Whats wrong at Mclaren?

Seems the boys in Woking have really lost their way. Do you suppose its because they have become to focused on imitating Ferrari and diverting to much staff/funds/research on the street cars or could there be even deeper problems? Financial maybe?

 

Let's blame Sam Michael.

 

I don't know but they need to pick it up. It would help Fernando if they could beat the Bulls. It's amazing, they had the fastest car a couple races ago.

 

They don't have Newey; he keeps improving the Bulls. At least McL (presumably) has a working wind tunnel unlike Ferrari lol.

 

I think they dont have Ron Dennis any more, and they have been focused on the Road car division... I'm sure once the road cars are secure - Dennis will be back.... Great article in Motorsport about Dennis and McLaren... Ron Dennis is 65!!! I'm shocked! but I guess since I'm now 45... it does make sense!

 

It seems like they are skirting the line between "fast" and "dependable". When their cars are reliable, they are slow. When fast, they break down. It could be the case that, from a design standpoint, they have the cars at the edge of their development and end up losing one way or the other. I think when one of their cars actually finish a race when they're competing at the front, the team breathes a HUGE sigh of relief.

Something is definitely wrong with them right now.

 

If you look at it, Mclaren always depended more on it´s engines to win championships that on their own chassis....The Tag-Porshe was defenitly the engine to have in 84/85...then the Honda...apart from a small period in Newey early stages there (98/99) they never had top chassis untill (07/08) but we all know how they managed those ones!!!
Of course they had good chassis too but if senna beat prost it was no thanks to the mac chassis....even in 85 i´m pretty sure Alboreto would have won if not by apawling reliability in the second half of the season.....noadays the engine is becoming less and less important, and Mac simply does not seem able to produce the best chassis.

 

IMO, McLaren is heading for some dark ages. I think their next few seasons will be like 1994-1996.

 

Tom,

An interesting article it is indeed, even if I would have liked him to speak a bit more about his drivers; a few short words only about Mika Häkkinen ("the most loyal driver in McLaren history") and nothing about the 2000 era drivers: not a word about Kimi, JPM, Fernando...
And since I am 52, he is indeed 65...

Best

 

Yes I can go along with that, although I don't think that there is anything majorly wrong. Ron Dennis has been focusing on the road car, but that is about it, but I don't think that is a massive factor.

IMO they should have supported Hamilton more earlier on, and pushed him and the development of his car more so.

Mclaren are always in the mix at the front end, or thereabouts, and I don't see that changing.

 

Bring back the Peugeot engines.

 

That'll ensure a return to the dark ages!

I don't think they've lost their way at all TBH. They'll remain pretty much at the pointy end no matter. The "problem" is, as I keep saying, you go from hero to zero in under a second. FWIW, neither do I believe they're missing Ron - Martin seems to be a fine team principal.

Winning in F1 is *hard*. Winning consistently is *really* hard. It'll all go full circle - If not this year, then probably in the next couple. *Nobody* stays at the front forever.

Cheers,
Ian

 

I can understand that Red Bull had passed them, but now they´re even behind Ferrari, even worse, they´re behind Massa´s Ferrari. And even when the car was working, they had lots of silly problems this season.

Anyway, I´m very interested in seeing what they can achieve with a pair of smooth profile drivers like Button and Pérez.

 

Financial details

McLaren Racing:
Directors include;
-Martin Witmarsh
-Jonothan Neale
-Mansour Ojeh

-Ronald Dennis 14th oct 1992 - 28th May 2009, No longer a serving Director

Cash £65,000 GBP
Net Asset Value £38,931,000 GBP
Current Liabilities £92,212,000





McLaren Group-

Cash £630,000 GBP
Net Asset Value £70,234,000 GBP
Current Liabilities £162,950,000 GBP



McLaren Automotive-

Cash £446,000 GBP
Net Asset Value £-218,497,000 GBP
Current Liabilities £188,889,000 GBP






Some very scary numbers, but some very wealthy directors...

 

I read those financials as well and also thought them rather precarious. PLUS it seems the 12C is NOT the sales success they were hoping for

 

Well, they´ve started from scratch (new factory, new everything) and began selling cars (therefore, had their first income) just two or three years ago. I´m not an expert but I´d say that having red numbers at this point maybe is not unexpected.

 

yes but the cars are NOT selling anywhere close to their projections

 

Easy. They're being too 'professional' too controlled organization. They have lost so many top drivers as a result of that. They're trying to be too perfect.

 

all VERY true !!

Just look at some of the contenders that have fallen by the wayside :

BMW
Toyota
Renault
Honda

The fact Ferrari and McLaren do so well speaks volumes

I'll go slash my wrists now , I said something nice about the Evil Empire and Darth Dennis

 

looks like my wife's shoe buying spree on eBay

 

+1

Although, according to many here if they're not winning the double every year everyone from LdM on down should be fired!

I'm certainly no fan of the Woking boys, but agree, you've gotta give 'em their due - The only other team that's consistently there or thereabouts over the long run. Kudos for that at least.

Cheers,
Ian

 

I am sorry to disagree with you but Mclaren is ONLY an F1 team...BMW, Toyota, Renault and Honda are all MAJOR Passenger car manufacturers with huge diversification. The fact that Mclaren is trying to become a significant auto manufacturer will be their downfall

 

Too early to write Macca off but i think that we're seeing why teams are moving away from the dual #1 model.

 

Sam Michael.

Look at what he did to Williams!
Pete

 

They did produce the F1 road car which wasn't a financial success from a few reports but I tend to agree with you that this venture may be their financial downfall.

I was never surprised to see Toyota leave, and Honda to a lesser extent and I believe Mercedes will leave within the next 3 years if they don't win and will blame it on some waffle like too expensive (that would be a shock ) , but will definitely leave if they do win and then throw up the headline that they have nothing left to prove