OK, a lot of you here are McLaren fans, so i was wondering, which car do you think McLaren should use? The MP4/27 is fast, but has reached its develpoment limit, the MP4/28 is slow, but probably has a higher ceiling.
No. Its the engineers that have reached a limit, not the car. Develop the 27 and hire a new chief engineer.
28, they said this car is terrible in Australia-esque races, they'll be better but not great in Malaysia, either way the championship has gone for them
Has the hallmarks of the 2004 season, they'll come back in the middle of the season but it will all be too little too late, pathetic team management.
How? If they aren't running the car they'll have less time to understand it, and it'll take longer to figure it out. From comments made in testing, I think cars this season are maybe 1.5-2 seconds quicker than last years, so the 27 is probably not actually that much faster than the 28.
With the regulations changing next season there wont be a lot of carry over from this car, so spending 3/4 of a season turning it into a winner would be pointless. They should just bring the 27 to Malaysia, it couldn't win races anymore, but it can't be worse than what can only be politely described as a total ****mobile. It didn't have the fundamental failures this car has. They'll be too proud to actually do it though.
McLaren we're 3 tenths up on the rest of the field in Brazil (a short lap). If your 1.5-2 second theory is correct that would leave the '27 still about a second a lap faster than what we're currently looking at.
McLaren fastest laps 2013 :- 6 6 Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 46 18:16:34 212.294 1:29.926 7 5 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 41 18:08:47 211.654 1:30.198 2012 :- 1 3 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 56 18:34:37 214.053 1:29.187 4 4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 57 18:36:11 213.214 1:29.538 Fastest lap 8/10ths slower than 2012, Button a full second slower than his fastest race lap last year. That is not good!
Tough one, been said here before but I don't think even a team the size of McLaren can work on three cars at the same time. Bring back the MP4-27 and run that for a few races, with the odd upgrade Work on the MP4-28, update that to get it up to speed, and Work on 2014 entry, MP4-29.. That would be impossible, if not impossible the end results won't be that great! However the "bring back the MP4-27" is moot, McLaren are too stubborn and proud a team to admit they made a mistake and go back to last years car.. The MP4-28 will be a race winner this year, but like the others have said, the WCC and WDC will be long gone by then.
If I was McLaren I would bring back the 27 period (I would never have got rid of it tbh). It is already the fastest car, let that car bring in wins and podiums while throwing all their efforts into the new era that dawns next year.
The 27. They have totally blown the momentum that they had at the end of 2012 and by the time they get to grips with this car, the title could already be lost. I get the need to develop, but at a time when they're hemorrhaging sponsors and personnel, they need to focus on the short term.
Are they even allowed to bring it back? I thought chassis were homologated at the start of the season.
Have the tests changed over the winter though? It passed last season, so presumably without changes to the regulations, it'd pass this year too.
"Lewis Hamilton has recently acquired a dog and so, it seems, has Button; only Button is driving his."
Am I right in thinking that McLaren still split the car design bi-annually between 2 main people. I know one is Tim Goss, but who is/was the other? They've fallen into a familiar pattern since 2009; in that the even numbered years produce great cars (2008, 2010 & 2012) and the odd numbered years produce dogs (2009, 2011 & 2013?). Ok the 2011 car wasn't terrible, but it wasn't briliant. I picked up on Button's comment during the pub feature on Sunday's race build up that last year's car was a Tim Goss car. Obviously he was alluding to the fact they'll be ok without Paddy Lowe. It seems to me though that Tim Goss knows what he's doing and does things the right way without going bonkers. Pull rod suspension, u shaped sidepods both appear on the non Goss designed cars. Where as things that work (f duct for example) appeared on a Goss car. I just can't help thinking McLaren have really shot themselves in the foot with the MP4/28 when there was no real need for it. 2014 is the major shake-up in the rules and the time for revolution; not 2013. In my opinion they should (if allowed) can the 28 and run the 27 (with some upgrades obviously). Otherwise they can realistically only hope for 5th in the WCC behind Red Bull, Ferrari, Lotus and Mercedes.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/106141 Will they change their tune if they get lapped by the leaders in Malaysia?
