"McLaren's book of excuses has come to its last page"

[Flat12-Aircool]

Another classic quote from uncle Flavio who's getting his 2007 shot's in early...

"It will be a tough year for McLaren," Briatore was quoted as saying by Gazzetta dello Sport. "I see them having difficulties.

"They've always had fantastic drivers like Raikkonen: they always announce them early to demonstrate they're changing, but this year the book of excuses has come to its last page."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/56121

He may have a point, we'll just have to wait and see. But with the Engine freeze in place if they're not fast out of the blocks straight away, then is there much they can do to improve?

[luke]

What else do you expect from Flavio? He reminds me of Jose Mourinho.

[Marbot]

He seems to have a lot of faith in the experience of Fisi and the talent of Heikki.Shame they don't have both.

[Knowlesy]

Flavio is great when he decides to have fun and a poke at Ron.

Ron's team will now try to respond on track!

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Ron's team will now try to respond on track!

Perhaps he would be better off by baffling Flav with some "Ronspeak".

[Born Racer]

Isn´t Briatore still Alonso´s manager? A conflict of interests there, no?

[Flat12-Aircool]

Originally Posted by Born Racer

Isn´t Briatore still Alonso´s manager? A conflict of interests there, no?

Well he does say that "they've always had fantastic drivers", so it's clearly not a snipe at Alonso but a jibe at Ron and his engineers.

I seriously can't see Alonso winning the championship this season though. His only chance is that I think the Grand Prix wins will be spread about a bit more this year. Last year 2 drivers mostly cleaned up all the Grand Prix wins, but I think it could be a 3 or 4 way fight this year.

[Glen]

Of course this represents nothing much more than a cheap dig at a serious competitor - but it is nonetheless pretty fair comment. McLaren have underperformed dreadfully and need a drastic turn-around to save face. I think Kimi has made the better move and stands a better chance in '07. Alonso is a young guy riding high at the moment - I do hope he has the depth of character to withstand some lows.

[MrTTraces]

Black Pot blue kettle methinks.

I reckon Renault will struggle as well, Fisi (no disrespect) Isn't really going to be fighting at front consistantly and Hiekki is unproven in F1 and may take awhile to get up to race pace.

The renault car is a good car, as proven over the last two seasons but I reckon the drivers will struggle.

Renault are in the same boat so to speak as McLaren next season.

[Gt_R]

It is simply pre-season mind games, to douse the much positive publicity Mclaren has been creating for itself through the signing of Alonso and some Spanish sponsors.

While it is true that Mclaren hasn't been strong last season, and seem to be a big question mark on how they would respond with the departure of Newey, Kimi and the likes, Flav had conveniently ignored the fact that his team has a weak driver pairing and has a few changes to team personnels to contend with too.

Results would see whether Mclaren or Renault will come out ahead of the other.

[Glen]

Fisi's decline is a mystery - perhaps he'll shine again now that the shadow of the rather brilliant Alonso is no longer over him. Then again Heikki is one hot prospect, so it isn't impossible that Fisi will be in for another frustrating season - that would pretty much finish his career, which would be a shame.

I am impressed with McLaren's bravery in hiring the youngest race driving team on the grid - unfortunately I do not believe that they are able to reinvent their claustrophobic controlling culture to bring out the best qualities of youth.

As for machinery - I think Renault have devised an exceptional formula for a robust and competitive car that performs well on most circuits and can be run well within its limits. It seems to me that McLaren are still very much casting around trying to find that elusive quality and are instead inclined to go radical and marginal to find speed and suffer reliability problems as a result. For all the driver quality of FA and LH (which I do agree has better potential than the Renault line-up) if the cars don't finish the pressure will pile up on the young guys and stifle their performances before they even have a chance.

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by Flat12-Aircool

...but this year the book of excuses has come to its last page." [/I]

great line, and in all honesty very true. no wins last year, the KR/JPM match up that never materialized, poor engine reliability, the MP4-18b and a string of underpreforming chassis since...

i hate to say it but imo Flav's right on point with this one.

[Bononi]

Right. Uhn, is Briatore the new McLaren boss ?

There's another great line too, "Mind your own business."

[jhansen]

Mclaren didn't exactly have a brilliant 2004 only to come out in 2005 with a car that was dominant in many ways. I don't recall many giving Mclaren a huge chance at the beginning of 2005. So they had lackluster 2006. It can all turn around very quickly. Flavio knows this. But he just can't help himself sometimes.

[Flat12-Aircool]

As I said before though, the problem for McLaren is that the engine freeze severly hampers their ability to turn things around from last season.

For the first time in many years, you have to assume that the form we saw in the last race in Brazil will also continue into next season. This hasn't always been the case, back in 2004-2005 McLarens hands weren't tied like they are today.

Maybe thats why Ron has gone for a young team, as perhaps he thinks the team will have to wait for the new Reg's in 2009 for any chance of real success. And by then maybe Hamilton will have enough experience to start challenging for race wins.

[jhansen]

Originally Posted by Flat12-Aircool

As I said before though, the problem for McLaren is that the engine freeze severly hampers their ability to turn things around from last season.

For the first time in many years, you have to assume that the form we saw in the last race in Brazil will also continue into next season. This hasn't always been the case, back in 2004-2005 McLarens hands weren't tied like they are today.

Maybe thats why Ron has gone for a young team, as perhaps he thinks the team will have to wait for the new Reg's in 2009 for any chance of real success. And by then maybe Hamilton will have enough experience to start challenging for race wins.

How much of the car's performance was down to the engine?

[Marbot]

The form we saw from Ferrari,Toyota (before they retired) and Super Aguri in Brazil was probably down to the tyres more than anything else.I don't think engine performance had a lot to do with it.Aero and the drivers (in that order ) will make the difference next season.

[outflat]

McLaren will get an instant performance lift now everyone's on Bridgestone, and now that the tyres are harder.

[Knowlesy]

I'm not sure that is the case.

I think the lifting factor will be the driver line-up. But I am still curious to see how the car turns out. Hopefully, for the best.

[outflat]

Oh I agree with that too.

The best driver on the grid, still hungry for more and the best qualified rookie for years.

[neilap]

Flavio is always an arrogant f***. Hopefully he gets his arse handed to him this year in a real devastating way. ...no, I dont like him.

Alonso is a great driver and as long as the car is competitive I am confident he will be able to race for wins. LH also seems to be a true racer and will not fold.
I dont think Fisi ever got used to the handling characteristics of the Renault. The car was very fast but to my understanding intuitivly it understeers a great deal. Alonso's style of tossing the car into turns seemed to work brilliantly with that car. At Mac he will have to adjust his style quite a bit. Therefore I am begining to think the gap between him and LH wont be that far. That said, Fisi and HK are not exactly the choice of drivers in the field. For Reanult to be a factor I feel their car has to be far superior, not like the last two years when it was a far superior driver in the 2nd best car.

[Flat12-Aircool]

Several of you have suggested that part of their lack of pace was down to the tyres. But in Brazil the McLaren's got outpaced by Honda and Renault who as we all know were also on Michelin's.

Plus, Honda were being caucious about their new design engines because they needed both to finish to get Homologation for 2007 and yet they still finished 10 seconds ahead of the McLarens.

The general concensus is that the Mercedes powerplant is still down slightly on power compared to most of the other Factory backed teams. And as regards other parts of the car, obviously all the teams will be grabbing an extra 10th of a Sec wherever they can just the same.

[jhansen]

Originally Posted by Flat12-Aircool

Several of you have suggested that part of their lack of pace was down to the tyres. But in Brazil the McLaren's got outpaced by Honda and Renault who as we all know were also on Michelin's.

Plus, Honda were being caucious about their new design engines because they needed both to finish to get Homologation for 2007 and yet they still finished 10 seconds ahead of the McLarens.

The general concensus is that the Mercedes powerplant is still down slightly on power compared to most of the other Factory backed teams. And as regards other parts of the car, obviously all the teams will be grabbing an extra 10th of a Sec wherever they can just the same.

I'm open to the fact that the Mercedes V8 was not so good. But also, the 2005 McLaren was very good at getting its tires to last the GP distance per the rules. I think I recall reading that the 2006 version was very kind to its tires and that perhaps it was not able to take advantage of the reintroduction of tire changes.

[strider]

Originally Posted by jhansen

I'm open to the fact that the Mercedes V8 was not so good. But also, the 2005 McLaren was very good at getting its tires to last the GP distance per the rules. I think I recall reading that the 2006 version was very kind to its tires and that perhaps it was not able to take advantage of the reintroduction of tire changes.

That's quite right. The re-introduction of pit stops effectively removed one of the advantages that the '05 McLaren had enjoyed.

It is also true, however, that initial running on the new Bridgestones happened to improve the '06 McLaren's front end considerably and also gave more consistency over long runs. So all the designers have to is carry that improvement over to this year's McLaren...

Getting back to Flavio, he also said that Ferrari would also be weaker this year without Schumacher and Brawn so it wasn't all directed at McLaren. Just typical gamesmanship, really.

[Flat12-Aircool]

Originally Posted by jhansen

I'm open to the fact that the Mercedes V8 was not so good. But also, the 2005 McLaren was very good at getting its tires to last the GP distance per the rules. I think I recall reading that the 2006 version was very kind to its tires and that perhaps it was not able to take advantage of the reintroduction of tire changes.

There maybe some truth in that, but one of my abiding memories of 2005 is Kimi's spectacular flat-spot tyre failure whilst leading the closing stages of a GP (i forget where). So McLaren did have tyre problems just the same as other teams, their major problem however was how to keep their engines alive to the end of the race. I lost count of how many 10 place penalties their drivers had to suffer.