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

gav schrieb:
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>
> 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.


Additionally, McLaren will have 4 days of testing later in the spring, right? This should help them immensely. Indeed, other teams will have 4 days of testing as well, but the progress being made is supposedly to be larger per unit of time invested for McLaren than for others.

This being said, the facts are that they are the slowest car in race and qualy trim (even maldonado was about to finish ahead of them despite all the drama). I personally, cannot remember such a comeback ever being made by any team in the last 30 years in f1. This is why i find it difficult to believe that McLaren will fight back from back to front. And yet, this is why formula 1 is interesting.

P.S. an interesting thought from a Japanese series I am watching ("Good and evil are after all just the two sides of the same card". I think this should be kept in mind for the actions of ANY formula 1 driver. Who did right or wrong, Rosberg or Lewis, Ron Dennis or Alonso etc...... everyone has his/her own truth and good and bad indeed are just the two sides of the same card.

Bring on Bahrain!

Quote
mitadumapaga
This being said, the facts are that they are the slowest car in race and qualy trim (even maldonado was about to finish ahead of them despite all the drama). I personally, cannot remember such a comeback ever being made by any team in the last 30 years in f1.

But the era is very different to any other. The engines being as next-gen as they are means no one is just going to turn up and win. Even more than a decade ago even Toyota did a full year of testing and still turned up towards the back of the field, and things have moved on some distance from then.

McLaren and Honda were always going to have a nightmare season if they wanted to have the possibility of winning again in this era. Morbid might be right and it might all be talk from us, but I think McLaren had to throw what they knew away to have any chance at all, and Honda had to be really aggressive with their approach too. Whether it's too big of a hurdle remains to be seen.

gav Wrote:
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> Morbid
> might be right and it might all be talk from us,
> but I think McLaren had to throw what they knew
> away to have any chance at all, and Honda had to
> be really aggressive with their approach too.

I don't know if I am right, only time will tell. I agree, that Honda had to be aggressive, if they wanted something more than just being there playing the mid-field/low high grade tier. And I think Ron is right as well, when he says that with the current times, you can't win the championship without being an engine works team. In that respect, I think their reasoning was correct.

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

mitadumapaga écrivait:
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> I personally, cannot remember such a comeback ever being made
> by any team in the last 30 years in f1.

Mc Laren, when Ron Dennis took over the team in the early 80's and made it a title contender in half a decade.
Ok that makes more than 30 years, but it took Dennis less than two years to go from backmarkers up to a first win (Watson, silverstone 1981). I remember that in those years Macca was even DNQ at Monaco. It happened two years in a row and IIRC one of these years Lauda had won at Long Beach the previous race.

A bit more recently I can see Toleman-Benetton switch and Benetton-Renault swich as well, but less impressive IMO.

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Morbid schrieb:
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> gav Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Morbid
> > might be right and it might all be talk from
> us,
> > but I think McLaren had to throw what they knew
> > away to have any chance at all, and Honda had
> to
> > be really aggressive with their approach too.
>
> I don't know if I am right, only time will tell. I
> agree, that Honda had to be aggressive, if they
> wanted something more than just being there
> playing the mid-field/low high grade tier. And I
> think Ron is right as well, when he says that with
> the current times, you can't win the championship
> without being an engine works team. In that
> respect, I think their reasoning was correct.

Interestingly enough, the philosophy McLaren and Honda are pursuing, i.e. to be aggressive with their approach is exactly the opposite of the tradtional Japanese approach "One step at a time" (also called Kaizen).