McLaren W/O Ron Dennis will be...?

What direction will McLaren go without Ron Dennis there?

 

Things will get better.

Zak is the real deal; he is a great executive, knows how to build organizations, can be a diplomat and statesman when needed but has a racer's mindset. He will figure out how to get McLaren and honda in synch, and will let Bouillier and team get on with it.

He will also likely quickly address the commercial ($$) gaps that the McLaren F1 team have experienced in recent years, he is the most commercially savvy guy in the F1 paddock.

As a bonus, he's known and respected by the other teams, Bernie, Liberty and the FIA.

It may take a year or so, but this was one of the most inspired picks to run a team that we've seen in F1 in many years.

 

It's a new chapter for McLaren F1, I think.

I hope they survive this formula and get better prepared for the next one.

 

+F1

Robb

 

Can't get much worse, can it?

 

Alonso must be head in hands.

 

They will get better, but that's partly because they don't have anywhere to go but up. If next year they are fighting for podiums and constantly in the top 10, that's not necessarily Zak Browns work.

I saw Zak speak today and he seems like a good chap, intelligent and not arrogant. A good thing for Mclaren.

 

I wish him well, and I hope Ron Dennis is able to find something else to occupy his time. The guy and his team were a fierce competitor in the best era of the sport, maybe it's fitting he goes as the sport loses its edge completely and changes constantly for the worse. We won't sees rons like again in the sport I fear

 

Which has nothing to do with Ron Dennis, he's just another victim of the engine formula.

 

Zak is not CEO though, they are still looking for a CEO ...

How do decisions get made when they have to run around and check with each other? Maybe I'm old fashioned but I always think there should be one person at the top ... I guess that is why they are still looking for a CEO ... funny if that became Ron ... lol

Pete

 

They´re going to get a lot better in the next years, but as The Old Man used to say: "success has a lot of fathers but failure only one". They´ll get better probably just because now Honda has some experience and with the new rules they´ll be able to maximize the big piles of cash they´re throwing at that engine, but of course the new management will say that it was all Ron´s fault.

The new management will be more efficient, polite and PR conscious, in sync with the times, but probably less authentic and entertaining than Ron Dennis.

 

+1

Well said.

 

Doesn't matter who is running mclaren. They aren't the problem, rather Honda is.

 

Where's the: "Who gives a s:censored:t - They're not Ferrari!" option?

 

Yep, and Honda was chosen as engine partner because there was no other alternative.

I have no idea if Honda will come good one day, or if McLaren can have another engine supplier in future.

In between, McLaren's reputation and standing in the ranking is going down the drain.

I am really shocked that a Japanese engineering firm can be THAT bad.

 

Well...as an european, I may be wrong on this, but...isn't it a JFK quote, actually? "victory has a hundred fathers, but defeat is an orphan" (1961, AFAIK?)
Rgds

 

The quote was originally attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte. I suppose many persons used it later, including JFK and Enzo Ferrari.

 

I was a bit surprised that McLaren turned to Honda. After the glory days of the late 80s, Honda's efforts with BAR and then running the team were lacklustre - even in the 2000s, they had forgotten how or were not able to build winning engines. I thought it was expecting a lot that 6 years after pulling out of the V8 era where they weren't competitive, they would be able to jump straight in to the more complex V6 turbo era.

What's the other expression - "Past success does not guarantee future success"?

 

They are changing the whole PU configuration for next year and as it's been said they will have to go through a completely new cycle of reliability issues and fixes. At this rate they better fit Alonso's car with his own deck chair.

 

This one in carbon fibre. Fold up deck chair, can easily take it with him in the car I reckon.
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What choice had McLaren? Mercedes was cutting ties, Ferrari unlikely and Renault an uncertain quantity. In any case, McLaren would have been considered as a customer. With Honda, at least they had the impression they would be considered as the works team.

Honda has managed to win in all formulae they entered as engine supplier, so far, if I am not wrong. So the omen looked good. Honda has also worked on hybrid technology.

They have a huge poll of engineering talents in Japan second to none, and they know how to build engines, that's for sure (both for cars and for bikes). Honda is also the company that - in proportion- invests the most in research and development in the automotive industry.

But I think, they completely underestimated how difficult it would be to create and develop a complex hybrid power unit with the constraints imposed by the rules, with the token system, the ban on testing and in a relatively short timescale.

Honda has just been caught with its pants down this time! They have been painfully playing catching up and made fools of themselves. I don't know if they will even come good in the next few years before the end of this formula and redeem themselves by allowing some success to McLaren, their unfortunate partner in this sorry business.

 

(as an aside, trying not to derail the thread)
That's very interesting: I spent an hour yesterday evening looking for any french source attributing it to Bonaparte, and I found none. All french sources attibute the quote to JFK, with the exception of one saying it is from Thomas Campbell...

Rgds

 

It seems a good quote has hundred fathers...

 

Like a bird of hundred feathers?

Rgds

 

I´ve made a quick search and I´ve found a very similar quote attributed to Aristotle, so maybe Napoleon was borrowing it too, like JFK!!!