Jenson has done superbly in the past few years, however the argument is that is it worth McLaren fussing over his problems when realistically with him being 80 points off Alonso he is out of championship contention and as a result would it not be better for them to develop the car bearing in mind that Hamilton is their best shot in terms of winning the WDC
Bollocks. The Brawn fundamentally was the second fastest car, clear to see early on in the season. His Championship was never really in doubt as he kept the scoreboard ticking over with some good hauls of points after his wins. That is the sign of a true champion. Yes, truly GREAT drivers can drive around problems. Obviously I don't consider JB as one of the true greats but he's definitely one of the top top drivers of the past decade, proven by his deserved Championship in 09. The only two great drivers on the grid at the moment are Alonso and Schumacher. Others still have some things to prove. Vettel and Hamilton have shown plenty to suggest in joining them but they've still got some work to do before being considered. I'm not even going to respond to the blown diffuser excuse and how he has been slowing down McLaren because quite frankly they are stunning remarks to say the least. Jenson Button is a very defined driver who really needs certain specifics to be just right on his car, but when they are right, boy what a driver he is. What a driver he is.
Well according to Mclaren, Button and Hamilton, both Button and Hamilton have similar car preferences and styles. So development is not split anyway. Plus the fact that there is still the WCC, and if Button can get his form back then he has shown that he can put runs of podiums together.
So you are telling me that them focusing on helping Button for 3 races did not slow their development down? Of course it did and now they are paying the penalty. They are the 4th fastest car in qualifying and are even worse in race conditions. They are now pinning all their hopes on a big upgrade in Germany. If Button starts to complain about setup again will they help yet again? Of course they will and they will have chucked another championship down the drain.
I am a big Hamilton and I even don't rank him as high as the likes of Alonso and Schumacher. But Hamilton still equaled the amount of wins as Button achieved in 2011 as well as getting 1 pole position. Yeah he had a bad year in terms of accidents but he never lost his speed. Button struggles to get into Q3 and since China has been appauling in races. Mclaren then focused most of their efforts to try and help his setup issues and had to delay their upgrades until Button's problems were sorted out.
And Button has got a win this year as well, and the season is only half gone. Mclaren have not focused most of their effort on trying to help Button, and upgrades have not been delayed because of it. What, do you think the Mclaren factory has ground to a halt and the entire staff have stopped working to, well what exactly? Are they all bringing him endless cups of coffee so he can go 24/7 on the simulator and they are all poring over every inch of telemetry data?
There, fixed it for you The Brawn was obviously the fastest car for a significant portion of the season, with Red Bull second and Mclarens third, but Brawn's lack of development prowess meant they waned towards the end while Mclaren made significant improvements. I disagree with anyone who can state otherwise, but it'd be simply untrue based on the facts. However, I disagree with people who say Button is not up to it. I think he's a solid driver who pretty much drives the car at about 95% of what it can do consistently, whereas I'd suggest someone like Hamilton drives at 100% sometimes, but is far more inconsistent usually, but this season he's becoming more so. Alonso drives at pretty much 105% all the time, the guy's mental and as a racing fan I admire it, but as someone who resents his fluffy caterpillar eyebrows and massive face, I prefer Lewis and Jenson. Unfortunately, 95% of this McLaren's potential is now around the 8th-10th mark! Hoping for big things from the upgrades, but to make a point I brought up on another thread, with Mercedes also struggling a bit, perhaps it's the engine and shared components which are a bit more difficult to work with aero-package wise than the Renault or Ferrari engines. We shall see!
Not all i must stress, but too many hamilton fans have an obsession with the idea that every problem at McLaren has to be down to either Whitmarsh or Button. That along with the Sky sports article is a perfect example of putting 2 and 2 together to make 5.
McLaren adamant nothing 'fundamentally' wrong with its car despite slump and the reasoning... So because McLaren has been overtaken so easily it must mean something other than the car now being no good...
McLaren have new sidepods that are "quite different" for German GP this weekend, team boss Martin Whitmarsh says http://twitter.com/andrewbensonf1/status/225551560070004737
Well I hope they work, cause not very often Mclaren bring a 'big update' to a race and it actually works. It's the little things that does work, but they never bring enough of them. The two vertical fins on the top of the sidepods they invented earlier in the season worked well. Even Red BUll copied them They just need more small innovations like that rather than a big one that changes the make up of the car requiring them to learn it's new characteristics, rather than determining whether its actually any good
Dave Robson (Jenson's race engineer): "Off to Germany today. Plenty of upgrades to the car this weekend. Time to get back to winning ways & reward the effort of all those at MTC". I heard it's something on the lines of a blown floor like last year?
Some pictures of the McLaren today: please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
I still think Mclaren went for a wet set up in Silverstone and were seriously caught out by the fact it was dry, that may explain why Lewis was quick (ish) in practice and Qualy but ridiculously slow in the race. even his comment at the end, i was leading at one point so what happened. Personally i think he should have gone for the hard/hard soft option and driven the arse out of the car like he did in Canada, but maybe too much downforce for that wrecking the tyres too soon
What the **** is that on top of the sidepod? I really can't see what's going on there, bloody chrome paint job.
I think thats where it meets the top air duct /roll hoop bit. Looks like they have tucked underneath it a bit. Along with tucking under the side pods it looks like they are maximising airflow probably to get a stronger push of air on the exaust area.. Just a guess
