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[EwanM]

Not just Alonso, some sort of driver with a bit of experience. I mean I do rate Lewis and Hekki, but it seems that the pre season predictions were right, they may lack the info to improve the car effectively. There is alot of pressure on their shoulders now, and I think Heikki is handling it so much better...

Mind you I'll tell you who had a bad start to his 2nd f1 season... Damon Hill and he was right up there in the end wasn't he? Even if it took Michael having to sit at home twice and dq'd a few times.

[nikon133]

Not just Alonso, some sort of driver with a bit of experience. I mean I do rate Lewis and Hekki, but it seems that the pre season predictions were right, they may lack the info to improve the car effectively. There is alot of pressure on their shoulders now, and I think Heikki is handling it so much better...

Mind you I'll tell you who had a bad start to his 2nd f1 season... Damon Hill and he was right up there in the end wasn't he? Even if it took Michael having to sit at home twice and dq'd a few times.

I do think they miss experienced driver and they will miss someone like that for the rest of the season, but then again, it might be too early to say. Let's see what they manage to dig up for the next race...

[EwanM]

Not just Alonso, some sort of driver with a bit of experience. I mean I do rate Lewis and Hekki, but it seems that the pre season predictions were right, they may lack the info to improve the car effectively. There is alot of pressure on their shoulders now, and I think Heikki is handling it so much better...

Mind you I'll tell you who had a bad start to his 2nd f1 season... Damon Hill and he was right up there in the end wasn't he? Even if it took Michael having to sit at home twice and dq'd a few times.

I do think they miss experienced driver and they will miss someone like that for the rest of the season, but then again, it might be too early to say. Let's see what they manage to dig up for the next race...

Im telling u, see Kubica for example, he'd be no where without Heidfeld, its the same with Piquet at Renault... but he just spins now a days

[bud]

did they miss him in Australia? people have short memories eh the issue with the McLaren in Bahrain and Malaysia is not a setup issue.

[stonemonkey]

They may be lacking a bit of experience but all teams and drivers have ups and downs. After Hamiltons disasterous start to the race he's said there wasn't much chance of getting into the points so decided to preserve his engine for the next race so maybe his pace wasn't all that indicative although I doubt he'd have been able to keep up with the Ferraris today had he got a clean start.

[nikon133]

did they miss him in Australia? people have short memories eh the issue with the McLaren in Bahrain and Malaysia is not a setup issue.

Well, they do have experienced test driver who did his part in developing car during the break; but they might need a bit more and better input from race conditions, and that is something De La Rosa can't provide.

Ferrari was down in Australia, and BMW was trailing behind; but BMW did improve much more than McLaren within a weeks, and it's hard to say if better race input from experienced driver isn't (at least partially) responsible for that.

And of course, they might have 1-2 with Alonse instead of Heiki, so to answer to your question - they might have been missing Alonso in Australia a bit, and they likely miss him after.

[f1ea]

I agree, what has happened to Mclaren is not a setup issue. Mclaren's issue is that Alonso somehow manages to extract the true potential of the car, and when he has to, he is clever enough to collect what he can without losing his head. Take for example his 06 and 07 seasons (wont mention 05 because of Ferrari's issues). Say what you will, he is consistent and plays the numbers quite well. I think they are missing this sort of 'leadership'.

on top of this... Mclaren may be missing some kind of reliable / consistent input to help egineers with setup. It's not the end of the road for Mclaren! but it's a lot better when you have a certified reliable driver on your side.

[McLaren Fan]

I think there are two layers to look at in this question. First, and most obvious, is team spirit. The internecine war at McLaren last year did the team no favours, giving the FIA an excuse to penalise the team at Hungary when the drivers had already put the team's grid position on the grid, for instance.

Where Alonso comes in handy is his ability to get the most of the car, not just in the races through car setup, but in testing. He is brilliant at that, and that's one area where I think Alonso's departure will cost McLaren. The MP4-23 has great potential, the only thing really wrong with it is how it's chewing up it's rear tyres, but that could be ironed out with some experienced design work and test driving. Hamilton and Kovalainen do not yet have that experience, so McLaren will fall back into the Raikkonen era of having a guy who was blindly quick with the equipment he has at the time, but couldn't be arsed to develop it (but still had the cheek to leave the team thinking they weren't doing enough for him).

Overall, I'm saddened that Alonso had to leave the team. I think he did a lot of good for McLaren at the end of 2006 and throughout 2007. I would certainly rather have Alonso on my team than any other driver on the grid right now. But, given what happened (blackmailing Ron Dennis, his involvement in the spy scandal etc.) he did, sadly, have to go.

[Jensonb]

No they're not missing him. They've run into the back of him once already...



Seriously though, I think there may be an element of truth in this. Both drivers have had only one race season and only one of them was a third driver the year prior to that. The one with more experience has all that experience in a radically different car in another team. They're missing a dependable old hand to give them their "6 tenths" if you will.

[8-ball]

Alonso did bring 6 tenths to the team and now they have 2 rookie drivers they are losing out to the Ferrari with the knowledge of Michael Schumacher to test the car. That is why Kimi is going to win the title!

[bud]

Alonso did bring 6 tenths to the team and now they have 2 rookie drivers they are losing out to the Ferrari with the knowledge of Michael Schumacher to test the car. That is why Kimi is going to win the title!

wheres Alonso's 6 tenths to Renault? what a crock that slant is, and it started from Alonso himself.

[f1ea]

wheres Alonso's 6 tenths to Renault? what a crock that slant is, and it started from Alonso himself.

As I recall, he said he gave Mclaren 6 tenths. He's never mentioned how much his given Renault

[EwanM]

Alonso did bring 6 tenths to the team and now they have 2 rookie drivers they are losing out to the Ferrari with the knowledge of Michael Schumacher to test the car. That is why Kimi is going to win the title!

That's entirely true.

[bud]

wheres Alonso's 6 tenths to Renault? what a crock that slant is, and it started from Alonso himself.

As I recall, he said he gave Mclaren 6 tenths. He's never mentioned how much his given Renault

thats what im saying, where is Alonso's superior car knowledge in helping Renault?

[Lem]

It's one of my favourite F1 quotes actually:

"I've given them 6 tenths, what have they given me???"