I think they will be faster then the doubters thinks but I still think they'll probs be missing out podium positions.

They could we be sandbagging but as mentioned, is there a reason to sandbag as bad as this?

No one should be asking for anyone's head...


Lest anyone forget - they have delivered a WDC last season, and effectively were the best constructor the season before.



Hardly sackable offences!

I expect McLaren to do a lot better in Melbourne than in Sepang (and to a lesser extent Bahrain) as the track isn't too demanding aerorodynamically, but also because Hamilton's driving style seems to suit these kind of medium speed circuits very well.

And regarding KERS... If McLaren aren't using it now in the races I'd see it as them realising that the downforce losses caused by the boxy sidepods in addition to the added weight far outweigh () the benefit of having extra horsepower for a few seconds per lap, thus leading them to work on getting the sidepods to their former size or even smaller (like on the Brawn) by any means necessary.

There's a high probability the McLaren cars will be in top 6 but the podium will be out of reach,I guess when f1 returns to europe there will be new developments to push the car on to the podium. :\

I'm sure there will be new developments on Friday

Even if they are behind Brawn, BMW, Ferrari [INSERT EXTRA TEAMS HERE] then I don't think it is still a totally lost cause, there is set up changes that some one might go wrong with, reliability, some people liking melbourne, others not and also the characteristics of the track.

I'm quite hopeful Lewis might be striving for Position 3 Will have to wait for Free Practice and Qualifying to get a clearer idea.

Once and for all - Bernie is a businessman.

Everything he says, everything he does is constructed to aid his business.

Just look at what did he said over the years. His logic is so obvious.

And... he's doing superb job of it. Genius.

Not genius. The problem is people need to stand up and tell him to his face his ideas are bollox. The teams need to break away and leave him with a shell full of nothing. That's what he deserves.

Ron wanted to step down in glory and that's why they put too much resources for 2008 car. Now it's Martin's problem...

You're making it look like a personal issue for Ron they put those resources on the 2008 campaign but you know that's nonsense.
They won the world championship on the last corner on the last lap of the last race and yet you say they put too much resources in 2008?

It was pretty borderline and anyone would have preferred to have a title in hand and be compromised the next season.
Although I don't think the reason for them being too slow is a result of shifted focus.

How much money did they spend before last race to double-check all parts of Hamilton's car?

How much money did Ferrari spend to double-check all the parts of Massa's car?

I think that's more plausible than them not making Q3. I haven't hopped on the "McLaren is hopelessly slow" bandwagon.

How could it be too much? They won the WDC, if they had not of won then you could argue it was too much money but considering they did win that becomes a moot issue.

All you poster's saying McLaren put too much effort into 2008 are clueless, the only reason it 'appears' that way to your small minds is that with such big rule changes no one could see this coming, had the rules remained the same, mclaren's would still be top of the time sheets with Ferrari. And if McLaren were heading to melbourne favourites would you still be saying they had too much focus on 08? Didnt think so.

It's better this way than engine failures 2004-2006, you can fix this things. My only fear is that aero tunnel isn't properly calibrated.

That's pathetic. Of course, no one would claim that they didn't put enough effort in 2009 if they'd top the time sheets. But that's in no way opportune, it's just because of the definition of 'enough' considering what McLaren wants to achieve. So if they reach that, it's by definition 'enough', if not it's not.

And the big rule changes could lead to this. Also an intensive battle in 2008 could lead to this. This was well known far more than a year ago. So don't claim that McLaren wasn't aware of that.

Nevertheless IMHO I think they did the right thing. They did everything to win last year's WC instead of maximising their chance for this year. That's what everyone in their situation would've done. But in your second last sentence you get the point: Ferrari was also involved in that battle and they seem to have handled that situation better than McLaren - so this can't be an excuse for the latter.

Well, anyone other than BMW it would seem.

How much money did they get for Hamilton winning the championship?

They certainly spent more money on their 2008 campaign and put more hard work and determination in winning it than Kubica could ever dream off at BMW.

I get the feeling that McLaren will wait till a) the scrutineering is over and b) any team chooses to lodge a protest against the diffuser of BGP, Toyota and Williams. If not team protests then I believe the team may come up with a similar diffuser (probably for the next race coz., I'm not sure they can change the diffuser after the scrutineering is over), which they may already have developed, and start to go quick. Else they'll run with the diffuser used on the last day of the Jerez test.

Well, IF the obscure designs are given a definitive all-clear, that's what every team will do, isn't it? And by the looks of it, they would probably all go quicker.

If BMW and Ferrari adapt the new diffuser desing and go quicker, then McLaren with MP4-24 is in deep trouble... well I think they are already...

Yep. Of course there could be issues with overall car balance that would prevent the now "simple-diffuser" teams to adapt the Brawn-like design straight away. But that goes for all of them, including McLaren

Your right, and they most likely wont get it in place before returning to Europe, but they have the resources to do it eventualy even with the test ban on.
And because BMW and Ferrari already have a good base with their current car's they have the advantage over McLaren also with new diffuser on.

Quite possible that McLaren may already be ahead of the other teams in developing the BGP type diffuser. After all they did go through quite a range of diffusers, rear-wings, front-wings and flow vis analysis. It could be that they may be quite close to finalising this diffuser, what with the amount of data they may have gained during the last two test sessions.

mate you are so right

What if Brawn-type diffuser doesn't agree with MP4-24's aero concept? The same apllies to every other team. Ross Brawn already claimed that it might be not possible to adapt their solution to some cars.

Ok, lets say there's a million to 1 chance that Bernie's right and McLaren are sandbagging, (yeah I know, )

If you are McLaren, do you unveil you're hidden supercharged speed at free practice or keep it under wraps until qualifying and then blitz everyone?

if you've hidden it for months/weeks, i ld only unleash the superpower in Q

no way, you need to know how the car is going to react, its not like anyone can do anything between fp1 and q1

How can they go bak to grey black when Vodafone is the biggest sponsor of MM. Red is vodafones brand colour and tell how how the car would look with red, black and grey? Yuk!

I don't believe Mclaren are as far off the pace as people are making out, I do think they are in diffucluties with there aerodynamics, compared to where they were last year.
Amazing the difference a year makes, I bet they wish they could get their hands on Ferrari's secerets again............

I agree, i don´t think mclaren are as far off the pace too, but behind podiums almost three races.



I hope mclaren sandbagging a bit in his prewiew.

Translated Q&A with Haug:

Q: After things haven't gone as usual in testing, with what kind of feeling and with which expectations do you enter the season ?
Haug: ''We should expect to start at the third part of the grid, but it's guaranteed that we will gradually improve race after race and will come back to the front again.''

Q: Is the job of defending the title in danger due to the unexpected problems of the car or is the moment in which McLaren becomes a serious competitor only delayed ?
Haug: ''I'm sure that we can improve but we have to be prepared for a very difficult first third of the season.''

Q: Who's the favourite amongst the drivers, in other words who do you take into account for the title race ?
Haug: ''After testing Brawn GP looks strong, in any case that's what everyone I talk to is saying. We're obviously happy that this team is a customer of ours and that so far they're very satisfied with our current F1 engine.''

Q: What are things like looking at the constructors championship ?
Haug: ''I think it will be a fight between a lot of teams that are strong and fight for places at the front. At the start we will not yet be among those.''

Q: Which driver and which team could become the big surprise ?
Haug: ''Everyone's tipping Brawn GP at the moment. They have a car that for a very long time has been developed with a lot of money and resources and it will be using our current engine in 2009. But as is well known, being the favourite is far from actually winning.''

Q: Will you definitvely be using KERS in Melbourne ?
Haug: ''We plan to definitively start with KERS, with both cars.''

Q: Plans have been made for common roadcar projects between you and your biggest competitor BMW. Do you think such a cooperation is also possible in Formula 1, taking the culminating economic crisis and the necessity to drastically cut the costs in the sport into account.
Haug: ''No, that would be a contridiction of the competition at the highest sportive and technical level. Cooperating together when it comes to purchasing (parts for) roadcars makes sense, in Formula 1 that wouldn't be the case.''

Q: In your opinion, have the reductions in costs and the radical changes in the regulations already paid off and proven themselves ?
Haug: ''We're very well underway here and I cannot imagine that another manufacturer spends less money to be successful in Formula 1 than we do. And in this way we've become worldchampion with the greatest efficiency and have also obtained the best publicity and image values worldwide. An advertising campaign with comparable penetrating power would have cost several times the amount of our Formula 1 expenditures.''

Well, if its a recent interview, its a repeat of what was said last week, I suppose we've got to be realistic and McLaren re really are going to be at the back of the grid

so according to Haug I presume we're just going to be infront of Force India and Torro Rosso and Maybe one other?

He´s just playing down the expectations. I think McLaren won´t have a problem to get into Q3, and that´s quite an improvement from what i thought two weeks ago!

I reckon Q2 is where it ends for McLaren. My outlook is not as bleak as Haug's, not as optimistic as many on this forum.

I'm guessing third part of the grid means the top 10, with it being the third part of qualifying. The translation is somewhat ambiguous though.

First part of the grid is the front IMO.

The german Q&A is at AmuS: http://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/formel1...en-1051939.html

"Hinteren Drittel" seems to me to mean the "last third". Still not too sure what he means though.

Correct.

He means the last third of the grid. The bottom third. In with the slower third of the teams. Behind the other thirds.

Not really much to dissect here. He's saying they aren't quick.

Yeah, they probably will.

Maybe Mclaren layed off too many people and thats why they couldnt develop their car so well

We need Diffuser Of Justice II ™ to reach Q3.

http://www.formula1.com/news/technical/2009/0/630.html

and why do you point us to this old news...?

I know that, but it is very good explanation with picture.

It was only posted yesterday. Don't be so hard on people posting news, tech-info or translations.
ATM_Andy and AFCA for instance are valuable posters, but ever so often certain people manage to make sure they'll never come here again.