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[Hammer278]

If you thought Melbourne was a bad performance, I think Msia is going to magnify it. Longer lap, a lot of kerb riding, not to mention you need respectable aero through the quick corners. It might be the place McLaren lose their scoring record, but the 2 weeks that follows will give them some good time to get on top of a few things before China.

[LewEngBridewell]

Making the change to a pull-rod front was a very big call for McLaren and a very big change to try and manage. Couple that with the ridiculous "almost no testing" rule and you are bound to go through what McLaren are now and Ferrari did last year. I hope they stick to their guns on this as I believe it will pay off not just this year but for future years as well.

I have my fingers crossed!

[CookinFlat6]

Everything points to the team making these decisions to radically redesign the car because of Buttons slump last year. They have attempted to give him the car he wants but grossly underestimated how quickly he could realise its potential without testing, using the simulator and having no knowledge of the 2013 tyres. That in itself points to a team where the management structure is too fragmented with no one in a position of exercise common sense over the whole process.
Right hand forgot to talk to left hand. Anyone with common sense would have over ridden the department that listened to Buttons desires and set about doing the best thing possible to give it to him - But at an unacceptable price - That price includes losing Lewis and Paddy Lowe I would say
Anyone with common sense would have noticed how the Honda despite one of the largest budgets and unlimited testing couldnt give Button the car he needs.

[Hammer278]

Will the real McLaren please stand up? Just going down memory lane for a bit and came along one of Mika's memorable interviews.

[youtube]N7Ylp-wDpWE[/youtube]

[CookinFlat6]

So McLaren have now ruled out returning to the 2012 winning car

Speaking in the Sepang paddock this afternoon, Jenson Button said that they would stick with the Plan A and work with the 2013 design. It meant that they would be able to “take more risks” than their rivals because they are chasing results.

“It’s better to stick to the plan and develop and improve what we have,” said Button, who has been in this situation before with BAR and Honda in his earlier career.

Welcome to 2002-2008!

[PartsaS]

Sam Michael stated:
“When you are looking for performance as we are at the moment, you look everywhere, so we have programmes on everything. We have a good idea of what we need to concentrate on, but until we’ve got on top of that then we’ll keep our minds open to everything.”
“We have two lines of new parts. One is normal development that was going to come anyway to the car, and then we’ve got some experimental stuff to work through on Friday, some of which is just background test items to help us further understand (the car).”

I find these news exciting, maybe, over the course of the season we could see some magic happening...

[racechick]

This year's McLaren is the fourth worst ever Mclaren at the start of a season in terms of percentage defecit to the overall fastest lap. It's 2.777%off. Only three others ever started the season worse. Even the 2009 car only had half the defecit that this car has (1.184%), and much of that was the DD which was soon rectified. The big problem this year seems to be the fact that they cannot understand why it's slow. Things they have done should make it faster but it's made it slower
Starts worse than this year are as follows
1966 - 2.900 % deficit
1982- 3.385 % deficit
1987 - 3.047% deficit.
They have their work cut out!
(Info from an article in Autosport)

[Hammer278]

Sam Michael stated:
“When you are looking for performance as we are at the moment, you look everywhere, so we have programmes on everything. We have a good idea of what we need to concentrate on, but until we’ve got on top of that then we’ll keep our minds open to everything.”
“We have two lines of new parts. One is normal development that was going to come anyway to the car, and then we’ve got some experimental stuff to work through on Friday, some of which is just background test items to help us further understand (the car).”

I find these news exciting, maybe, over the course of the season we could see some magic happening...

This basically rules out any thoughts of the Championship this season. Hamilton still the only driver to win his WDC in his 2nd year.

Though I think there was a driver before who won it in his rookie season...any statman around?

[CookinFlat6]

J Villeneve, but he wasnt really a rookie as he had raced at the F1 equivalent series in America

[scotty]

Sam Michael stated:
“When you are looking for performance as we are at the moment, you look everywhere, so we have programmes on everything. We have a good idea of what we need to concentrate on, but until we’ve got on top of that then we’ll keep our minds open to everything.”
“We have two lines of new parts. One is normal development that was going to come anyway to the car, and then we’ve got some experimental stuff to work through on Friday, some of which is just background test items to help us further understand (the car).”

I find these news exciting, maybe, over the course of the season we could see some magic happening...

This basically rules out any thoughts of the Championship this season. Hamilton still the only driver to win his WDC in his 2nd year.

Though I think there was a driver before who won it in his rookie season...any statman around?

Villeneuve won in his second season, i think a couple more have too. Farina won his first season but that was the first F1 season... dunno what this has to do with anything here though.

This year's McLaren is the fourth worst ever Mclaren at the start of a season in terms of percentage defecit to the overall fastest lap. It's 2.777%off. Only three others ever started the season worse. Even the 2009 car only had half the defecit that this car has (1.184%), and much of that was the DD which was soon rectified. The big problem this year seems to be the fact that they cannot understand why it's slow. Things they have done should make it faster but it's made it slower
Starts worse than this year are as follows
1966 - 2.900 % deficit
1982- 3.385 % deficit
1987 - 3.047% deficit.
They have their work cut out!
(Info from an article in Autosport)

Fastest lap of the race or qualifying, or what? Those stats are pretty weird, cause they won the first race in 1987...

[Hammer278]

It's got something to do with McLaren, since before Melbourne, Perez probably harboured thoughts of a WDC this season. But I think it basically writes it off, so yes relevant.

Btw, I see a news piece that Sam MIchael hasn't completely given up on the old car yet.McLaren sporting director Sam Michael will not rule out a switch to the team's 2012 car if it continues to struggle, but says the team is putting "all the energy" in to the MP4-28.


McLaren not ruling out switch to 2012 car


The team's difficult start to the new season has been well-documented, with McLaren starting the year well off the pace in Melbourne. Having admitted that the new car's performance was even worse than expected in Australia, McLaren is hoping to improve this weekend in Malaysia but concedes it is still not likely to be competitive.

When asked by ESPN during a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes phone-in if switching to the old car is a serious option, Michael replied: "I think right now our focus is on the 28A and getting that to work.

"All our technical efforts are focused on that but obviously there are options available to us. But at this point all the energy is going in to the current car."

Expanding further, Michael said his cause for optimism was that McLaren believes it knows where it needs to work to solve the difficulties it is having with the 2013 car.

"Right now all of our energy is going in to the current car, so it's going in to understanding the 28A. We pretty much know where [the problems] are; now it's about solving them quickly. And that sort of gives us confidence internally that we can do that. The worst thing is if you don't actually know what areas to look in. We have got a pretty good idea where we need to work, and so all our energies are in the 28A at the moment."

Michael also agreed when it was put to him that a switch to the old car might not automatically mean improvement as the front wing would need changing and the 2013 tyres are different.

I think we have a reasonably understanding of what we need to do, but not 100%, no
Jenson Button on McLaren's MP4-28
"Yes, those are potential issues that you'd have to overcome, but as I said all of our energy is going in to the current car now."

[myownalias]

I believe that McLaren will get it together; a team with the development might of McLaren won't struggle for too long, it's not like McLaren haven't started out with a poor car and pulled in back in the first four races before. We'll have to wait and see, but going backwards isn't the best option in my view; I believe that the other teams have made strides forward since the end of 2012!

[racechick]

Sam Michael stated:
“When you are looking for performance as we are at the moment, you look everywhere, so we have programmes on everything. We have a good idea of what we need to concentrate on, but until we’ve got on top of that then we’ll keep our minds open to everything.”
“We have two lines of new parts. One is normal development that was going to come anyway to the car, and then we’ve got some experimental stuff to work through on Friday, some of which is just background test items to help us further understand (the car).”

I find these news exciting, maybe, over the course of the season we could see some magic happening...

This basically rules out any thoughts of the Championship this season. Hamilton still the only driver to win his WDC in his 2nd year.

Though I think there was a driver before who won it in his rookie season...any statman around?

Villeneuve won in his second season, i think a couple more have too. Farina won his first season but that was the first F1 season... dunno what this has to do with anything here though.

This year's McLaren is the fourth worst ever Mclaren at the start of a season in terms of percentage defecit to the overall fastest lap. It's 2.777%off. Only three others ever started the season worse. Even the 2009 car only had half the defecit that this car has (1.184%), and much of that was the DD which was soon rectified. The big problem this year seems to be the fact that they cannot understand why it's slow. Things they have done should make it faster but it's made it slower
Starts worse than this year are as follows
1966 - 2.900 % deficit
1982- 3.385 % deficit
1987 - 3.047% deficit.
They have their work cut out!
(Info from an article in Autosport)

Fastest lap of the race or qualifying, or what? Those stats are pretty weird, cause they won the first race in 1987...

That is weird isn't it? Fastest lap done over the weekend I believe, against the fastest overall lap. I looked up the statistics for that year and only four finished on the same lap, only about 11 finished. altogether, and some were 2,3 or 6 laps back. Maybe that had something to do with it.

[bud]

Like a pack of wolves after one race.

[andrew]

J Villeneve, but he wasnt really a rookie as he had raced at the F1 equivalent series in America

Indy Cars and F1 cars are to different beasties. I wouldn't really want to compare the 2. A driver being successful in Indy Cars does not mean that the same driver will be successful in F1 - there are quite a few examples of this. Plus the 96 and 97 Williams were near unbeatable. After that Villeneve was pretty much no where.