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McLaren has "never been so uncompetitive in F1"

Discussion in 'F1' started by william, Jun 23, 2017.

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  1. william

    william Two Time F1 World Champ
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    #1 william, Jun 23, 2017
    McLaren has "never been so uncompetitive in F1" – Ojjeh

    https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-mclaren-never-uncompetitive-921962/

    McLaren shareholder Mansour Ojjeh says the team's current tribulations with Honda are the most uncompetitive it has been in Formula 1.

    With McLaren yet to score a point in the 2017 F1 season and having not been on the podium since the start of its final year with Mercedes power in 2013, Ojjeh said the team's plight was unprecedented.
    "This is really new territory for us," he told Motorsport.com. "We've never been so uncompetitive in F1.
    "We did have a terrible year with Peugeot, but this time around Honda has completely underestimated the job."
    Even during its short-lived partnership with Peugeot in 1994, McLaren achieved eight podium finishes and was fourth in the constructors' championship.
    It is now into the longest win drought in its history, with the gap since Jenson Button's 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix victory surpassing the fallow period between James Hunt's 1977 Japanese GP win and John Watson's 1981 British GP win.
    Ojjeh admitted maintaining morale and keeping hold of personnel was getting harder.
    "We're working as hard as possible but what's hard to do in the company is keep hold of the fantastic people and keep them motivated," he said.
    "When you're winning, that's much easier – as it was in 1988 when we won 16 out of 17 races. It's actually hard to keep people motivated when you win regularly, and to keep them motivated when you're bad is really hard.
    "That comes down to management, and thankfully most of the people that work for us are proud to be working for McLaren."
    He fears that McLaren's other businesses could soon be tarnished by its poor F1 performance.
    "We're the only competitor that you can compare to Ferrari, in that we have road cars and a Formula 1 car," said Ojjeh. "But that does mean we need success in Formula 1 to keep the story together.
    "We can't be bad at one and really good at the other one. The road car company is doing fantastically well. Unfortunately right now we have an F1 engine problem that we have to solve. Everything else is great: great drivers, great team."
    Additional reporting by Anthony Rowlinson
     
  2. Robb

    Robb Moderator
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    #2 Robb, Jun 24, 2017
    "We're the only competitor that you can compare to Ferrari, in that we have road cars and a Formula 1 car," said Ojjeh.

    What's he smoking? I'm not a fan of the Mercedes team but they also build road cars - some AMG as pricey as MAC and Ferrari.

    Robb
     
  3. Igor Ound

    Igor Ound F1 Veteran

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    #3 Igor Ound, Jun 24, 2017
    Renault?
     
  4. Mitch Alsup

    Mitch Alsup F1 Veteran

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    #4 Mitch Alsup, Jun 24, 2017
    What is the name of the Merc that is a mid-engined supercar? Front engined bad-boy cars Merc have.
     
  5. william

    william Two Time F1 World Champ
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    #5 william, Jun 24, 2017
    Ferrari and McLaren are the longest standing F1 participants, with similar results inthe championship tally over the years; I think that's what Ojjeh was referring to.
     
  6. jgonzalesm6

    jgonzalesm6 Two Time F1 World Champ
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    #6 jgonzalesm6, Jun 24, 2017
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  7. PSk

    PSk F1 World Champ

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    #7 PSk, Jun 24, 2017
    Exactly.

    It appears some posters in this section are so one-eyed/uninformed they have no idea that F1 has really been a wonderfully interesting battle between McLaren and Ferrari for ~50 years with the occasional interruption from other teams such as Mercedes, Lotus, Williams, etc.

    Tifosi guys have a look at McLaren's F1 record. Remove the Benetton's painted red years and McLaren would have a considerably better record than Ferrari ... and no this has nothing to do with their awesome or otherwise road cars, ie. for a period of F1 history Renault made the best and it could be debated that they have influenced F1 engine design the most (first turbo, first v10, first pneumatic valves, etc.); but no Renault supercars ;)
    Pete
     
  8. william

    william Two Time F1 World Champ
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    #8 william, Jun 24, 2017
    +1
     
  9. Bas

    Bas Four Time F1 World Champ

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    #9 Bas, Jun 24, 2017
    +1
     
  10. TheMayor

    TheMayor Ten Time F1 World Champ
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    #10 TheMayor, Jun 24, 2017
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    In the last 5 years, McLaren has won exactly ONE GP race.

    The problems are more than just Honda these last 3 years.

    Alonso popped out of his car again today yelling "motor motor motor" but in fact was a gearbox failure. Its not the first mechanical failure other than the motor they've had this year but McLaren somehow forgets to talk about that...
     
  11. DeSoto

    DeSoto F1 Veteran

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    #11 DeSoto, Jun 24, 2017
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    Well, a red painted Benetton is the same than a silver painted Williams, uh? Right now, McLaren´s orange/black painted Red Bull is not winning. So give some credit where it´s deserved: the 2000-2004 reign of red terror are genuine Ferrari wins.

    About the rest of your post... Ferrari, McLaren and Williams are the oldest teams. It´s inevitable that they had to fight each other from time to time. Just a matter of longevity.
     
  12. TheMayor

    TheMayor Ten Time F1 World Champ
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    #12 TheMayor, Jun 24, 2017
    Anyone who thinks Zak Brown is better than Ron Dennis is smoking something really strong.
     
  13. PSk

    PSk F1 World Champ

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    #13 PSk, Jun 24, 2017
    Have Williams hired ex-Mercedes staff? Is so then yes I agree; remember MS bought with him a few key members such as Ross Brawn, Roy Bryne, etc. from Benetton.
    Not understanding this, but agree McLaren is hopeless at the moment.
    True true :)
    Fair point.
    Pete
     
  14. PSk

    PSk F1 World Champ

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    #14 PSk, Jun 24, 2017
    +infinity.
    Pete
     
  15. DeSoto

    DeSoto F1 Veteran

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    #15 DeSoto, Jun 25, 2017
    I was talking about the Adrian Newey´s and Peter Podromou´s McLarens. They brought some other people with them from their previous teams. Quite usual practice in F1.

    Right now Paddy Lowe is at Williams and they´re using Mercedes engines , but I doubt that anybody could claim that they´re a Mercedes clone.

    That´s a quite extended urban legend. Todt had contacted Byrne years before hiring Schumacher. His initial plan was to relocate Barnard in Maranello. Brawn was his plan B and I doubt that Schumacher had any say in that decision. Also snatching people from Benetton was the most obvious choice as the team was under funded and going down so Ferrari could get them cheaper.

    Of course some morons like Flavio Briatore say that the Ferrari of those years was a rebranded Benetton to get the credit. BS!
     
  16. PSk

    PSk F1 World Champ

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    #16 PSk, Jun 25, 2017
    DeSoto,

    Fair points and yes part of the game.

    In the end McLaren and Ferrari are the main players, and like any sport you need them IMO.
    Pete
     

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