How far behind is McLaren ?

Still very far....and i hope they keep it this way...at least until Alonso changes team or retires.....

 

By this point, Alonso is probably sorry that he didn't follow his buddy Webber into
the WEC where at least the technology is relevant.

BHW

 

McLaren will improve when Alonso leaves. And I can't wait!

 

+1

 

The brake failure was caused by a tear-off visor stuck in the brake cooling duct. So it seems that now they have to add to their problems the bad luck too.

The good news is that apart from that in Spain their car was quite reliable all the weekend for the first time. They were running close to the top ten again so the pace is getting better.

 

Omnicorse saying Honda's turbos already spinning at 125000, which is the max allowed by regs. And this is causing reliability issues. Imo that can't be good as thay won't have any scope for improvements in that area even when it'll be reliable. But i guess they can intervene in other ways to make it more powerful, such as size.

Honda: the turbo-compressor runs already at 125,000 rpm

 

Nice article here about the Honda engine from the view-point of the Mercedes Engine Chief.

BBC Sport - Honda can give McLaren a winning engine, say rivals Mercedes

 

Sorry Viz, Ron stated he was going to win oin Melbourne!!!! True, he didn't said what year!!!

 

8th. Not to bad considering where they started

 

Maybe this is the beginning of a turnaround ??

Would love to see another competitive team in the mix - makes for a good show

 

Don't value today too high.
McHonda will need more time. Monaco is less punishing on motor and more rewarding on driver, A combination to suit McLaren. It was to be expected that they'd do better than usual today. I think their upwards trend was generally obvious since start of the season, but today was a high, higher than general potential.

 

The chassis and drivers flattered McLaren today. Good for them scoring points, but hardly evidence of future performance...

 

How can you give ANY credit to Honda ??

They had all that time to build something similar to Mercedes having all the ideas presented to them on a plate with NO test bans and they still produced rubbish, the Japanese use to be great imitators while adding huge improvements, this incantation is rubbish and I'm glad it's in the McClunken

 

If it weren't for a mechanical failure, I reckon both McLarens would have finished in the points.

Here's to more improvement for Alonso and Button.

 

If it weren't for mechanical failures Jimmy would have won every race he started......

*If* Chris Amon were an undertaker, people would stop dying. [Mario, I believe]

"Would-coulda-shoulda!".......

Cheers,
Ian

 

If Macca/Honda didn't have mechanical issues eighth wouldn't look so good.

 

Putting it another way:

Points were within reach for McLaren today.

I am pleased to see that some progress has been made, and that both Button and Alonso qualify in the middle of the grid and can now target points.

The second part of the season should be better work the team.

I still expect McLaren-Honda to be among the 4 best teams next year.

 

Macca aint finishing on the podium anytime soon but some of you act like they're still at the tail end of the grid

 

What have you done with William?


I agree entirely.

 

I don't expect Williams to be among the top 4 teams next year.

I think those will be Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren.

 

Not Williams, William.

Momma didn't raise any kids dippy enough to predict the next season before the current one is over but I wouldn't be surprised.

 

I wouldn't be too quick to hail big improvements for McLaren based on Monaco alone!

Monaco is a unique circuit where a cars outright performance is not as important as it is at every other track on the calender.

It's a place where, if you have a decently balanced chassis and reasonable performance then you can do well in the race.

Let's face facts here, both the McLaren and Red Bull cars are mediocre cars at best at the moment but both looked to have improved in Monaco, whilst the Williams looked to be struggling to be a mid-field car.

So have Williams lost the plot and Red Bull and McLaren found it? - Highly doubtful!

The fact of the matter is, Monaco suited the Red Bull and McLaren better than the Williams.

Come the next race I expect McLaren to be struggling once more (along with Red Bull), whilst the Williams will be back on form.

 

Even Marussia got points in Monaco

 

NBCSN said that special gears and special front end is used only in Monaco. Unique indeed. (Matchett)

 

Agreed that it's unique. Something of a joke really. But, it remains the so called "jewel in the crown" of F1....... It may well be a "parade", it's way too tight, too slow, blah blah, but can you even imagine the howls should it ever be dropped from the calendar?

They do indeed run a different steering rack in order to get enough lock round the hairpin, but no special gears..... They have to declare their 8 ratios ahead of the season, and that's that.

Cheers,
Ian