Nah it's just always bugged me, "We are going to win the Champions League/FA cup/PL/ any other sport" etc.. It's a group mentality within Psychology I can never accept from people because it's corporations trying to woo you in to try and make out your part of something. Yeah ok you can support people and teams but to say and delude yourself you're part of that "team" for me personally is laughable considering "you" do actually nothing within the team except make money for them. You don't own shares, you don't make or drive the car, you just type crap like the rest of us on these forums and groups are divided because of it like in most sports. If you work for them ok, then you can say "we" but to go out buy a few shirts and hats and then say "we" just doesn't look logical from my standpoint. For me it just sounds like a bloke/gal desperate for a social group because if they don't they will become an outsider. Maybe I sound like a hypocrite considering I'm on this forum right now, but I consider the individual the more important to talk to about F1 rather than the actual driver or team. And if somebody makes a double standard on any driver I'm going to bite and rip your ass into the water with me. Ok I support Seb and Mercedes but I don't go "We will win the race/championship", only he/they can go out and do that. I always say "Seb, RBR, Mercedes" not "we" and if I did it was totally intentional as a joke since F1 fans on other sites have gone into this subject before in the past and said the same things as I say here. It's not really to have a go, just why do you think you're part of that group? Their success or failure has no actual impact from me what so ever, I have no control and only able to watch and shake the TV. I'm nothing to them except to make money off and that's it. I'm not angry by people saying it, it's just an irritant like somebody scratching their fork on a plate. And yes I was an angry child my favorite toy bunny Sebastian was run over by a McLaren years ago Edit: Take bankrupt sports teams for example, if they went bankrupt they would hope and pray the fans would bail them out by each giving them a £50-100 with each person. Now do you actually think this sports team before or after bankruptcy would bail you out if you had £50,000+ debt with your house just because you think you're part of the "we" with the team? I reckon they would get security and chuck you in a crazy wagon and leave you to rot.
Maybe it's just me but the floor looks different. Or maybe because of the angle i'm looking at it from?
Missed the launch but does not look like I missed much, more like a rehash of last year's car. Seeing as they won the last two races though they may not have felt the need to change too much.
Being shorter than "they/them" or a team name, why can't we save time in our lives by referring to ourselves as part of the group? Think of all the time that I've garnered using "we" when referring to Newcastle United that you've now pissed away because of your ludicrous objection and my innate need to respond. I hope you offer time validation Also, without fans, clubs don't exist, and neither do Mclaren, so really saying we aren't part of the process is nonsense
http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1...ake-the-wraps-off-the-McLaren-2013-challenger Commented Sky Sports F1's Ted Kravitz: "McLaren have taken a risk: They've changed the design concept so the car has more potential, but it may take time to fully exploit. "The pullrod front suspension is like the 2012 Ferrari, and the and high nose is unlike their previous concept." Indeed, while on the whole the new car might look much like the old, Button has insisted that first impressions can be misleading. "It's always exciting when you think you have a good possibility to fight for world championships," the 33-year-old said. "It might look similar because it has the same colour scheme, but this [car] is completely different to last year - under the skin it's so, so different. "That's why I think it's an exciting season for us.
Gary Anderson BBC F1 technical analyst "McLaren finished last year with the fastest car and the new MP4-28 looks like a good improvement on that. The steps forward start at the front with a higher nose and chassis, pretty close to the maximum allowed height, which gives more room for better airflow under the car than last year. They have followed Ferrari's 2012 lead in using pull-rod front suspension, which has a lower centre of gravity and the pull-rod manages the airflow off the front wing better than the more common push-rod. The sidepods have been moved backwards, giving better airflow, and the back has been focused on maximising that flow. The driveshaft and lower wishbone have been packaged in one element and the rear bodywork is heavily scooped out to make the most of the downforce-producing 'coke-bottle' area between the rear wheels. The idea is to separate that airflow from the exhaust gases, which McLaren have continued to treat in the way they did last year, rather than using Red Bull-style tunnels. McLaren are one of the few teams to have small-diameter exhaust exits, which gives faster airflow and therefore more downforce when they hit the aerodynamically shaped rear brake ducts. Overall, McLaren look to have made a good step forward."
Major question is how well they can get to grips with the pull-rod suspension and how much they can get out of the exhaust gases I suppose.
James Allen's analysis is up. Interesting how he reckons the car has plenty of room for development, so if Mclaren start strong they might well run away with things?
McLaren did pretty well without the fans when they started out in the 60's. The same goes for in the 90's when all the stands were full of Williams gear and McLaren were like the Williams of today, in the shadows rebuilding and getting invested into, not by the fans, but by rich individuals. Corporations with their millions and a multitude of smart individuals got those teams where they were, not Gladdis the fan who likes to think she did something towards the victory because she bought a couple of hats over the years. Most F1 teams in the past, if not all were started by multi millionairs/billionaires before they even got popular on the map of F1. It was never about starting in a green field with a group of coal miners with their local village behind them, sorry but F1 isn't that kind of sport historically, they would love to make it out like that but it isn't and it never will be. Money money money, is all they're after and if they can make out they really give 10 hoots about the average fan then they must be doing something right with that script of theirs. F1 was designed to be a massive billboard for selling cars in general, they make most of their money from selling those cars, or like RBR, promoting their drink brand. But does anybody here actually drive a Ferrari worth £200,000? F1 is generally aimed at an elitist group primarily who can afford their cars, they would drive on empty tracks if they could get more money out of it....wait a minute? They already do that with tracks like Valencia, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Korea, Malaysia, China (maybe not recently). Funnily enough the most average wealth linked team is infact RBR, considering almost everybody here can buy Red Bull but not all can buy a Mercedes etc... F1 teams can try all they want to try and make me feel "part of it", but it's nothing but a ploy to get more money out of me and nothing else, apart from maybe an ego boost. Though plenty of people here would say I have plenty of that ego to spare.
Exactly, and people who buy cars are fans! You've just admitted it right there The fact of the matter is, without any fans, F1 would die on it's arse. We're necessary.
I see what you mean, but that's not always the case. Some (no true estimate) buy Ferrari's just because they have the money to do so and want to show it off for social reasons, not because they like Ferrari the team. In respect for wealthy people, it's just used as a bragging right to show your car is of a higher quality than the next guy. Just because somebody buys a million dollar mansion in London, doesn't mean they love London the city.
Well it's not going to be for tax-breaks If I was looking to buy a car for £250,000, f1 pedigree might come into consideration for sure. I doubt many people really buy top of the line Ferraris and then support Mclaren in F1. They either support Ferrari or don't give two Vettel's about the sport! Think Rowan Atkinson etc with their brand loyalty.
Unfortunately for them, they've added things to the MP4-28 that weren't on the car at the launch. I've compared it to the previous car: please log in to view this image
For me it would be a Ferrari considering the historical value it would be down the line and that my favorite colour is red. I would buy it for £250,000 but 50 years down the line it could quadruple in value and make me a nifty profit and maybe do the process again since we should all be living up to 120+ Rowan Atkinson is as a very rare dedicated fan and fills in all the quota of a "true McLaren fan" (for me at least) since he is dedicated to them and always buys their cars (main point of their existence as a company) and wants to get involved whenever he can and probably gets treated very well at GP's. Ok fair enough not everybody can buy a car of that degree, yet none of them try to adjust that mindset and go cheaper for the common fan. Me personally I cant stand Red Bull within short periods, Monster is better in my opinion so even if I tried I couldn't be a true RBR fan. What I'm trying to get about is that if I bought a 20p badge of Newcastle united, do you think everybody in that stadium would allow me (socially) to be a "true fan" of Newcastle united when they spend £50-60 on tops every year. Probably not in my opinion.
hahaha. I've a feeling that this years cars will only be a tad different. Not expecting anything drastic until 2014 really.
Autosport say McLaren wont run PDRS: http://www.autosport.com/news/repor...ed: jaf1/autosport-f1 (autosport.com F1 news) Must be such a hard thing to work properly they're leaving it for other teams to find out how to make it work while they focus on something else.1
