OK so in layman's terms why are they so off the pace this year?

Not much seems to be made of it now we have a new hero to support in Jensen Button but I feel a bit sorry for poor old Hamilton. Must be a real test of character to be world champion one year and then do so badly the year after. So why are the McLarens doing so badly?

The answer is really in last season, Jon.

Both McLaren and Ferrari expended a huge amount of effort right up to finale in slugging it out for the Championship and tweaking their 2008 cars. Normally by the time the season is 2/3 through there's not much development on that season's car and the effort is transferred into the next season's car.

So they were quite late in getting to grips with the 2009 car and then they got hit with a redesign for for the double diffuser.

Hence the lack of presence from both of them and the massive leap Brawn GP has made from the Honda - in essence Ross Brawn knew that the 2008 was fundamentally flawed and couldn't be fixed early on - so they started work on the 2009 car very early. Most telling was at the end of the 08 season when they let the car burn out as it was so unloved!

Seano

Interesting. You wouldnt think that a simple thing like a diffuser would have such an effect! It must be costing them millions in sponorship!

i bet there are some nervous people in hondas boardroom.l"lets get rid of the race team.its not worth it"errrrrrr........wrong!

Its not so much the highly visible bit of the diffuser that you see at the back of the car that the issue, it how the air gets there.

About a year ago Brawn started asking for clarification of the rule in a very general way without giving away what he planned to do. On getting the clarification, they then designed the chassis and suspension pick up points with that in mind.

After the hearing when they were formally declared legal, the other teams were presented with the problem that their suspension wasn't really in the right place to make them work effectively. In essence they needed a mark 2 car at the last minute which they managed with varying degrees of success.

I think McLaren and LH have just about given up with this car and will switch their efforts to the 2010 car shortly.

Seano

Its not so much the highly visible bit of the diffuser that you see at the back of the car that the issue, it how the air gets there.

About a year ago Brawn started asking for clarification of the rule in a very general way without giving away what he planned to do. On getting the clarification, they then designed the chassis and suspension pick up points with that in mind.

After the hearing when they were formally declared legal, the other teams were presented with the problem that their suspension wasn't really in the right place to make them work effectively. In essence they needed a mark 2 car at the last minute which they managed with varying degrees of success.

I think McLaren and LH have just about given up with this car and will switch their efforts to the 2010 car shortly


Seano

how do you know so much about the diffuser issue,seano.you wouldnt have inside info, would you?lol

steve

Interestingly thou...BMW also `allegedly` started work early on their 09 cars...bet they wished they never bothered.....
Seems to drive like a :tank:

Yeah you could really see a few drivers struggling. Eddie Jordan even said the McLaren was dangerous! I feel really sorry for poor Lewis.

yeah me too. how about the force india smashing into the wall!

btw murray walker = living legend

Wish I did have Steve!

TBH I've always been a bit of Ross Brawn fan and have been following this quite closely through all of the relevant web sites.

A lot of it comes down to how you define a "hole" - you can read all about that argument on the FIA website. This is why Flav was so incensed about the double diffuser as he knew how much work and more importantly how much cost was going added to the car.

The McLaren looked truly awful today.

Seano

to be fair though, you cant necessarily say that its because of all the effort they put into last years car. BMW spent a lot of time last year on their current car and its poo. I suppose there are a lot of things that contribute to it.