“has not met the expectations of anyone at McLaren, especially our loyal fans.” Seems rather a harsh comment Java, Id agree Whitmarsh or Ron could be on the cards. Ron while a pig to work under got things done. Zak seems almost too retail not race focused. Its very telling that after Alonso's accident in Baku he was much much quicker with floor damage, and the team couldn't explain why, nor do they seem to be able to explain why the car isn't working aero wise in a wind tunnel. Tim Goss must be chuckling to himself at that one.
To add to that observation, apparently the wing change that meant Alonso started from the pit lane was a 2017-spec part that was hobbled together with bits they could salvage and glue together overnight... And then they score their first points since Spain. There just aren't enough Picard's to do it justice. @jinq-sea Boullier and Alonso apparently had a pretty good relationship, especially at the beginning of the Honda/McLaren partnership and when Ron Dennis was still involved (was essentially an intermediary). I would imagine loosing him as an ally would only push him further away.
It makes me wonder more about the McLaren run indie team. This move seems to make it an uncertainty A friend suggested McLaren is more interested in sports car racing especially with the P1 both for marketing and financial rewards. I've nothing to back up his theory so was wondering if anyone could add anything concrete or even as a thought exercise.
There's been a few rumours about McLaren entering Indy with a proper team, spearheaded by Fernando - It's considerably cheaper than F1, and much easier for a driver of real calibre to get the results needed to turn around a company's reputation. Whether that means winding down involvement in F1 all together, that's another question. If HAAS continue to get their shiz together and finish "best of the rest" this year, I suspect F1 may eventually shift more and more to a spec-lite series anyways.
Can't see Haas topping Renault but it certainly will be interesting. What do you mean by Spec-lite? I'm reading it a simplifying regulations and having more "here is a part you have to use" kinda like electronic suspension rumours due to moving to bigger wheels
I mean more teams taking HAAS's approach of maximising the regulations allowance of "listed parts" to build their car - this years HAAS is essentially 3/4 of last years Ferrari. If they do finish 4th in the constructors (which is where they should already be, had Grosjean not gone full Maldonado for the majority of the season), they would have done so with a lot less staff and having spent a lot less money than the teams around them. I wouldn't be surprised to see more teams enter into such arrangements if the model proves successful.
I though Whitmarsh was coming back to be a cost cutting consultant for the FIA? Boullier's big book of excuses going straight in the post to Gil, I can't really see how much of an impact he can make this year. I don't seem to remember him shining that brightly at BAR either.
I'm surprised TR hasn't followed that approach. Haas has an interesting side business around automation and from something that was mentioned in pre season it sounds like a few teams have been in contact with them regarding it
Isn't that what more or less what Sauber are doing too? IIRC Williams design/build parts for other teams, but given the state of their current car it's hardly a great advert if they are...
The management at Mclaren across all parts of the business (including applied technologies) just reeks of cluster ****. A good friend worked for applied technologies and eventually left due to piss poor management and only had stories of strange management decisions in the racing team also (though these are more easily shared than success!). Time for a good top down re-org and review of their whole approach.
The Company I work with had a technical partnership with Mclaren a couple of years ago and even saw us as a sponsor on the car.... Wonder why that didnt go past a year...
From the sounds of it on autosport there has been a management reshuffle across the board. Just looks like musical chairs but rather than remove a chair before the music stops they mauled a player instead. It will take something more drastic for things to improve
I can see Mclaren being pulled out of F1 entirely if they don't improve when the next set of regulations comes in in 2020-2021. The Bahraini royal family will want them to win something instead of dicking about in the middle of the grid in F1. I can also see them building a Le Mans car when the new non hybrid GTP1 regulations get finalised for 2021.
You see, people say Grosjean has a lot of bad luck, but I reckon punting into the long grass is his default performance level, and he occasionally has an off day when nothing bad happens.
To be fair, some are saying he caught a drain cover while having DRS open, but it doesn't change the fact nobody else did the same thing. I think, as much as the team keep saying they are behind him 100%, as soon as someone like Perez or Hulk get's the itch for a change, Grosjean will be gone - for good. He's proven too often that he is a liability and very on/off in performance, with the mid-field being so competitive, no team bosses are going to take that kind of gamble.
