Did you know that McLaren hasn't won a Constructors championship since 1998? That's over 10 years. And, they won four of the first eight races this year, including three 1-2 finishes. So, what's the problem? It ain't money. They're loaded. It ain't driving talent. Lewis and Button both are former world champs. So, what gives?
I think they recently admitted they fell behind in development this year; didn't push the envelope far enough. I think their car also relied on the f-duct too much; and didn't have enough downforce in the medium high speed corners where the Red Bull is so effieicient...............
Whenever McLaren builds a road car their F1 suffers ... happened when they build the F1 road car too. They are still a small company. Pete
Newey and a lack of imagination. It seemed clear, from mid-season onward, that they had lost the recipie (mainly as everyone else got and F-duct to work.) Another question is "What caused the Williams cars to get so much better over the year?"
They lost Pat Fry to Ferrari mid-season. Seemed like things became bad around that time. I don't see anyone beating Red Bull in the near future esp if they get their act together (provided Newey is there).
I suspect that the testing ban is hurting the team pretty badly. Don't forget, unlike the Bulls, Mclaren and Ferrari use to test, test and test those days.
I think for this season its been a combination of the f-duct, and button not being a top tier driver. looking back over the last decade or so the post Häkkinen years they just did not build a reliable car. then after Räikkönen left the team had a very good car car, perhaps best on the grid, but the team had such poor chemistry between their drivers hamilton and alonso. post alonso, they produced a very good car but could not get enough out of their number 2 driver Kovalainen.
