make Money and no one would partner them knowing they are way back at the grid with Jenson Button who's never been a superstar, and an unknown like Magnussen.. the value of these sports personalities are based on their popularity and their influence to attract sponsors and sell merchandising.. is Messi worth US$400 Million? no, of course not, is Ronaldo worth 400 Million? of course not, all they do is run and hit a ball, as good as they do it, their teams have always won the same trophies they are winning nowadays, but their price is based on their popularity and of course supported by their ability to always excel at what they do consistenly every weekend which of course helps sell shirts and merchandising and their $25 Million per year salary ends up being a small percentage of what they helped Real madrid/Barcelona gather from their image.. same thing applies in F1 and every other sport, i don't think commercially the combination Magnussen - Mclaren is as strong as Alonso - Mclaren.. there are people who spent all day analyzing their value so yeah i think mclaren knows how to tajke advantage of having Alonso in their team, commercially speaking of course.

> No they didn't know how bad things were before
> they signed Alonso. Every statement from the
> signing, to the choice between Button and
> Magnussen, to the post testing statements, and the
> post Australia statements have shown that. They
> did NOT know. That is the definition of
> mismanagement!

I wouldn't be that naive, you could be right, but for a team like Mclaren wouldn't really look good to accept defeat before the season began would it?

Slash Wrote:
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> i understand Morbid, but still they need to make
> Money and no one would partner them knowing they
> are way back at the grid with Jenson Button who's
> never been a superstar, and an unknown like
> Magnussen..

He is not? I know at least one year, where he was the very definition of a superstar. And try this little Google search, and try counting the hits.

[www.google.com]

It's not like it is stupid small time bloggers calling him that either.

> the value of these sports
> personalities are based on their popularity and
> their influence to attract sponsors and sell
> merchandising.. is Messi worth US$400 Million? no,
> of course not, is Ronaldo worth 400 Million? of
> course not, all they do is run and hit a ball, as
> good as they do it, their teams have always won
> the same trophies they are winning nowadays, but
> their price is based on their popularity and of
> course supported by their ability to always excel
> at what they do consistenly every weekend which of
> course helps sell shirts and merchandising and
> their $25 Million per year salary ends up being a
> small percentage of what they helped Real
> madrid/Barcelona gather from their image.. same
> thing applies in F1 and every other sport, i don't
> think commercially the combination Magnussen -
> Mclaren is as strong as Alonso - Mclaren.. there
> are people who spent all day analyzing their value
> so yeah i think mclaren knows how to tajke
> advantage of having Alonso in their team,
> commercially speaking of course.

According to McLaren, they didn't need the money before going into 2015. And that was before they signed Alonso.

[www.express.co.uk]

And I doubt they brought him in for the merchandising value. I really, really do.

---

It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.

Morbid Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Slash Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > i understand Morbid, but still they need to
> make
> > Money and no one would partner them knowing
> they
> > are way back at the grid with Jenson Button
> who's
> > never been a superstar, and an unknown like
> > Magnussen..
>
> He is not? I know at least one year, where he was
> the very definition of a superstar. And try this
> little Google search, and try counting the hits.

imho, the most popular drivers are Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso, even Raikkonen... jenson is popular, but he's not on their level popular, and btw i've always been a fan of him, always.

> [www.google.com]
> e=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=%22superstar+jenson+button%22&s
> afe=off&start=0
>
> It's not like it is stupid small time bloggers
> calling him that either.
>
> > the value of these sports
> > personalities are based on their popularity and
> > their influence to attract sponsors and sell
> > merchandising.. is Messi worth US$400 Million?
> no,
> > of course not, is Ronaldo worth 400 Million? of
> > course not, all they do is run and hit a ball,
> as
> > good as they do it, their teams have always won
> > the same trophies they are winning nowadays,
> but
> > their price is based on their popularity and of
> > course supported by their ability to always
> excel
> > at what they do consistenly every weekend which
> of
> > course helps sell shirts and merchandising and
> > their $25 Million per year salary ends up being
> a
> > small percentage of what they helped Real
> > madrid/Barcelona gather from their image.. same
> > thing applies in F1 and every other sport, i
> don't
> > think commercially the combination Magnussen -
> > Mclaren is as strong as Alonso - Mclaren..
> there
> > are people who spent all day analyzing their
> value
> > so yeah i think mclaren knows how to tajke
> > advantage of having Alonso in their team,
> > commercially speaking of course.
>
> According to McLaren, they didn't need the money
> before going into 2015. And that was before they
> signed Alonso.
>
> [www.express.co.uk]
> /McLaren-set-for-record-budget

and that's exactly how you know that they know what they do with their money, Alonso for 25 million?, for them is nothing after reading that article, and trust me, they'll get their money back and more, that article only reafirms that they don't do bad business

> And I doubt they brought him in for the
> merchandising value. I really, really do.

of course not, it's the whole package, very experienced, highly rated, double world champion, will give them a lot of feedback and one asset that they'll need for this bad year.

Slash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> imho, the most popular drivers are Vettel,
> Hamilton, Alonso, even Raikkonen... jenson is
> popular, but he's not on their level popular, and
> btw i've always been a fan of him, always.

What kind of argument is that? If he is referred to, all over the world by all kinds of media and people in the sport, as a superstar, then how does your personal evaluation of drivers undermine that? I struggle to see how that works.

> and that's exactly how you know that they know
> what they do with their money, Alonso for 25
> million?, for them is nothing after reading that
> article, and trust me, they'll get their money
> back and more, that article only reafirms that
> they don't do bad business

That is a terrible business argument. Spending money on something only makes sense, if you can show proper application. Having it, and throwing it around shows nothing.

> of course not, it's the whole package, very
> experienced, highly rated, double world champion,
> will give them a lot of feedback and one asset
> that they'll need for this bad year.

How so? They can't push chassis, suspension and aero to the limit that the car will have with full engine power. No matter how good a development driver you are, you can't comment on a zone that the machinery is unable to take you to. What is he supposed to do, divine it through a crystal ball? And in exactly what capacity is he going to contribute to the development of reliability of the engine? The engineers certainly don't have the solutions at this point in time, so what I he going to hand them? There is nothing he can do under the given circumstances, that you couldn't do with any reasonably competent test driver.

mitadumapaga Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> which scandal do you mean Morbid? The 2012 one,
> when Maldonado purposefully hit perez?

In Monaco in 2005 racing GP2, he ignored yellow flags and ran down a marshall breaking the guy's back. Maldonado was banned from the circuit for life. Then his rich dad came along with fistfuls of cash and *poof*, suddenly it wasn't a problem any more.

---

It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/2015 01:06PM by Morbid.

Morbid Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> mitadumapaga Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > which scandal do you mean Morbid? The 2012 one,
> > when Maldonado purposefully hit perez?
>
> In Monaco in 2005 racing GP2, he ignored yellow
> flags and ran down a marshall breaking the guy's
> back. Maldonado was banned from the circuit for
> life. Then his rich dad came along with fistfuls
> of cash and *poof*, suddenly it wasn't a problem
> any more.

If we can be completely pedantic, it was Formula Renault 3.5...

---

GPGSL: S6 - TafuroGP Tester (14th) /// S7 - ART Tester (6th) /// S8 - Demon Driver (13th) /// S9 - Demon/Snake Driver (13th) /// S10 - Snake Driver (???) ///]
"My ambition is handicapped by laziness" - Charles Bukowski

Incident 2k9 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If we can be completely pedantic, it was Formula
> Renault 3.5...

We can, and we call also add he got four-race ban from the series too.

---

It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.

Button might not have quite the "superstar" pull of an Vettel, Hamilton or Alonso but he is still very highly regarded.

Personality wise he is very well liked and therefore also marketable, just look at how many cheesy TV adverts he appears in for sponsors

He's also had a very strong career. Ok, so he's not going to end up at the sharp end of the all time greats for records etc, but there are many other positives which speak in his favour.

He came into F1 straight from F3 at age 20 (was probably still 19, when signed).

He would have scored points (old school scoring system) on his debut but for an reliability problem outside of his control, it was all the more impressive because a fuel feed problem in qualifying put him towards the back of the grid.

He was still one of the youngest drivers ever to score points. He has out performed or at least matched the majority of his team-mates, with still only Fisichella to truly dominate him at Benetton, which was more due to his lack of experience at the time than talent.

At more than 250 Grand Prix competed in he is one of the most experienced Grand Prix drivers of all time, and at still a relatively young age. In a competitive car he is still more than capable of winning Grand Prix.

So, whilst he's not breaking all time records and winning back to back titles... He is still a genuinely good driver, universally liked and respected. He belongs in any book of F1 heroes.

@ Morbid

I do not understand one thing.You (just like me) think that McLaren willl not challenge for wins any time soon, even in the next season. You even brought up some technical data to support this.

Then, why are people so optimistic? The BBC pundits, the Sky team all bet on McLaren making wins towards the end of THIS season. Are they not insiders? Do not they know that stuff? Why are they all making such claims?

Indeed, if you go through the posts, Gav also argued that the potential is there for mclaren. SO why are people so overly optimistic, whenthe only cars behind them are Marrusias

I don't expect them to be winning races this year, probably not next year. But I don't think they should be so readily written off. The main barriers to current competitiveness are reliability. They haven't been able to run the powertrain at it's intended power because so far it simply breaks. There are plenty of positive noises about the chassis though, and we know that it is possible for a good step forward to be made powertrain wise over the winter, Ferrari have proved that.

After Jerez I still thought they'd be challenging Mercedes, but I only based it on the MP4-30 looking like a very aggressive departure from the 2014 car and the assumption that Honda's issues were them making everything marginal in order for them to eventually be able to eke out every last drop of performance.

I'm still fairly confident they'll end up at least on Williams's pace in the latter stages of this season, and perhaps even where Ferrari are now. I doubt they'll win a race (they'll probably still be taking grid penalties in races towards the end of the season), but so long as the pace is there to win a race, this season will have been a success in their eyes, and that was their only aim for 2015 apparently. I don't think it'll be too long before they're in a position to challenge regularly for points.

Boullier was talking yesterday of them soon ramping things up to such an extent that they will be taking it half a second at a time, not tenth by tenth, which if even remotely true is ominous. He's still confident that come the European season they'll be in much better shape.

From China I think we could see the car does handle well and has a lot of grip, the top end speed is not bad either its just pulling away which seems to be where they are missing out and once they turn stuff up I think they will be with the Williams and rbr pack.

At the moment they seem to use the same power setting for both race and quali which is why they drop back but can then race cars near them.

mitadumapaga Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> @ Morbid
>
> I do not understand one thing.You (just like me)
> think that McLaren willl not challenge for wins
> any time soon, even in the next season. You even
> brought up some technical data to support this.
>
> Then, why are people so optimistic? The BBC
> pundits, the Sky team all bet on McLaren making
> wins towards the end of THIS season. Are they not
> insiders? Do not they know that stuff? Why are
> they all making such claims?
>
> Indeed, if you go through the posts, Gav also
> argued that the potential is there for mclaren. SO
> why are people so overly optimistic, whenthe only
> cars behind them are Marrusias


It is a bit difficult for me to talk about the inner workings of others, but I would say, it is simply hype. Ron Dennis talked it up massively last year, with all his references to past epic achievements. The signing of Alonso, given the history they have together adds to that. We all know that he has a limited time left in F1, and that he wants more championships. His assessment by signing is an implicit endorsement of that hype. Would there be such a fervour around McLaren-Honda, had he refused the deal? I think not. Would there be such fervour if Honda had come in to supply Red Bull? I think not.

What surprises me the most, is that I don't see any positive assessments, that are based on verifiable input. Kiesa commentates F1 for Viasat in Denmark, and last season he made some calls to engineers at various teams and asked them if Honda was going to impress at the season opener as promised. The feedback can be summed up as follows: "Are you joking?!? These engines are so incredibly complicated! With the problems all the existing teams had at the regulation switch, there is no way they are going to muscle in and start winning races! Not this year, and not the next!" These are people that are actually working on F1 cars every day, and who don't have a political and commercial need to communicate a success potential, to attract drivers, technical staff, sponsorship and placate investors. It is just a flat "from the garage and design" level assessment. And lo and behold, as of yet, it has held true. It was a surprise to Kiesa, and it was a surprise to me too, not in the sense of expressed doubt, but the overwhelming pessimism of the appraisal of Honda potential.

What Honda has done with the engine design is very creative, but the specific problems that this design creates are serious, and there are no obvious solutions. Just a tiny mix of the electrical engine coolant and the oil surrounding it does bring the car to a complete stop. Cooling the electrical engine is also a huge challenge. The most tangible rewards is not losing some 10-15 bhp due to sending the power through the gearbox first, but that is not a race winning advantage, even IF the Honda engine is a powerful as the Mercedes engine. Which I might add, no one has yet claimed that it is, not even Honda! So, if the Honda engine is 10-15 bhp down on Mercedes, then McLaren-Honda is on a level play field, with a slight advantage in flexibility of application of power to the tyres. So there needs to be other advantages to get success.

Can this be fixed if the concept does not work? The Ferrari engine fix was actually quite simple. The turbo was under-dimensioned based on an assessment that it was more important to have a slim rear body on the car. Thus, expanding the room for the turbo and making it bigger was a viable option, especially with the large amount of token credits to work with going into 2015. Honda won't have that token amount for 2016, and you can't move an electrical engine to somewhere else in the power-unit based on "reliability issues". Thus Honda hands are much more tied if they abandon the concept, and if they do, it is hard to see, that it will give them a leg up. Rather, it will just put them into more conventional engine design, and conventional performance parameters. Short term fix? Expand the rear end of the car, which has some very aggressive packaging, to allow more air to cool the oil that surrounds the electrical engine component. But that will trade off one advantage to get another component to work as intended. And it is not certain that is enough to fix the problem.

Given Honda's last period in F1, we know that the potential is there given the fact that Brawn GP did produce a championship winning car. But it was not a car that was legs up on the rest in all areas of development. The car was in the better average range, but excessively flattered by the monopoly, and later head start, on the double diffuser. And Honda was not able to do anything of significance without excellent technical and organisational leadership, which was what Ross Brawn brought to the operation. What have they done to amend those points? At the moment, nothing much it would seem. Their entry has been an embarrassment up to this point, with clear indications that project management was not aware of the actual status of the product development, and hence was subjected to a harsh awakening by introduction to the reality of actual track time. With all their resources, for the life of me, I cannot understand why they didn't bolt the engine onto a SuperGT car and had some track time before the start of the test season. If there was issues with the rule book, they could have fielded a one-off concept engine, sharing the same features instead... Granted it would have left many unanswered questions, but at least the initial problems would have been revealed before F1 testing.

But what else do we know about the McLaren-Honda car? Last year, the car was based on the traditional McLaren philosophy of maximum measurable downforce. That led to a car that was tricky to drive on the limit, and which was hungry for tyres if not kept in check by the driver. We saw that on numerous occasions, with Button being able to manage most of the time, and Kevin not so much. And even with that design concept, the McLaren had for years been down on downforce compared to other teams. The arrival of Peter Prodromou saw that that concept changed into something closer to the Red Bull philosophy, of using aero to maximize driveability. In short, what good is max downforce at top speed? How often do you flick the car around at those speeds? The result has been good, with both Jenson and Magnussen reporting that the car was much better to accept braking, turning and applications of throttle. Alonso was equally pleased. So it seems as solid evidence. I think that will probably also generally hold true, when (and if) the Honda engine delivers maximum power, but there is bound to be an appearance of some niggles and kinks. However, what we have not seen is the McLaren being significantly better in terms of tyre life span, which I would think was a given with such improved handling characteristics. They really don't seem to be able to pull off a "Ferrari/Malaysia" strategy. Thus I reckon there is still work to be done in the area of suspension. And given that McLaren was down on downforce for years, the arrival of Peter Prodromou will not see that fixed for at least 2 years, unless he pulled a Nigel Stepney, which I don't think Ron Dennis is willing to risk again. This aero improvement will be needed. The Mercedes might have the strongest engine, but they are also up on downforce, even compared to Red Bull. This was apparent from cornering speeds throughout the length of the 2014 season. The McLaren car is not pulling the highest cornering speeds on the grid, and that cannot be attributed to the engine problems.

In summation, I think McLaren-Honda have their work cut out for them. There are many things that need to be done to produce a championship winning car, and it is not going to happen through some magic fix of the engine. Once the most obvious problems have been fixed, it is going to be the usual every day grind at the design office, like it is for every other championship aspiring team. I have to ask, where do they have the advantage here, compared to all the others? That's the way I see it. I realize that I am writing this with limited information. But I have yet to see anyone provide some sort of argument based on technical and managerial reasons to show otherwise.

---

It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/2015 01:51PM by Morbid.