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[LewEngBridewell]

John cooper looks quite nice

Are you saying Whitmarsh may find him disturbingly goodlooking?

Thats a disgusting thing to even think about.

Why?

[racechick]

John cooper looks quite nice

Are you saying Whitmarsh may find him disturbingly goodlooking?

Thats a disgusting thing to even think about.

Why?

Yep. Nothing wrong with Martin fancying the pants of Jens, so long as he separates it from professional decision making.

[What's Burning?]

I think McLaren's delay in announcing their title sponson is to spare them any association with the embarrassment that was the 2013 season.

[Jabberwocky]

I think it is linked up with the drivers

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk

[Hammer278]

I think McLaren's delay in announcing their title sponson is to spare them any association with the embarrassment that was the 2013 season.

Or maybe still looking for the title sponsor.

[1Lemon]

I think McLaren's delay in announcing their title sponson is to spare them any association with the embarrassment that was the 2013 season.

Or maybe still looking for the title sponsor.

Ot linked to legal issues with announcing a new sponsor whist Vodafone is still attached.

[bud]

I think it's to do with the rebranding of the team. Next season is really an interim year in terms of the brand change from Vodafone McLaren Mercedes to what comes next. Seeing as 2015 is a new era for the brand in going back to a works Honda deal, it would make more sense in terms of marketing to relaunch themselves as <Insert title sponsor> McLaren Honda in 2015 with new livery, sponsor, engine.
I'm guessing they will run an interim sponsor just as they did with Johnnie Walker in 2006 having announced Vodafone for 2007 all the way back in 2005.

[What's Burning?]

they announced the fact that they'd be revealing the new title sponsor early in the season. They gave a date, Dec 2nd. You're not that specific unless something has been lined up for quite some time. Yeah, there may be issues with drivers and their sponsors and conflicting interests but that's secondary. I believe their Title sponsor has been on board for quite some time.

[CookinFlat6]

Thing is McLaren promised much earlier to reveal the title sponsor they had agreed with to replace Vodaphone (60 mills worth) in December. And now they are delaying announcing this promised title sponsor till the new car launch. They are now saying there will be new sponsors. It doesnt sound like a title sponsor just sponsors. It could be a few 5 mill sponsors or a new division of McLaren like tooned. Lets not forget that the team made a loss despite Vodas money and finishing high in the WCC. Whats gonna happen next year without replacing Voda and paying Merc?

From a commercial point of view, the shift of focus on the driver side would be interesting -- it was believed Mexican Perez's arrival at Woking would precede by a year his backer, Telmex, succeeding Vodafone as the title sponsor.

Indeed, an announcement of Vodafone's unnamed successor had already been scheduled by McLaren for December 2.

Coming a week after this month's Brazil season finale, many thought that date had been chosen so as not to interfere with the currently Telmex-backed Sauber's racing season.

But, suddenly, that date may no longer be relevant, according to McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh.

When asked about the December 2 announcement by reporters this week, he said: "There will be some new sponsors, but I think probably - and I don't know because I haven't talked to our PR function - there will be more of a fanfare at the car launch rather than an announcement on December 2."

[What's Burning?]

Obviously Vodaphone and Telmex, are two large wireless telephony/data companies. Vodaphone may have had some type of clause about another wireless company which makes perfect business sense.

So if McLaren jettison Perez, Telmex goes along with him, that leaves them out of their 2014 title sponsor, so they may have to juggle until Honda comes in for 2015, and what that partnership is likely to be. The big money comes from the freebie engines, so something has indeed happened at McLaren and it's likely that it's tied to the decision of keeping or letting go of Perez, but if that's the case then they're thinking long term, absorb/mitigate whatever monetary loss they'll see in 2014 and be in a better state for the 2015 season from a team foundation standpoint. I doubt Honda is free engine only.

But I also doubt that Honda would come into the sport and not try to provide engines for another team or two. 11 teams, 4 engine suppliers. Someone is going to get a bigger slice of the pie.

[Denthúl]

I'm rooting for Danepak as the new title sponsor.

[CookinFlat6]

But I also doubt that Honda would come into the sport and not try to provide engines for another team or two. 11 teams, 4 engine suppliers. Someone is going to get a bigger slice of the pie.

Honda would be at a big disadvantage financially and development wise if they only supplied one team. They will probably supply McLaren exclusively for the first year and then find other customers. This is not a works deal in the old sense. Also even if Honda provided cash ontop of free engines it wouldnt be as a title sponsor (Honda McLaren Honda). They will leverage technology tie ups on the road cars or pay for a Japanese driver but apart from buying the team its hard to see where they gain by bankrolling Mclaren beyond free engines.

They will be competing with the other engine makers to win with a team. The more teams they supply the more chance, more coverage and more data to develop. If the Honda engine proves to be exceptional then Honda will be selling it to Mclarens competitors

Something has not gone according to plan for Mclaren for 2014 as far as sponsors/Sergio/telmex and I suspect 2014 is going to be challenging if not a write off and we will see either 2 pay drivers or 2 rookies with 2015 being the kick start year with massive changes to drivers, sponsor, team principal and maybe even ownership

[operaman]

The fact that I am at a total loss to understand what McMerc is doing is irrelevant, but do THEY have a clue????

[racechick]

Nah. They lost the plot , about erm, lets see.......three or four years ago.

[CookinFlat6]

For confirmation about losing the plot and continuing to not even search for it

Here come the excuses for 2014

McLaren’s Jenson Button has been excited about the introduction of next season’s new regulations since back 2012 and he is confident he will be able to adapt his driving style to get the most out of the new cars.

Yes Button has proven he can adapt his driving style quickly before. And he is confident now, so thats ok, he was confident the 2013 car was the best ever

The Briton, who made his debut in 2000 and will start his 15th season in the sport next year, believes drivers will have a lot of challenges to overcome, but those who can overcome them quickly can gain a significant advantage early in the season.

Button showed how to quickly overcome challenges with warming the tyres and challenges with grip on bumpy tracks allright

“I have not done a lot,” he said. “And it’s because the team don’t want to shock me with how different the car feels. As it’s so different to what we have now, they want me to concentrate on the races this season and then focus on that at the end of the year. The good thing is, we’ve got a lot of experienced test drivers putting the car through its paces in the simulator.”

Ah the famous Mclaren simulator, lets wait till the first test to confirm how good it is in the sim. And then assume Button will be in his comfort zone. Maybe this time they have concentrated on modelling parts right way up

There’s a lot to learn but you can make a big difference in the early part of the season if you can get your head around it.”

If? ok so now its if, so we are gambling on Button suddenly breaking the mold and getting his head round things quickly

heres the best part;

Button said there will be less of a difference between qualifying and the race in terms of lap time because there’s so much less fuel going into the car for the race. Does that suit his style? “If you’re willing to adapt your style, it suits you,” he said. “I’m definitely up for doing that so yes, it suits me.”

Ok so his poor qualifying can be forgotten because the race car is closer in weight to the quali car, and that means no change for grid position, if anything it helps quicker 1 lap drivers
Button is willing to adapt his style so the regs will suit him
He is definitely up for doing that(for trying to do that like he has done all his sorry career)

Yes Mclaren, gambling on Jenson clearly works for you chaps as we saw with the 2013 car

Here is some delusional from proven and successful team boss

“We took the unusual decision for McLaren to stop development of this year’s car which meant recovery this season became impossible. We took the decision because of the importance of being competitive next year.

Ok so the team chose to not recover this season because of 2014? Nothing to do with not being able to recover despite admitting to focusing more resource on 2013 than prudent.
Well **ck a duck Martin, we are all mugs and believe what we read