My 02c; Anyone who writes off Uncle Ron is a fool. I doubt they'll do much next season - You of all people know how difficult a debut season is - but come 2016, they'll be there or thereabouts. Cheers, Ian
Peter Prodromou aka Newey's right hand man while at Red Bull comes on for next season. McLaren will be back.
The only problem with this post is that McLaren are chasing Alonso, and his value has pretty much been totally established by his on track results! (he's also only 6 months younger than Jenson so the youth argument doesn't totally pan out either!). Let's face facts here, McLaren are currently shafting Jenson Button out of F1 by leaving their driver decision so late that if they do decide to drop him (which I suspect is highly likely!), he's going to have nowhere competitive to go! I read their: "We understand Jenson's concerns about his future but we have to do what is best for our team" statement as really saying: "Screw Jenson! - Who cares what he wants!" My hope is that Jenson saw the writing on the wall earlier on and didn't fall for any of the: "We may well keep you on" bull from McLaren, and has got something lined up with another team! (however, the lack of rumours circulating about him and next season doesn't bode well!)
Alonso is not only sufficiently better on track than Jensen to tip the scales but he'd also be a new face for the Macca sponsors and bring a new fan base. Macca isn't as bad as they seem this year. Due to their impending Honda contract MB did not provide them the same data base during the chassis design stage that they gave other customer teams. With the emphasis on integration of subsystems in today's F1 this was no small handicap.
Andrew, there's more to it than just having the Mercedes engine as submitted by Ron in this article. http://adamcooperf1.com/2014/10/04/ron-dennis-frustrated-by-lack-of-engine-parity-with-mercedes-works-team/ The only question mark at Mclaren is Honda's performance. The chassis will be at the front within two seasons. Peter Prodromou was not just Newey's right hand man, he was Head of Aero at RB(!). They've been beefing up in staff since mid 2013. As Ian said RD doesn't fool around, discount a Mclaren led by him at your own peril. Boulier's resume from Lotus with a limited budget isn't shabby either. This is similar to what happened at Mercedes that lead up to this season. Sent from my XT1053 using Tapatalk 2
They'll be fast by 2016 or maybe late 2015 but no sooner. Mclaren scalped some good people including Adrian Newey's right hand man Peter Prodromou, and I'm certain -just like when Bob Bell went to Mercedes- that he's taking some key individuals with him. I hear Peter is possibly the next Newey/Byrne/Bell. As for Honda, they are a full season of hard objective data down on everyone else. I'm sure they'll catch on quick but not that quick. Lastly, let's not forgot Mercedes are going to be even better next year as they and Bosch (or just Bosch, not sure yet) just developed an injection system that is finally capable of running at 500bar, while most of the year they were running at what was rumored to be less than half. This upgrade is worth 35bhp, and that's on top of the already existing 50bhp or so they already have on the field. Honda talks a good game that they will match MB, but I'll believe it when I see it.
That's the first I've heard about that news! - Care to share where it comes from? To My mind, it was actually in Mercedes' best interest to provide McLaren with the exact same data as the other customer teams got in order to correlate as much accurate information about their power unit as possible. The more cars you have running competitively with your power unit, the more you learn about your power unit. And let's not underplay McLaren's ability to make a poor car! - Their 2013 effort was more of a dog than Snoopy, Lassie and Rin Tin Tin put together! (Unless of course Mercedes pre-empted the Honda deal right the way back in 2012 and withheld information from McLaren that year too!)
Didn't you ask that when I offered it at the beginning of the season? You could start with the piece cited a couple of posts above but I first read in Motorsport months ago.
As I've said other times, I doubt that McLaren is getting a worse deal than Force India. They're paying for those engines, Mercedes can't ignore them. I've read in a newspaper that the Honda deal with McLaren allows them to switch to other team in 2016 if McLaren doesn't deliver in 2015 and that Alonso would follow them as his contract is with Honda not with McLaren. I think it's BS, Honda is throwing big money in McLaren, they just can't switch teams so easily.
Autosprint (Italy) reports big trouble between Mansour Ojjeh and Ron Dennis, and Ron being at risk... Guerra in McLaren, Dennis rischia - Autosprint Rgds
Sorry, my mind is always a bit slow when I have to translate from one language to another one without taking the time to pause with a french translation in between. Basically, what "Autosprint" says is that R.D (who owns 25% of the shares) and Ojjeh (who owns another 25%) may have to buy back the 50% of Mumtalakat, a Bahraini holding. But the bridges have truly burned between Dennis and Ojjeh (says Autosprint), so Ojjeh is trying to overtake Ron Dennis and find himself a buyer, which could be Lawrence Stroll, among other potentialities, as his discussions with Sauber have not been successful. This could then lead to Ojjeh allying with the new buyer to give the boot to Uncle Ron... (that would ease Fernando's return, wouldn't it?) Rgds
The reports Ive seen from some months ago stated RD was in play to obtain shares to secure his position. I think FA knows what the structure is. It was published. Very interesting times ahead for both FA and RD
I see some irony in the fact that Ron is now more or less in the same situation as was his old sparring partner LdM a few weeks ago: both acted as if they were "king in their kingdom" forever, simply forgetting the fact that the one who holds the ultimate power is the shareholder(s)... Rgds
F1 powerful are getting old and they still think it's the old days when they could milk millions from these big companies for little to show for it . Impo these power units cost more than ever and not one fan likes them that's not good . This whole thing could blow up fast not one f1 team budget is seat in stone .
At least Luca has charisma. Ron seems like a perpetual sour puss. He doesn't seem like a very pleasant person to be around, let alone work with. -F
De Montezemolo was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and had a privileged upbringing. Later, his high education allowed him to go from executive jobs to the management of the iconic Ferrari company.Luca is from the elite class. Ron Dennis is a self-made man who started from the shop floor as a mechanic and created an automotive empire. Ron comes from humble background and had to prove himself. That may explain the difference in characters. I appreciate them both, but I think that Ron Dennis is more deserving.
But deserving of what? For better or for worse Luca has always had an air of Noblese Oblige. I think that he has a sense of family honor and national pride as well as a healthy ego. Both he and Ron have achieved some great things from different directions. I see no need to choose between the two.
More deserving of my appreciation. Ron Dennis is a social climber, Luca de Montezemolo isn't; that's my point.
