F109 Countdown: McLaren

McLaren:
2008 Results
Best Finish: 1st (Lewis Hamilton x5,Heikki Kovalainen x1)
Points Scored: 151
Championship Position: 2nd
2009 Drivers: Lewis Hamilton & Heikki Kovalainen

Last, but not least, we finish up the F109 Countdown with McLaren, just seven days until the start of the new season.

If we are to believe what we have seen in pre-season testing, McLaren are going to struggle mightily at the start of the season. Do I believe that will be the case? No. I’m firmly of the belief that they are sandbagging. Now, maybe they won’t have the ultimate pace, but I find it hard to believe they won’t be in the thick of things.

It has been usual to see them hovering near the bottom for most of the pre-season. For a team like McLaren, which strives for excellence, it is out of character. But not impossible.

In the past, I’ve catalogued how McLaren have failed to produce winning cars consecutively. Last year was actually a change in the norm when they produced a championship contending car. So maybe there struggles are real, and that they will be in trouble.

I still have a hard time believing it. As I mentioned in previous articles, they have known well in advance how things were going to play out. For a team the size of McLaren, I can’t imagine they would take their eyes off the ball that much.

If they are, it will be intriguing to watch how their drivers react. Especially Hamilton. Not since Schumacher have we seen a driver with such raw talent on the grid. But, sceptics will point out that he walked into a winning ride, so how he deals with what is paraded as an ‘uncompetitive car’ will be a true showing of his talent.

If it is a poor car at first, I still expect him in the hunt. Personally, I think great drivers are defined by what they can do when they are not in the best car. I read how Senna did it; I watched when Schumacher did it. Even Alonso pulled some stunning results in a dodgy Renault. This could be a real chance for Hamilton to really cement his legacy and prove to any doubters regarding his skill.

As for Heikki, I would definitely class him as a driver who needs to perform this year. There was too many up’s and down’s from the Finn last year. While the early stages of the season could be put down to bad luck, some of his latter season runs, where he was needed to back up Hamilton, were poor.

Now with a year within the team, there will be no excuses for him. He has to put it out there and show he can match Hamilton. He has to contend for victories. Any less will be a failure.

Three-peat for Massa at Istanbul

Massa well and truly got his title challenge back on track with victory at Turkey.

For a time it looked like Hamilton would challenge the Brazilian for victory but the Brit’s need to use a three stop strategy always left him having to play catch up. According to ITV’s ‘commentator’ James Allen – Hamilton was out doing Senna-esque laps after he stuck it down the inside of Massa.

However Hamilton failed to actually finish the job which the likes of Senna and Schumacher have in the past as he failed to capitalize on his low fuel during his middle stint. It was a spirited drive from Hamilton who had to make the best of a bad situation due to tire issues. I find his issues with the Bridgestone’s extremely strange. Why was he the single one person who had to go on a three stop? According to reports it has something to do with his driving style.

But that fails to answer out of twenty drivers he is the only one and out of eighteen tracks that we visit, this is the only one. It baffles me. If more people had to go that route, it would be more acceptable. I find it easier to believe that the traditionally boring and predictable McLaren actually tried something different and exciting.

Regardless, Hamilton drove well and second place was his reward. It chops two points off Raikkonen’s lead. Funny how the ITV boys consider Hamilton to be Raikkonen’s only championship contender, especially now that Massa leapfrogs their boy for second on the basis of having more wins.

BMW’s had a lacklustre afternoon by recent standards. The Anglo-Swiss outfit struggled from day one but were still comfortably ahead of the rest of the field. Heidfeld again showed his wily race craft by moving from ninth on the grid to eventually finish fifth. Alonso nipped Webber despite running lower on fuel on the first stint while Nico Rosberg turned his season around after snatching eight.

Heikki Kovalainen probably had more of a chance of spoiling the Ferrari party than Hamilton but a puncture put paid to his hopes. He was set for a point but the need for a splash and dash and mandatory tire change out paid to his hopes. Otherwise it was a fantastic weekend for the Finn who only two weeks ago was shoved under the tire wall at Barcelona.

The race was again without first lap incident, with Fisichella failing to make it past the first lap for the third year. Obviously he is not a fan of the Istanbul circuit.
Heading into Monaco we have a real championship on our hands. McLaren appear to be closing the gap in and the next pair of circuits will suit the team. It is a real chance for Hamilton to reel in the Ferrari’s at the front.

PC’s Driver of the Day: Felipe Massa. Say what you want about Hamilton and his sterling drive, but he didn’t get the job done. Allen yet again tried to compare him to the greats – a position Hamilton isn’t at – yet. He would have gotten it if he pulled it off. Massa kept his head and stayed in touch with Hamilton when it counted.

It's raining, it's pouring...

...but the old man is certainly not snoring! When Mother Nature intervenes it really provides for a great race and the Nurburgring was no different. In a matter of minutes a dry track became a lake, which sparked memories of the constantly changing conditions we have seen in the past at Spa.

The weekend was an eventful one for Hamilton. The car smashed up in qualifying after a mechanical problem, he took full advantage of the wide first corner to make up ground before been caught by the BMW’s. When the rain fell he joined a plethora of drivers in the first corner parking lot. It was a great presence of mind for him to keep the motor running but I’m of the opinion he shouldn’t have been carried back onto the track. In any other race he would have been out. There was no way he could have gotten out of the kitty litter. He was extremely fortunate to be carried out and allowed to keep running again.

Once back out on track and receiving the ‘Lucky Dog’ (for those of you unfamiliar with the term, this is where the lapped car is allowed to pass the safety car line and rejoin at the end of the lead lap) they blow it – I say ‘they’ because it has remained unclear if it was a team, driver or a combination which made the call – to bring him in and put him on slicks. Gutsy? Maybe. Perhaps he believed his own hype of his greatness and felt he could thread on water like Schumacher or Senna could. He was wrong.

So for the first time he is off the podium. A new experience for him. All credit to him that he comes out and says he has learned allot from the race. Hamilton will learn more from the bad days than the good ones.

Now he has to deal with the incoming threat of Alonso on Massa who both capitalized on his misfortune. Harsh words between the pair after the race was interesting to see, of course it would have been nice to actually hear what they were saying! Alonso firstly accused Massa of trying to take him off deliberately. It didn’t look nothing like that and reckon it was heat of the moment. Like I said in previously Alonso needs to learn to take it as much as he gives it.