Still, 2 cars in the points is a huge progress for McLeren. Hopefully the results will go improving in the second part of this season.
Let's be honest here, their result today was more due to the misfortune of others than their own progress! without the various incidents befalling others, both cars would have easily been out of the points yet again. They're not back in the game yet!
I welcome the progess, nevertheless. Two cars in the points is better than DNFs or cars languishing at the beck of the field. You can only improve the cars if you go full distance and finish.
True, but only a couple of races ago, McLaren would have DNF'd before making it to the finish and capitalizing on the misfortune of others. That's progress!
Let's not kid ourselves. The nature of the circuit masks the actual power the cars need. It's basically Monaco without the barriers.
Precisely. Power is not a deciding factor in Hungary. Still good to see both cars make it to the end, but we can only declare progress at McLaren when they win points on merit at a power circuit. It's as simple as that.
They end before the summer break on a relative high but they're in for a very tough time in spa and monza.
You missed a couple: Hesketh and a personal underdog favorite: Mo Nunn's Ensign (pre Theodore). Heck, there were a lot of others - Amon, Tecno (remember them? That engine sounded awesome!! pity about the power..). All from a time when F1 was a sport and anyone could have a crack, when some teams only raced the European rounds, before somebody owned and managed a 'championship'. John
And Brabham. Only owner driver to win in his own car. Either way, McLaren is making progress, it was lucky for them obviously but 5th is 5th regardless. They did have some legit battles with Toro Rosso and Sauber I believe. Its only halfway through the season and they managed to break into the top 10 so maybe in the next 5-6 races they can find the .5-.7 seconds and be more competitive. Maybe they found a way to keep the car cool and can turn up some power now. They did do 69 running laps each with no faults or DNF's.
My bad. Let's go with 10 teams for now. All very true statements. But, let's be honest here, it's a *very* unusual season where more than 3 or 4 teams have any realistic shot at the title. Generally less. Midfielders & backmarkers are a large part of what it is. At least they give points down to 10th these days...... Many, many of them wouldn't have even garnered a point back in the day. Cheers, Ian
One weekend and McLaren has projected themselves into the fight against Force India, Lotus, and STR. Sauber is already theirs for the taking. As Jenson said in the interviews, this was a strange race, and they'll need more progress to repeat this performance, but it's clear the potential is there. Even if their car isn't up to snuff, the driver and team experience may be enough to grab enough points during the rest of the season.
There may be 10 teams, but 5 of them are unable to design a competitive car. That would be worse if there was 12 teams. That's why 5 constructors and 7 private teams with customer cars would make sense.
Again, we beg to differ. Which is fine of course. IIRC, wasn't it you that said a "customer" team will never (rarely?) beat the "works" outfit? So there would still be 7 "uncompetitive" teams. If we go that route we'd need a cheat sheet all the time to know who was who! Teams would be coming & going in a heartbeat. No thanks! It's hard. Sir Frank was considered a "joke" by many for many years; Then he landed Saudi Air and the rest is, as they say, history. I'm really hopeful that Manor can move forward with Bob Bell on board for example; Someone comes up with the $, and they could be a solid midfielder at least. Sauber needs a title sponsor; Given some more $, they're a pretty neat outfit IMO. And on and on; They can't all be winners every year. [Just ask Uncle Ron! ] Cheers, Ian
Mac showed some life this weekend and that's great... but my gosh do they have a long way to go. Alonso had to push the darn car in qualifying. And, their fuel usage was the worst of the entire grid. It's not just speed that is slowing McLaren. Speed is only one factor.
I don't remember saying that! Moss won several GPs on customer Coopers and Lotus (defeating Ferrari twice in 1961!). Siffert won the British GP on a customer Lotus with RCC Walker. Stewart won a world championship on a customer Matra ran by Ken Tyrrell. Were they all uncompetitive teams?
My bad again!..... Someone did recently..... I think they're probably the examples that prove the rule though! "Someone has to finish last" is I guess my point. Does that make them "uncompetitive"? Are the midfielders a waste of space? Not everyone has Merc or Ferrari's limitless budget, but they're out there doing their best. Which is fine with me. Cheers, Ian
Great weekend for McLaren - I was glad to see it. I hope they can keep the momentum going where they can be front runners next year.
**** 'em! Seriously, as much as I'm not a fan, they're one of the few "grandee" teams and seeing them unable to finish qualy, let alone a race, was getting pretty silly. As has been said many times, anyone who writes them off is a fool. They'll be back at the pointy end soon. Then we'll all be whining about them doing a better job than Ferrari!....... Cheers, Ian
