Spare Parts (F1 odds and ends)

I think Ron was ahead of his time and took the sport forward in how teams approached the sport. His attention to detail and analytical process driven mentality probably stole a march on his competitors in days gone by. That dedicated no compromise status probably yielded more results through pure metrics than the natural creativity of others, but unfortunately that unique edge his team had over others is now the benchmark.

 

He took a huge gamble with Honda and (so far) it looks to have failed miserably, but the truth is it was a it was a gamble he had no real choice in not taking. The reality of the situation was they no longer had access to the Mercedes engine, which was really the ONLY engine to have, even a customer one was better. They're ahead of the non-works non-mercedes teams in the WCC, but they wouldn't have had the chassis over redbull, maybe they could've beaten FI or Williams with a Ferrari or Renault, but then again, maybe not, they would be going for 3rd AT BEST, is that McLaren, to go for the best of the rest of the rest?
nope

 

Second place is first of the losers as Ron used to say.

 

An interesting Ron Dennis/McLaren stat from this write up https://joesaward.wordpress.com/2016/11/16/ron-dennis-and-mclaren-2/

"when one looks at the list of titles, what clearly stands out is the fact that with the exception of Lewis Hamilton’s title in 2008, McLaren has won no championship since 1999, a period of 17 years. All of Ron’s success (apart from the Hamilton crown) was achieved in the 16 seasons between 1984 and 1999."

Now that is living off your past glories!

 

I found this very interesting . Charlie Whiting , poacher turned game keeper .

 

oh yeah,that and Bernie having all the teams interests at heart because they weren't getting enough money from commercial rights, and look at that now!

It's all a big boys club.

 

It is indeed . Still an interesting watch IMHO .

 

I think I may have watched something similar. Is it from a BBC4 documentary?

 

Think it may be , it was at the Brazilian GP this year .

 

Best season review I've seen

 

I can't remember who I saw being interviewed, but they said Bernie offered all the teams a share for 100k each and they all turned him down

 

Capito out . No surprise there IMHO .




http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/38371269

 

He's Kaputo.

 

McLaren feel more like the new Williams with each passing day.

 

looks like it's the night of the long knives at McLaren

 

Ron came back to start the rebuild and now they've got rid of the men doing the rebuild.

#OnlyatMcLaren

All they need now to go back to square one is fire Prodromou!

If he goes it's a long way back.

 

They need a new 'Project 4'. A complete overhaul of everything related to McLaren F1.

Ron came back to fix what was wrong when he was there in the first place. The latest rebuild was not a resounding success, so why not have a clean sheet now. Ron's autocratic style just doesn't work anymore in the modern F1 world.

With respect to both him and Frank Williams, neither team stands much of a chance until they fully step back from the management of their teams and allow new people with new ideas to take the helm. Otherwise both will tread water using management principles that worked in the 80's and 90's but haven't done much since.

 

As much as I respect Ron, he gambled on the Honda partnership - and to date its failed. A man with his experience should have known that 12 months as a customer Merc supplied team would have given them a better base platform to integrate Honda at a later date. If you take out 2007/2008 where they had a very handy car and 2010 (?) where the drivers probably got the maximum out of the car they have 2 championships in 20 odd years. He felt he could out-develop what was effectively an engine formula without an engine! Ron himself would have sacked the man in charge!

 

Pat Symonds gone from Williams



http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/38384155

 

Shame, but unfortunately tainted by crashgate. Seems that Lowe will be on his way.