Jabberwocky wrote:HRT!?!
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It looks like an HRT but with fewer sponsors.
Jabberwocky wrote:HRT!?!
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darwin dali wrote:...Black is beautiful - I like it
On Andrew Benson wrote:McLaren-Honda together again as wraps come off 2015 challenger
sagi58 wrote:sheez... if you can't trust google, who can you trust?
darwin dali wrote:sagi58 wrote:sheez... if you can't trust google, who can you trust?
I don't trust them as far as I can spit - too Orwellian if you ask me
darwin dali wrote:That's as far as I go with them. However, I would never open a Gmail account!
sagi58 wrote:darwin dali wrote:That's as far as I go with them. However, I would never open a Gmail account!
That bad?
Jenson Button declared that McLaren’s 2015 car felt “10 times better” around the Circuit de Catalunya in Friday practice than was the case in winter testing, after a “promising” opening day for the team at the Spanish GP.
Armed with upgrades to the MP4-30 chassis as well as changes to the Honda engine, McLaren showed little improvement on the timesheet in Practice One before a more eye-catching performance in the second session saw Button finish in seventh place.
“I was surprised by the McLaren’s pace in qualy trim and it was maybe higher than even we expected them to be," commented Sky Sports F1's Anthony Davidson after the session.
On F1’s last visit to the Barcelona circuit in March for the final winter test, the MP4-30 proved both the slowest and least reliable of all the 2015 cars in action and the team have since then spent race weekends steadily clawing their way back from the foot of the grid.
Two months on, Button admitted there was a night-and-day difference in performance around the high-speed track.
“I don’t think you can compare – it’s very different. It’s a massive difference to winter testing, we’re also able to put mileage in now so that’s a big change,” the former world champion said.
“The circuit’s probably slower because of the heat and the wind but the car feels 10 times better than it did then, so it’s good.”
When it was put to him that seventh place with a best lap time just 1.6 seconds slower than Lewis Hamilton’s pacesetting Mercedes appeared to represent good progress, Button replied: “That’s the closest we’ve been all year. It’s always nice to see it on the timing sheets, but it is only practice.
“We always seem quicker in P2 than in qualifying, but we’ll see. I would say it’s a promising day when you compare us to the front guys.”
Although pleased with the apparent step forward, Button said the sizzling heat and gusty conditions that dominated Friday’s running had made for a challenging pair of sessions.
“It’s been tough day today I think for everyone,” he recounted. "P1 with the prime tyre felt reasonably good but tough in terms of the balance around the lap with the wind and the hot temperatures.
“P2 really struggled on the prime tyre, the option tyre was much better, but there’s a lot of work for us to do in every area to optimise what we have. It’s been a good day in terms if data, but there’s a lot of work to do to understand why the car is doing certain things.”
Team-mate Fernando Alonso, returning to the scene of his mysterious accident at the test in February, finished P2 a couple of tenths slower than Button in 11th place.
"It was okay," the Spaniard said. "We need to check all the tests we did today and tomorrow hope everything's together and increase the performance a little bit."
Dennis: Boullier got a good kick in the arse
McLaren supremo Ron Dennis shocked employees at the team’s Woking headquarters by launching a morale deflating attack on them and particularly racing director Eric Boullier, amid the team’s high profile struggles with their engine partner Honda.
Daily Mail reports that Dennis, speaking at the team’s post Spanish Grand Prix debrief, told staff of 500 that Boullier got “a good kick in the arse” and at the same time criticised the team’s employees for not working hard enough.
McLaren, second only to Ferrari in terms of Formula 1 success, has a had a couple of dismal seasons and currently are relegated to backmarkers as their engine partners Honda come to grips with the sport’s new engine formula.
A staff member, who requested not to be named, observed on the day of Dennis’ rant that, “Eric seemed to flinch when Ron made his comments but he handled it well. Ron’s whole tone caused some puzzlement.”
And added, “We are all working our nuts off to improve the team and to hear from Ron that our efforts are not appreciated was not helpful for morale.”
Normally Boullier and the team’s chief operating officer are tasked with the team’s post race debrief sessions, with Dennis seldom in attendance, but the team’s woeful showing in Spain appears to have irked the McLaren chief.
Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, who were not present at the meeting, have yet to score points this season and have had to toil at the wrong end of the field as Honda grossly underestimated the task of powering McLaren in Formula 1.
It is not the first time that Dennis has criticised those in his own team. Last year he publicly told Button to try harder to keep his place in the team, to which the 2009 world champion retorted, “Ron is practising to be a motivational speaker.”
A McLaren spokesman told media on Wednesday that Dennis’ remarks were “reported out of context” and actually intended to be “humorous”.
“His (Dennis’) rhetoric can sometimes be challenging, but it is always inspirational,” the spokesman said.
“Ron massively appreciates the hard work currently being done by all at Woking and Sakura (Japan), and he and Eric, together, are making the structural and operational changes that will take McLaren-Honda back to the front.”
Heading to round six of the 2015 F1 world championship, it is highly unlikely that the legendary team will add to their record tally of 15 victories at the Monaco Grand Prix.